USS Blueback (SS-581)

USS Blueback (SS-581)

USS Blueback (SS-581) in the 1960s
History
United States
Namesake:	Blueback
Awarded:	29 June 1956
Builder:	Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi
Laid down:	15 April 1957
Launched:	16 May 1959
Sponsored by:	Mrs. Kenmore McManes, wife of Rear Admiral McManes
Commissioned:	15 October 1959
Decommissioned:	1 October 1990
Struck:	30 October 1990
Status:	Donated to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type:	Barbel-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,744 long tons (1,772 t) light 2,146 long tons (2,180 t) full 2,637 long tons (2,679 t) submerged 402 long tons (408 t) dead
Length:	219 ft 6 in (66.90 m) overall
Beam:	29 ft (8.8 m)
Draft:	25 ft (7.6 m) max
Propulsion:	3 × Fairbanks-Morse 38 8-1/8 diesel engines, total 3,150 bhp (2,350 kW) 2 × General Electric electric motors, total 4,800 bhp (3,600 kW) one screw
Speed:	12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) surfaced 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) submerged
Endurance:	30 minutes at full speed 102 hours at 3 knots (6 km/h; 3 mph)
Test depth:	712 ft (217 m) operating 1,050 ft (320 m) collapse
Complement:	8 officers, 69 men
Armament:	6 × 21 inch (533 mm) bow torpedo tubes, 18 torpedoes
USS Blueback
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
Coordinates	45°30′28″N 122°40′01″W / 45.507832°N 122.666878°W / 45.507832; -122.666878Coordinates: 45°30′28″N 122°40′01″W / 45.507832°N 122.666878°W / 45.507832; -122.666878
NRHP Reference #	08000947
Added to NRHP	18 September 2008

USS Blueback (SS-581) is a decommissioned Barbel-class submarine formerly in the United States Navy. She was the second Navy submarine to bear the name.

Blueback was laid down by Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation of Pascagoula, Mississippi on 15 April 1957. She was launched on 16 May 1959 sponsored by Mrs. Kenmore McManes, wife of Rear Admiral McManes, and commissioned on 15 October 1959, Lieutenant Commander Robert H. Gautier in command. She was the last non-nuclear submarine to join the United States Navy and was the final conventionally powered combat capable submarine to be decommissioned, leaving the United States Navy with a fully nuclear submarine fleet except for the research submarine USS Dolphin (AGSS-555).

Sources differ on the origin of Blueback's name. The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships entry for Blueback states that she is named after a

form of the rainbow or steelhead trout found only in Lake Crescent on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. The fish lives in deep water and is bluish black along its upper sides and whitish underneath.

Other sources state that she is named after the

most numerous of west coast salmon species. The blueback salmon ... is colored a bright blue with silver sides.

After fitting out, Blueback got underway in January 1960 for a series of acceptance trials in the Gulf of Mexico. She completed that mission and departed Pascagoula on 11 June, bound for the Pacific. She transited the Panama Canal on 7 July and continued on to her home port, Naval Station San Diego. There she was assigned to Submarine Squadron 3 (SUBRON 3), Submarine Force, Pacific Fleet. Blueback then carried out torpedo tube acceptance trials at Keyport, Washington, and underwent a post-shakedown availability at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. On 23 November 1960, the submarine was accepted for service.