Sail of the USS George Washington (SSBN-598)

 museum, military, submarine, display, United States Navy

USS George Washington was the lead boat in her Class of Ballistic Missile Submarines built for the US Navy, laid down at General Dynamics Electric Boat Shipyard in November 1958 and commissioned into US Navy service in December 1959.

Though the George Washington was originally laid down as the Skipjack Class Attack Submarine USS Scorpion, her construction was altered and a 130ft hull section containing her missile tubes inserted, thus transforming her from an Attack Submarine to a Ballistic Missile Submarine. The successful completion and commissioning of the George Washington served as proof-of-concept to her design, and her four sisterships were subsequently built to the same standard as the first Submarines designed from the keel-up to carry and launch nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles while submerged.

Joining the US Atlantic Fleet following her shakedown cruise, the George Washington spent her first year of service conducting extensive testing of her ballistic missile capabilities, which included the first successful launches of Polaris missiles from a Submarine in July 1960. Standing out on her first deterrent patrol with the US Atlantic Fleet in late 1960, the George Washington began regular deployments to serve as both a first strike and deterrent platform against the Soviet Union while operating out of both Holy Loch, Scotland and New London.

Joining the US Pacific Fleet in 1966 following her first nuclear refueling, the George Washington continued her routine deterrent patrols throughout the Pacific based out of Pearl Harbor for the next 15 years without incident until a high-profile collision with a Japanese cargo vessel sent her back to port for repairs to her sail. Stripped of her nuclear missiles in 1982 following her last deterrent patrol in order to comply with the SALT I treaty, the George Washington returned to duty in the Pacific as a standard Attack Submarine and continued her routine deployments into 1983 when she was ordered back to New London to rejoin the US Atlantic Fleet. Serving for just two years out of New London, the aging Submarine was formally decommissioned from US Navy service in January 1985.

Towed to Bremerton Naval Shipyard and placed into the Naval Ship-Submarine Recycling Program (NSSRP), the George Washington was defueled and declared scrapped in September 1998. Owing to her place in history as the first Ballistic Missile Submarine, the first Submarine to fire a Ballistic Missile and her crew's successful completion of 55 deterrent patrols in both the Atlantic & Pacific Oceans, the George Washington's sail was preserved and returned to New London where it is now displayed outside of the gates of the US Submarine Force Library and Museum.

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