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USS Sturgeon (SSN 637)

USS STURGEON was the first ship in the STURGEON - class of nuclear powered attack submarines. Named after the large, bony-plated fish with an elongated body which is found in both fresh and salt water, especially in the North Temperate Zone, and which is an important source of caviar and isinglass, the USS STURGEON was the third ship in the Navy to bear the name.

After more than 27 years of service, the STURGEON was both decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on August 1, 1994. The submarine subsequently entered the Navy's Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA. Recycling of the USS STURGEON was completed on December 11, 1995.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS STURGEON. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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Accidents aboard USS STURGEON:

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USS STURGEON History:

USS STURGEON was the third United States Navy ship to bear the name STURGEON and the lead ship and namesake of the STURGEON-class nuclear-powered attack submarines, although sistership USS QUEENFISH (SSN 651) entered commission before her. STURGEON was designed for Cold War undersea operations: anti-submarine warfare, surveillance, intelligence-related missions, fleet exercises, submerged endurance, under-ice work, and operations whose detailed routes and objectives were often not publicly released.

The contract for USS STURGEON was awarded on November 30, 1961, to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics at Groton, Connecticut. Her keel was laid there on August 10, 1963. She was the namesake of a new class developed from the earlier THRESHER/PERMIT design line. The loss of USS THRESHER (SSN 593) on April 10, 1963, shaped the construction and safety environment in which USS STURGEON was built, and the class incorporated the Navy's post-THRESHER emphasis on improved submarine safety, quality assurance, seawater-system integrity, and operational survivability. Compared with the preceding PERMIT-class boats, the STURGEON-class design provided more internal volume and improved arrangements for sensors, equipment, and under-ice capability, while retaining the general Cold War attack-submarine mission of locating, tracking, and, if required, attacking enemy submarines and surface ships.

USS STURGEON was launched at Groton on February 26, 1966. Her sponsor was Mrs. Everett McKinley Dirksen, wife of Senator Everett M. Dirksen of Illinois. After fitting out and trials, USS STURGEON was commissioned on March 3, 1967, with Lieutenant Commander Curtis B. Shellman Jr. in command. Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, Chairman of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, delivered the commissioning address and emphasized the importance of nuclear power in both military and civilian use.

USS STURGEON spent her first month after commissioning in refresher training and began her shakedown cruise on April 3, 1967. She operated down the United States East Coast and into Caribbean waters, with recorded port calls at Norfolk, Virginia; Charleston, South Carolina; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; St. Croix in the American Virgin Islands; and Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico. She returned to Groton for repairs, alterations, maintenance, and training, remaining there until September 18, 1967, when she departed on extended submarine operations. She returned on October 2, 1967, and was transferred to Submarine Development Group Two. This early assignment reflected the role of the nameship of a new submarine class: USS STURGEON was not only entering fleet service but also contributing to the evaluation of submarine systems, tactics, and performance.

On January 22, 1968, USS STURGEON began a five-week anti-submarine warfare exercise designed to evaluate the relative effectiveness of STURGEON-class and PERMIT-class submarines. On March 3, 1968, one year after commissioning, she began a three-month post-shakedown availability for alterations and repairs. When the yard period ended in late spring and early summer, she was diverted into one of the most serious submarine-related events of the period: the search for USS SCORPION (SSN 589), which had gone missing while returning from deployment. USS STURGEON participated in the search in the vicinity of the Azores during late May and June 1968. The loss of USS SCORPION, only five years after USS THRESHER, reinforced the hazards of nuclear-submarine operations and the importance of the safety, search, and deep-ocean location capabilities being developed in the submarine force.

After the search effort, USS STURGEON spent July and August 1968 preparing for overseas deployment. She deployed from September to early November 1968. The deployment was significant enough that USS STURGEON was later awarded a Meritorious Unit Commendation for outstanding service during a period in 1968. From December 1968 through February 1969, she participated in tests and evaluation of a new sonar detection device. This work fit the larger Cold War effort to improve acoustic detection, classification, and tracking of Soviet submarines, especially as both sides were expanding their nuclear submarine fleets.

In March 1969, USS STURGEON visited the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. After that visit, she carried out an intensive crew training period before deploying again from May to July 1969. In August and September 1969, she participated in fleet submarine exercises. From September 29 to October 31, 1969, she carried out a project for the Chief of Naval Operations. In December 1969, USS STURGEON received a second Meritorious Unit Commendation for service during a period earlier that year. These two commendations in her first operational years show how quickly the nameship of the class was placed into demanding work, including technical evaluation, fleet training, and special operational tasks.

