HYMAN G. RICKOVER SSN-709 (USA)

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D. v. Nieuwenhuijzen
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HYMAN G. RICKOVER SSN-709 (USA)

Post by D. v. Nieuwenhuijzen » Thu Aug 17, 2017 6:31 pm

Built in 1981-'83 by General Dynamics Corporation, Groton, Connecticut for the US Navy.
laid down:24 July 1981, Launched:27 August 1983, Commissioned: 21 July 1984.
Los Angeles-class submarine, Displacement, Surfaced: 5748 t. Submerged: 6123 t. Length: 360', Beam: 33', Draft: 29', Speed, Surfaced 25 kn. Submerged 30+ kn. Depth limit 950'. Complement:129, Armament, four 21" torpedo tubes aft of bow can also launch Harpoon and Tomahawk ASM/LAM missiles & MK-48 torpedoes; Combat Systems, AN/BPS-5 surface search radar, AN/BPS-15 A/16 navigation and fire control radar, TB-16D passive towed sonar arrays, TB-23 passive "thin line" towed array, AN/BQG-5D wide aperture flank array, AN/BQQ-5D/E low frequency spherical sonar array, AN/BQS-15 close range active sonar (for ice detection); MIDAS Mine and Ice Detection Avoidance System, SADS-TG active detection sonar, Type 2 attack periscope (port), Type 18 search periscope (starboard), AN/BSY-1 (primary computer); UYK-7; UYK-43; UYK-44, WLR-9 Acoustic Intercept Receiver, ESM; Propulsion System, S6G nuclear reactor one propeller at 35,000 shp.
Decommissioned: 14 December 2006, fate: to be disposed of by submarine recycling.

USS HYMAN G. RICKOVER (SSN-709), a Los Angeles-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, pioneer of the nuclear Navy, and the only Los Angeles-class submarine not named after a United States city or town. It was initially to be named the USS PROVIDENCE however, following the retirement of Admiral Rickover, its name was reassigned prior to official christening. SSN-719 was later given the name USS PROVIDENCE.

The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut on 10 December 1973 and her keel was laid down on 24 July 1981. She was launched on 27 August 1983 sponsored by the Admiral's wife, Mrs. Eleonore Ann Bednowicz Rickover (whose first name is found in a wide variety of spellings, including Eleanore, Elenore, and Eleanor; Eleonore is used on the Admiral's gravestone[1]).

The RICKOVER was commissioned on 21 July 1984 with Captain Fredrik Spruitenburg in command. A commemorative plaque honoring the ship's namesake was placed within the sub after commissioning with the poem "Admiral Rickover," an eight-line tribute by writer Ronald W. Bell. The poem appears below, provided by the author and with his permission:

ADMIRAL RICKOVER
Possessed of a purpose
He forged a path
Across a frontier
Untried and new
Clinging to his course
He met the task
Threescore and more
He served for you.

(USA 2000, 33 c. StG.?)
Internet.
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ssn 709 z0001.jpg
USS_Hyman_G._Rickover_(SSN-709).jpg
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