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USS Batfish (SSN 681)

One of the STURGEON - class nuclear-powered attack submarines, the USS BATFISH was the second ship in the Navy to bear the name. Both decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on March 17, 1999, the BATFISH was subsequently disposed of by submarine recycling at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wa. Recycling was finished on November 22, 2002.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS BATFISH. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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Accidents aboard USS BATFISH:

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USS BATFISH History:

USS BATFISH was the second United States Navy ship to bear the name Batfish. The name linked the nuclear-powered attack submarine to USS BATFISH (SS 310), a World War II BALAO-class submarine remembered for a distinguished Pacific war record, including the sinking of three Japanese submarines in four days. The second USS BATFISH belonged to the long-hull STURGEON-class, a group of nuclear-powered attack submarines designed for anti-submarine warfare, submerged surveillance, independent patrols, screening of carrier and surface forces, intelligence-related operations, and long-duration service in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Caribbean, and other Cold War operating areas.

The construction contract for USS BATFISH was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation at Groton, Connecticut, on June 25, 1968. Her keel was laid down at Groton on February 9, 1970. She was launched and christened on October 9, 1971, sponsored by Mrs. Mildred C. Gralla, wife of Vice Admiral Arthur R. Gralla, then Commander, Military Sealift Command. Senator Lowell P. Weicker was the featured speaker at the launching ceremony. USS BATFISH completed her initial sea trials successfully in June 1972 under the supervision of Admiral Hyman G. Rickover. She was commissioned at Groton on September 1, 1972, with Commander Richard E. Enkeboll in command.

At commissioning, USS BATFISH was assigned to Submarine Squadron Four, based at Naval Station Charleston, South Carolina. She arrived at Charleston on October 7, 1972, after stops at Norfolk, Virginia, and the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. After arriving at her home port, she conducted shakedown operations in the West Indies through November 1972. These early months were part of the normal transition from new construction to operational fleet service: proving the ship's systems, training the crew, conducting evaluations, correcting deficiencies, and preparing the submarine for regular Atlantic Fleet employment.

On January 22, 1973, while proceeding to sea at about 1 p.m., USS BATFISH ran hard aground at the entrance to Charleston Harbor. Public accounts state that fog was reported as a possible cause. She was pulled free by five tugs at about 7 p.m. the same day, returned to port, and underwent repairs for bottom damage.

Through late spring 1974, USS BATFISH continued training, evaluation, maintenance, and modification in preparation for operational deployment. Her first operational deployment began in 1974. From late spring 1974 to the end of June 1974, she conducted anti-submarine-warfare operations in the eastern Atlantic and made a port call at Portland, England. This placed her in the North Atlantic operating environment that was central to Cold War submarine strategy. The eastern Atlantic, the Norwegian Sea approaches, and the sea lanes between North America and Europe were all considered essential in any NATO-Warsaw Pact conflict, because they would have carried reinforcement shipping and would have been contested by Soviet submarines. In July 1974, USS BATFISH participated in a fleet exercise off Jacksonville, Florida. From August to October 1974, she took part in Exercise Northern Merger, a major North Atlantic Treaty Organization exercise connected with reinforcement, sea control, maritime surveillance, and anti-submarine warfare in the Atlantic and northern European approaches.

On July 23, 1975, USS BATFISH began special operations in the Atlantic. On August 26, 1975, she entered Sixth Fleet-related anti-submarine-warfare operations, with Taranto, Italy, documented as a port call. In September 1975, she participated in Exercise Deep Express and visited La Maddalena, Sardinia. In November 1975, she participated in Exercise Devil Foil and visited La Spezia, Italy. In the same month, she participated in Exercise Dogfish and again visited La Maddalena. From December 1975 to January 1976, she conducted special operations, with Naples, Italy, listed as the associated port. These 1975 Mediterranean and Atlantic activities took place in a politically sensitive maritime theater. The United States Sixth Fleet operated in a region shaped by the aftermath of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, Soviet naval presence, North African and Middle Eastern tensions, and the need to maintain American naval presence on NATO's southern flank.

In 1976, USS BATFISH continued Atlantic Fleet service from Charleston. In October 1976, she participated in Exercise Teamwork '76. Public summaries also identify USS BATFISH as an early user of advanced submarine technologies in this period, including operational use of Extremely Low Frequency communications. Such communications were important because they allowed submerged submarines to receive very-low-bandwidth messages while reducing the need to surface or expose other communications masts. Later shipboard material also described USS BATFISH as the first ship to participate in the Submarine Extended Overhaul Cycle program and as a prototype platform for the Submarine Satellite Information Exchange System. These details show that USS BATFISH was not only an operational attack submarine but also a platform connected with technical changes in submarine endurance, communications, and stealth.

The most publicly known event in USS BATFISH's career occurred in 1978 during a classified patrol later known publicly as Operation Evening Star. The declassified mission period ran from March 2 to May 17, 1978. The mission was connected to United States concern over Soviet ballistic missile submarine patrols in the Atlantic. Intelligence indicated that a Soviet YANKEE I-class ballistic missile submarine was leaving the Kola Peninsula area, and USS BATFISH was sent to intercept and trail it. On March 17, 1978, in the Norwegian Sea about 200 nautical miles above the Arctic Circle, USS BATFISH detected the Soviet submarine. She began trailing the boat and collecting information on how it operated.

