USS Tautog SSN-639: History, Patrols, Crews

Commissioning

The USS Tautog, (SSN-639 submarine, nuclear-powered) was the third member of the Sturgeon class of nuclear fast attack submarines. It was the second vessel in U.S. Navy history named in honor of the small, edible, sport fish, also called blackfish or oysterfish, found off the U.S. Atlantic Coast.

The contract for the Tautog was awarded to Ingalls Shipbuilding of Pascagoula, Miss., on Nov. 30, 1961. Her keel was laid down on Jan. 27, 1964. She was launched on April 15, 1967, by Pauline Gore, the wife of then-Tennessee Senator Albert Gore, Sr. It was given the motto "Silent Vigilence."

The Tautog - also commonly known by its nickname, the "Terrible T" -- joined the active ranks of the Navy on Aug. 17, 1968, when she was formally commissioned with Commander Buele G. Balderston in command.

Underway

The Tautog was assigned to the Navy's Pacific Fleet, where it served as the flagship of Submarine Division 12. After a year of tests and trials, the Tautog began its first patrol out of its homeport of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on February 1970.

On June 20, 1970, the Tautog was trailing a Soviet Echo II-class guided missile submarine, later identified as the K-108, off the USSR's Kamchatka peninsula. The two submarines collided; though the sonar operators aboard Tautog thought they heard the K-108 break apart after the collision, both submarines were able to successfully return to their respective home ports without any loss of crew.
The Tautog continued regular operations in the waters of the Far East until January 1973, when she entered dry dock at Pearl Harbor for an overhaul. The overhaul was completed 15 months later.

The Tautog stayed in the waters near the Hawaiian Islands until 1977, when it was sent on a goodwill visit to Mombasa, Kenya. After a month docked in Mombasa (Jan. 24-Feb. 24), the Tautog started back for Hawaii, only to be quickly turned back to the African coast. The submarine joined a task force, led by the USS Enterprise, sent to the coast in response to Ugandan President Idi Amin's taking hostage all U.S. citizens in that country. Amin eventually released the hostages and the Tautog headed east a second time on March 19.

The Tautog spent all of 1979 at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, Calif., undergoing a second refurbishment. After it left dry dock in 1980, she returned to normal operations in the Pacific. With the exception of a final overhaul in 1986, the Tautog would remain on duty in the Pacific until 1997. During this time, it would visit Subic Bay in the Philippines; Okinawa, Perth, Australia; Singapore; Guam; Diego Garcia and Chinhae, South Korea.

Decommissioning

The Tautog was decommissioned on March 31, 1997 and struck from the Naval Vessel Register the same day. It entered the Navy's Ship-Submarine Recycling Program at Bremerton, Wash., where it was scrapped in 2004. The mast of the Tautog was preserved and shipped to Seawolf Park in Galveston, Tx., where it was flipped over by the winds of Hurricane Ike in September 2008.

Characteristics of the USS Tautog (Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Type: Nuclear-powered fast attack submarine
Displacement: 3,860 t. surfaced (3,920 t), 4,640 t. submerged (4,600 m³)
Length: 292 ft 3 in (89.1 m)
Beam: 31 ft 8 in (9.7 m)
Draft: 28 ft 8 in (8.7 m)
Propulsion: one S5W nuclear reactor, two steam turbines, one propeller, 15,000 shp. (11.2 MW)
Speed: 15 kt. surfaced, (28 km/h), 25 kt. submerged (46 km/h)
Test depth: 1,300 ft (400 m)
Crew Complement: 107
Armament: four 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes; Mark 48 torpedoes, UUM-44A SUBROC Harpoon Missiles, Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles

Career:
Name: USS Tautog (SSN-639)
Namesake: The Tautog fish
Ordered: 30 November 1961
Builder: Ingalls Shipbuilding of Pascagoula, Mississippi
Laid down: 27 January 1964
Launched: 15 April 1967
Commissioned: 17 August 1968
Decommissioned: 31 March 1997
Struck: 31 March 1997
Motto: Silent Vigilance
Nickname: The "Terrible T" or Togatory
Fate: Ship-Submarine Recycling Program

Timeline:
November 1961: Contract for construction of USS Tautog awarded
January 1964: Keel laid for the USS Tautog
April 1967: USS Tautog launched
August 1968: USS Tautog commissioned
April 1969: USS Tautog surfaces at the North Pole
June 1970: USS Tautog and Soviet submarine K-108 collide in the waters off the Kamchatka peninsula. No casualties are reported on either side.
Spring 1977: USS Tautog visits Mombasa, Kenya, then joins hastily assembled task force intended to provide a show of force to Ugandan President Idi Amin, who has taken all U.S. citizens in Uganda hostage. Amin releases the hostages without incident after a month.
March 1997: USS Tautog decommissioned
2004: USS Tautog scrapped
September 2008: Mast of USS Tautog damaged by Hurricane Ike

Crewmembers of the USS Tautog:

An unofficial list of crew members that served on the USS Tautog can be found on the unofficial navy website at: http://navysite.de. This list is compiled by former crewmembers that voluntarily register. Some quoted comments from former crewmembers are listed below; many more are available on the source website at the following web address: http://navysite.de/ssn/ssn639.htm

Eric Jackson (Served June 1992-July 1996): "Life aboard the Tog was more than incredible. To learn to launch the most feared bullets on earth gave me reason to live."
Terry Kilpatrick (Served January 1993-December 1993): "Great memories and glad to have served with a great crew."
Scotty Courson (Served September 1993-June 1997): "Serving on the Tog was the best and worst time of my life, that's for sure, and I would do it all again!"
Edgar Licon (Served February 1993-December 1996): "It was great to be cooking for a bunch of crazy guys."

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