After further training and preparations, USS STURGEON deployed from January 29 to April 8, 1970. In May and June 1970, she aided in the evaluation of aircraft anti-submarine warfare tactics and equipment. From July 1 to July 26, 1970, she participated in a submarine exercise, and from August 15 to September 1, 1970, she conducted sound trials. On October 5, 1970, USS STURGEON began an overhaul at Groton. While she was in the shipyard, she was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation in December 1970 for exceptionally meritorious service during a period earlier that year. The overhaul lasted until October 5, 1971.

When USS STURGEON completed the Groton overhaul, she was assigned to Submarine Squadron Ten, based at New London, Connecticut. From October 6 to December 15, 1971, she completed refresher training and a post-overhaul shakedown cruise. From December 16, 1971, through January 16, 1972, she was in a leave and upkeep period. She then participated in two anti-submarine warfare exercises before returning to Groton for repairs and alterations from March 6 to May 27, 1972. She conducted sea trials until July 15, 1972, when she began a sonar-system test program that continued until mid-December 1972. The year was therefore dominated less by deployment and more by testing, repair, and sonar-related evaluation, consistent with her continuing role in the refinement of attack-submarine systems and tactics.

From January 1 to April 2, 1973, USS STURGEON conducted local operations in the Narragansett Bay area. On April 3, 1973, she departed for the Fleet Weapons Range in the Caribbean. On May 21, 1973, while operating off the United States Virgin Islands, she ran aground near St. Croix and sustained damage to her bow. No injuries were reported, and the nuclear reactor was not affected. USS STURGEON proceeded under her own power to Frederiksted, St. Croix, and later returned to Groton, arriving on June 4, 1973, for repairs. She returned to sea for local operations from July 17 to October 1, 1973, and then entered Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine, for bow repairs. She remained in the shipyard until April 22, 1974.

After sea trials, USS STURGEON returned to New London for a ten-day upkeep period. She then operated from New London until August 13, 1974, when she departed for Norfolk, Virginia, to join other fleet units participating in Atlantic Readiness Exercise 1-75. After that exercise, she returned to New London for local training in preparation for overseas movement. On November 29, 1974, USS STURGEON stood out to sea en route to the Mediterranean for a scheduled six-month deployment with the United States Sixth Fleet. She arrived in the Mediterranean on December 9, 1974. She spent Christmas and New Year's in Naples, Italy, and then continued Sixth Fleet work that included anti-submarine warfare activity and other operations. This deployment placed her in one of the central Cold War naval theaters. The Mediterranean Sea was an area of sustained American, NATO, and Soviet naval activity, with the Sixth Fleet supporting NATO's southern flank, monitoring Soviet ships and submarines, and maintaining a presence during a decade marked by Middle Eastern crises and superpower naval competition.

USS STURGEON remained with the Sixth Fleet into 1975 and returned to New London in May 1975. After post-deployment standdown, she carried out midshipman operations and participated in exercises including MOBY DICK and OCEAN SAFARI. Exercise OCEAN SAFARI was a major NATO maritime exercise in the North Atlantic and Norwegian Sea region, designed to test command and control, sea-lane defense, anti-submarine warfare, and reinforcement of Europe by sea. USS STURGEON's participation ended with a port visit to Rosyth, Scotland.

In June 1976, USS STURGEON was transferred from Submarine Squadron Ten to Submarine Squadron Four, homeported at Charleston, South Carolina. The move shifted her regular operating base from New London to Charleston and placed her in the Atlantic Fleet submarine community centered on the South Carolina naval complex. The Charleston-based squadron supported Atlantic, Caribbean, Mediterranean, and northern operations, and its boats frequently worked with surface ships, aircraft, NATO units, and submarine tenders. USS STURGEON's transfer also marked the beginning of the second main phase of her career, in which Charleston replaced New London as her principal home port.

After the transition to Charleston and subsequent local and training activity, USS STURGEON deployed again to the Mediterranean in May 1978. During this deployment, she conducted special operations, participated in Mediterranean ASW Week, and took part in National Week XXV. She was commended by Commander Sixth Fleet for her performance and returned to Charleston in November 1978. The deployment came during a period of continuing Soviet naval presence in the Mediterranean and repeated NATO concern over the security of southern European sea lanes.

