USS Hammerhead (SSN-663)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Hammerhead.

USS Hammerhead (SSN-663)
History
United States
Name	USS Hammerhead (SSN-663)
Namesake	The hammerhead shark
Ordered	28 May 1964
Builder	Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia
Laid down	29 November 1965
Launched	14 April 1967
Sponsored by	Mrs. O. Clark Fisher
Commissioned	28 June 1968
Decommissioned	5 April 1995
Stricken	5 April 1995
Honors and awards	Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for U.S. Atlantic Fleet 1981
Fate	Scrapping via Ship and Submarine Recycling Program completed 22 November 1995
General characteristics
Class and type	Sturgeon-class attack submarine
Displacement	3,860 long tons (3,922 t) light 4,268 long tons (4,336 t) full 408 long tons (415 t) dead
Length	292 ft 3 in (89.08 m)
Beam	31 ft 8 in (9.65 m)
Draft	28 ft 8 in (8.74 m)
Installed power	15,000 shaft horsepower (11 megawatts)
Propulsion	One S5W nuclear reactor, two steam turbines, one screw
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) surfaced 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) submerged
Test depth	1,300 ft (396 m)
Complement	109 (14 officers, 95 enlisted men
Sensors and processing systems	BPS-14/15 surface search radar BQQ-5 multi-function bow mounted sonar BQR-7 passive in submarines with BQQ-2 sonar BQS-12 active 7 sonar TB-16 or TB-23 towed array sonar
Electronic warfare & decoys	WLQ-4(V) WLR-4(V) WLR-9
Armament	4 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes Mark 48 torpedoes UUM-44A SUBROC missiles UGM-84A/C Harpoon missiles Mark 57 deep-water mines Mark 60 CAPTOR mines Tomahawk Land Attack Missile

USS Hammerhead (SSN-663), a Sturgeon-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the hammerhead shark, a voracious fish found in warm seas, with a curious hammerlike head.

Construction and commissioning

The contract to build Hammerhead was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company at Newport News, Virginia, on 28 May 1964 and her keel was laid down there on 29 November 1965. She was launched on 14 April 1967, sponsored by Mrs. O. Clark Fisher, and commissioned on 28 June 1968.

Service history

In 1981, she won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the Atlantic Fleet.

Tom Clancy, author of the 1984 novel The Hunt for Red October, was given a brief ride into port aboard Hammerhead in the late 1980s prior to the filming of the 1990 film adaptation of the novel, also entitled The Hunt for Red October. After spotting a mounted roll of toilet paper in Hammerhead's sonar room used for wiping grease pencil markings off the screens in the rooms, he proclaimed his intention to write the contrasting image of the low-technology toilet paper mount among all of the complicated electronics and other equipment aboard Hammerhead into the film. True to his word, he did.

Decommissioning and disposal

Hammerhead, under the command of Commander Forrest Novacek, was decommissioned on 5 April 1995 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on the same day. Her scrapping via the Nuclear-Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, was completed on 22 November 1995.

References

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
•  This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.
• NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive Hammerhead (SSN-663)