After 51 hours and about 350 nautical miles of trailing, USS BATFISH lost contact on March 19, 1978, during a severe storm. A P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft operating from Reykjavik, Iceland, helped regain the trail, and firm contact was re-established on March 21, 1978, in the Iceland-Faroes gap. USS BATFISH then maintained contact for the next 44 days, following the Soviet submarine over thousands of nautical miles before breaking off as the Soviet boat returned toward its base. Public accounts describe the overall trail as lasting about 50 days and covering approximately 8,870 nautical miles of the Soviet submarine's movement. On May 17, 1978, after 77 days submerged, USS BATFISH surfaced off Charleston and returned to her home port. Commander Thomas W. Evans later received the Legion of Merit for the patrol.

Operation Evening Star became significant only after parts of the story were declassified. During the Cold War, the ability of an American attack submarine to trail a Soviet ballistic missile submarine for an extended period had strategic meaning because Soviet ballistic missile submarines formed a major part of the Soviet nuclear second-strike force. The patrol showed how American attack submarines could monitor, study, and potentially threaten Soviet strategic submarine operations under realistic conditions. The mission also became part of later public discussion about Soviet submarine vulnerability, American undersea intelligence, and the role of attack submarines in late-Cold-War strategic competition.

Later in 1978, USS BATFISH participated in Gulfex '79 from November 14 to December 9, 1978, with Tampa and Cape Canaveral, Florida, listed as port calls. This exercise took place in the Gulf of Mexico and southeastern United States operating environment, where fleet units could conduct coordinated maritime training closer to home waters than the North Atlantic or Mediterranean. It followed a year in which USS BATFISH had demonstrated both ordinary fleet-exercise roles and a highly sensitive intelligence-related submarine mission.

In March 1979, USS BATFISH began a 15-month overhaul at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia. The work was estimated at $36.7 million. During the broader 1979-1980 maintenance period, USS BATFISH also became associated with technical improvements intended to reduce acoustic vulnerability. Public technical summaries identify her as the first United States submarine to receive Special Hull Treatment, a rubberized sound-damping hull coating applied to reduce acoustic signature. In the Cold War submarine environment, such quieting measures mattered because detectability, trailing, and survivability depended heavily on acoustic performance.

BATFISH remained part of the Atlantic Fleet submarine force, based at Charleston, and continued the normal cycle of upkeep, inspections, exercises, special operations, and deployments. Public award summaries identify a Navy Unit Commendation in 1982. During these years, Atlantic Fleet attack submarines continued to operate in a strategic environment shaped by Soviet ballistic missile submarines, Soviet attack submarines, NATO sea-lane defense, Mediterranean crisis response, and carrier battle group support.

In July 1986, USS BATFISH participated in the fleet exercise Advance Phase III. Public image material shows her during this exercise. The exercise belonged to the late-Cold-War pattern of large-scale fleet training in which nuclear-powered attack submarines provided either undersea opposition or friendly submarine support to surface, air, and carrier forces. By the mid-1980s, American submarine doctrine emphasized forward operations, anti-submarine warfare near Soviet operating areas, and the ability to threaten Soviet submarines early in any conflict.

In January 1988, USS BATFISH began an extensive overhaul at Charleston Naval Shipyard. This became one of the major maintenance periods of her service life. She did not leave the yard for sea trials until December 5, 1990. The overhaul was 14 months late, $6 million over budget, and cost $127.5 million. The delay drew public criticism from Vice Admiral Roger F. Bacon, Commander, Submarine Force, United States Atlantic Fleet. The overhaul returned USS BATFISH to the fleet at a time of major geopolitical change. By late 1990 and early 1991, the Cold War order was dissolving, the Soviet Union was weakening, and the United States Navy was adapting older Cold War platforms to a world increasingly defined by regional crises, coalition operations, strike warfare, special operations, and post-Cold-War force reductions.

In 1991, USS BATFISH received the Navy "E" Ribbon, reflecting squadron-level recognition for performance and readiness. USS BATFISH deployed to the Mediterranean from February to August 1992 and was associated with Operation Maritime Monitor during the part of the deployment. The deployment took place in a Mediterranean theater transformed by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the wars in the former Yugoslavia. The mission environment involved monitoring maritime activity connected with United Nations sanctions and embargo measures, while the United States and allied navies adjusted from Cold War confrontation to regional crisis response.

The 1993 Base Realignment and Closure process recommended consolidating Atlantic Fleet nuclear submarines into fewer bases. As part of that broader restructuring, USS BATFISH changed home port from Charleston to Groton, Connecticut, in September 1994 and shifted to Naval Submarine Base New London. Groton remained her operational home port for the rest of her active life. The move reflected the post-Cold-War contraction of the submarine force and the Navy's decision to reduce or consolidate infrastructure after the end of the Soviet threat that had shaped much of USS BATFISH's earlier career.

On March 22, 1995, USS BATFISH deployed with the USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71) carrier battle group for Mediterranean operations. The broader deployment of the USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT battle group took place in the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Arabian Gulf, and Adriatic operating areas and was connected with operations including Southern Watch, Deny Flight, Sharp Guard, Coiled Cobra, Infinite Moonlight, and Deliberate Force.

USS BATFISH received further public recognition in the mid-1990s, including a Meritorious Unit Commendation in 1996 and an Armed Forces Service Medal period associated with 1995. In 1998, USS BATFISH's final operational period was drawing to a close. Public award summaries identify a Navy Unit Commendation in 1998 and an Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal period in May and June 1998. On November 2, 1998, USS BATFISH was placed in commission, in reserve, pending disposal. She was decommissioned and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on March 17, 1999. After decommissioning, ex-USS BATFISH entered the Nuclear-Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington, where recycling was completed on November 22, 2002.

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