In 1979, USS STURGEON prepared for another deployment. She deployed from June to September 1979 and made recorded port visits at Holy Loch, Scotland, and Wilhelmshaven, West Germany. Holy Loch was a major American submarine support site in Scotland, especially associated with fleet ballistic missile submarine support, while Wilhelmshaven was an important West German naval port. The deployment placed USS STURGEON in northern European and North Atlantic waters at a time of continuing NATO focus on Soviet submarine movements through the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom gap and into the Atlantic. After returning to Charleston, she entered a Selected Restricted Availability at Charleston Naval Shipyard.

In September 1980, USS STURGEON again departed for the Mediterranean. During this deployment, she conducted anti-submarine warfare operations and participated in a United States Navy passing exercise with the 30th Air Wing of Italy. She returned to Charleston in February 1981 for standdown and upkeep. The deployment occurred just after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979, during a period of renewed Cold War tension and increased attention to Soviet naval power. American attack submarines remained central to monitoring Soviet submarines and supporting fleet operations in forward areas.

In August 1981, USS STURGEON participated in Operation OCEAN VENTURE 81, Phase IV. On September 1, 1981, she crossed the Arctic Circle at longitude 006 degrees 41 minutes east. For fiscal year 1981, she received the Battle Efficiency "E", the Engineering "E", the Anti-Submarine Warfare and Operations "A", and the Damage Control "DC". These awards indicated strong performance across combat readiness, engineering, operational performance, and damage-control readiness. The Arctic-circle crossing also reflected a major feature of the STURGEON-class design: its usefulness in northern and under-ice operations, an area of particular importance because Soviet ballistic-missile submarines and attack submarines operated from bases in the Arctic and northern fleet areas.

From January 1982 to March 1982, USS STURGEON conducted special operations. During this period, she became the first United States nuclear-powered submarine to visit Brest, France, and the first United States nuclear-powered submarine to visit a French port since 1969. The visit was significant because France had withdrawn from NATO's integrated military command structure in 1966 while remaining politically aligned with the West, and American nuclear-submarine port visits to French ports were therefore comparatively unusual. USS STURGEON's Brest visit showed a specific instance of cooperation within the broader western maritime security environment, even as the detailed nature of her special operations remained publicly limited.

The public chronology for 1983 includes a specific humanitarian episode during another period of Mediterranean-related activity. On July 21, 1983, USS STURGEON and USS SILVERSIDES (SSN 679) were alongside the submarine tender USS ORION (AS 18) at La Maddalena, Sardinia, when the three American ships provided several hundred sailors to help fight fires ashore and assist local rescue efforts. The episode is unusual in USS STURGEON's record because it is a public account of assistance ashore rather than an undersea mission, technical evaluation, or fleet exercise.

In March 1984, USS STURGEON supported a multinational amphibious task group operating in the eastern Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea. During that operation, she visited Trondheim, Norway. The exercise environment again placed her in waters of direct Cold War significance, near the northern approaches through which Soviet Northern Fleet submarines could move toward the Atlantic. Later in 1984, USS STURGEON also made a port visit to Portsmouth, England, from July 17 to July 20. These documented port visits show that she remained active in European and northern waters during the period between her 1981 Arctic-circle activity and her later mid-1980s modernization.

In January 1985, USS STURGEON supported special warfare operations with Navy SEALs and conducted a record number of lock-ins and lock-outs. Such operations used the submarine's ability to embark, deploy, recover, and conceal special-operations personnel, a mission that became increasingly important for nuclear attack submarines during the late Cold War. In February 1985, she conducted two special Chief of Naval Operations operational evaluations on USS FLYING FISH (SSN 673). In March 1985, she hosted Commander Submarine Group Six, Rear Admiral Stanley Catola, together with local businessmen and community leaders, on a dependents' cruise. After these activities, USS STURGEON entered a non-refueling overhaul at Charleston Naval Shipyard.

The Charleston overhaul was completed in November 1986. During this work, USS STURGEON's sonar was upgraded to the BQQ-5C configuration, her fire-control system was upgraded to CCS Mark 1, and she received the ability to employ Tomahawk missiles. These changes were part of the wider effort to keep older nuclear attack submarines militarily useful as the Navy introduced new weapons, modernized sensors, and adapted to a more demanding late-Cold-War maritime environment. The overhaul also returned USS STURGEON to the fleet with systems better suited to the tactical and strike possibilities emerging in the 1980s.

