Today's classic warship, USS Robert E. Lee (SSBN-601)
George Washington class ballistic missile nuclear submarine
Displacement. 5959 (surf.), 6709 (subm.)
Lenght. 381.6'
Beam. 33'
Draft. 29'
Speed. 16k (surf.), 22k (subm.)
Test depth. 700'
Complement. 12 officers - 100 enlisted men (each in 2 crews)
Armament. 16 missile tubes, 6-21" tt.
Robert E. Lee (SSBN-601) was laid down 25 August 1958 by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Va.; launched 18 December 1959; sponsored by Mrs. Hanson E. Ely II; and commissioned 16 September 1960, Comdr. Reuben F. Woodal (Blue Crew) and Comdr. Joseph Williams, Jr. (Gold Crew) in command.
The third nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine to join the fleet, and the first nuclear-powered ship built in the South, Robert E. Lee operated in and out of Newport News until 2 December 1960, when she got underway for the Narragansett Bay Operating Area for torpedo firing tests. Following the successful firing of five torpedoes on 6 December Robert E. Lee sailed for Cane Kennedy, arriving on the 12th. The submarine then loaded Polaris test missiles and 10 days later conducted her first missile launch. The Polaris ran "hot and true."
In January 1961, she conducted additional simulated missile launches and on the 15th departed for the Bermuda Operating Area. There, joined by Torsk (SS 423) on the 25th, she engaged in antisubmarine training. Returning to Norfolk on 30 January, Robert E. Lee entered the Newport News drydock on 3 February for a month of yardwork. She departed Newport News on 17 March, loaded torpedoes at Yorktown on the 25th, and got underway for Cape Kennedy, arriving 9 April.
The nuclear-powered submarine conducted "special operations" out of Cape Kennedy during May and June, and in late June sailed for Holy Loch, Scotland, where she joined Submarine Squadron 14 on 10 July. She conducted practice torpedo firing during the first week of August and departed Holy Loch 9 August on her first deterrent patrol.
During the next 2 years Robert E. Lee completed nine more deterrent patrols. On 10 September 1963, the submarine entered the floating drydock Los Alamos (AFDB-7) and on 4 October resumed her normal patrol schedule. Continuing to operate out of Holy Loch into 1964, the ballistic missile submarine got underway on 27 November for her 16th patrol which terminated on 28 January 1965 at Mare Island, Calif.
On 22 February, Robert E. Lee entered the Mare Island Division of the San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard for her first overhaul. Major items of work included refueling the reactor, reengineering of many ship systems to provide greater safety and reliability, modernization of the navigation system, and modification to the weapons system to give the submarine the capability of launching the improved MK 3 Polaris missile.
Emerging from overhaul after nearly a year and a half of work, Robert E. Lee got underway for sea trials on 12 July 1966. Sound trials and weapons system accuracy trials were conducted during the latter half of July, and on 5 August she entered San Diego harbor for a 5-day visit. Underway for the east coast on 10 August, Robert E. Lee transited the Panama Canal 20 August and arrived at Charleston, S.C., on 4 September.
During the remainder of September and the first week of October, the fleet ballistic submarine conducted shakedown operations off Cape Kennedy, Fla. On 10 October, with the Under Secretary of the Navy on board as an observer, Robert E. Lee successfully fired a nontactical Polaris A-3 missile. She returned to Charleston to commence a predeployment upkeep period at the Cooper River Site. On 4 December, she sailed from Charleston on her 17th deterrent patrol, which terminated at Holy Loch on 30 January 1967.
By 4 October, Robert E. Lee had completed three more patrols. Then drydocked in Los Alamos for minor repairs and hull surveillance, she resumed her patrol schedule on 1 November; completed her 21st patrol before entering drydock on 22 November for 2 weeks of repairs. She departed Holy Loch on 26 December for another patrol.
Robert E. Lee remained attached to Submarine Squadron 14 throughout 1969 and 70. Continuing to operate out of Holy Loch, she completed her 33d deterrent patrol by 1 January 1971.
Robert E. Lee was drydocked for her second overhaul 27 January 1971 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. She did not leave the drydock until 11 December and, afterward remained berthed at Puget Sound for the remainder of 1971. For the first seven months of 1972, Robert E. Lee was engaged in post-overhaul trials and exercises on the west coast. In midAugust she transited the Panama Canal and arrived in Charleston, S.C., 14 September. She continued normal operations, this time on the east coast, throughout 1972 and for the first seven months of 1973. Transiting the Panama Canal early in August, she arrived in San Diego on the 17th and then moved on to Pearl Harbor, arriving 5 September. After a month in Hawaii, she sailed for Apra, Guam. On October 15 she Successfully launched five A3T missiles in a Follow-On Operational Test (FOT).
From 1976 - 1978 the Robert E. Lee underwent her third refueling at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, CA. In the fall of 1978 the Robert E. Lee through the Panama Canal to Florida for DASO. Then the boat proceeded back through the Canal (while in the locks, the crew held a BBQ on the missile deck while waving at passengers on the Pacific Princess a.k.a. the "Love Boat").
Robert E. Lee proceeded to Bangor, WA and spent a month there while loading missiles, then proceeded to her home port in Hawaii, arriving in March 1979. From 1979 - 1981 she made deterrent patrols out of Guam. On October 1 ROBERT E. LEE completed her 55th patrol, which was also the US Navy’s last Polaris patrol. In January 1982 The Robert E. Lee left Pearl Harbor and headed for the explosive handling wharf at Bangor. On Febuary 28 Her A-3 missiles were off loaded and officially ended the US Navy's Polaris program.
On March 1 ROBERT E. LEE was redesignated SSN-601, then operated operated out of Pearl Harbor as an attack submarine with a consolidated crew for the next year (the crew nicknamed these operations as "slow attack"). During the summer of 1982, she deployed to San Diego to conduct Midshipmen operations and other exercises, then returned to Pearl Harbor.
In Feburary 1983 She entered Puget Sound Naval Shipyard to defuel the reactor and remove her missile section. On November 30 of that year, the USS Robert E. Lee (SSBN/SSN-601) and the USS Thomas A. Edison (SSBN/SSN-610) were was decommissioned in joint ceremony held aboard the USS Missouri (BB-63).
On September 30 1991 she was disposed of at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. The USS Robert E. Lee's reactor now lies buried in a trench at the Hanford Site, which occupies 560 square miles of south central Washington desert on a plateau about seven miles from the Columbia River.
Robert E. Lee was born on 19 January 1807. Happy Birthday General!