In early 1987, USS STURGEON completed tests and certifications for her updated systems. In August 1987, she deployed to the Mediterranean, her first deployment since the mid-1980s modernization period. She remained in the Mediterranean for the rest of 1987. USS STURGEON returned to Charleston on January 31, 1988. Her 1987 deployment took place during a period when the United States Navy was still operating at a high Cold War tempo, but when political conditions were beginning to shift as arms-control negotiations and Soviet internal reform gradually changed the strategic context.

The year 1988 was a strong inspection and readiness year for USS STURGEON. She passed a surprise Operational Reactor Safeguards Examination with superior performance, completed a Tactical Readiness Evaluation with an above-average grade, and passed a Nuclear Propulsion Training Inspection with outstanding results in ten of twelve categories. She then entered a Selected Restricted Availability to update the fire-control system for Mark 48 Advanced Capability torpedo employment. For fiscal year 1988, USS STURGEON was judged one of the outstanding submarines in the Atlantic Fleet and received a second consecutive Battle Efficiency "E", an Engineering "E", and a Supply "E" for Submarine Squadron Four.

In March 1989, USS STURGEON deployed to the Arctic Ocean for ICEX 1-89. The Arctic Submarine Laboratory chronology identifies Commander David P. Cocolin as commanding officer during 1989 Arctic operations. During ICEX 1-89, USS STURGEON operated in the ice environment, hosted a congressional delegation on the ice pack, conducted missions of scientific importance, and participated in a joint operation with the British Navy intended to further develop anti-submarine warfare capabilities. The Arctic remained one of the most important undersea regions of the late Cold War. Operations under and near the ice tested navigation, sonar, communications, weapons employment, and emergency procedures in an environment directly relevant to tracking Soviet submarines operating from northern bases.

USS STURGEON returned to Charleston in June 1989. In September 1989, Hurricane Hugo struck Charleston and caused severe damage across the region. USS STURGEON was in port because of a steam-generator inspection and did not leave before the storm, but she came through without damage. In the aftermath, sailors from USS STURGEON assisted the local community and provided help to 643 families.

USS STURGEON deployed again from June to September 1990. For fiscal year 1990, she was awarded the Battle Efficiency "E", the Engineering "E", the Anti-Submarine Warfare "A", and the Supply "E". Her 1990 activity occurred during a year of major geopolitical change: the Cold War structure in Europe was collapsing, Germany reunified on October 3, 1990, and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990, led to Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

In January 1991, USS STURGEON participated in Operation SWAMP FOX, a multi-unit exercise that included a port visit to Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico. From April to June 1991, she completed another successful deployment. She then entered a Selected Restricted Availability and underwent a complete refurbishing, leaving dry dock in mid-October. For her work in 1991, she again received the Battle Efficiency "E", the Anti-Submarine Warfare "A", and the Communications "C".

In 1992, USS STURGEON completed another SWAMP FOX exercise. After the exercise, she spent a week at Cape Canaveral, Florida. In late August 1992, she deployed to the North Atlantic but diverted to Faslane, Scotland, for repairs. After leaving Faslane for tests in the Irish Sea, she became entangled in an Irish fisherman's net. No one was injured, and the damage to both vessels was minor. USS STURGEON returned to Charleston for repairs.

The year 1993 was USS STURGEON's final full year of operation. Much of the year was occupied by intensive training for a highly sensitive Chief of Naval Operations project. In July 1993, USS STURGEON made a port visit to Port Everglades, Florida. In early October 1993, she departed Charleston to participate in SWAMP FOX 93-1 and then deployed. She returned to Charleston in late November 1993 after completing the deployment. By this point, the post-Cold War drawdown was well underway, Charleston Naval Shipyard was approaching closure, and many older nuclear attack submarines were being retired as the Navy reduced force structure and shifted toward newer LOS ANGELES-class and later-generation boats.

In December 1993 and January 1994, USS STURGEON's crew conducted intensive upkeep while preparing for her deactivation ceremony, several short operations, and the final transit to Bremerton, Washington. She was deactivated at Charleston, South Carolina, on January 14, 1994. Her formal decommissioning took place on August 1, 1994, and she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register the same day. After more than twenty-seven years of service, the nameship of the STURGEON-class left the active force as the Navy was reshaping itself for the post-Cold-War era.

After decommissioning, ex-USS STURGEON entered the Navy's Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington. Recycling was completed on December 11, 1995. Her sail was preserved and transferred to the United States Naval Undersea Museum at Keyport, Washington, where a ceremony on September 15, 1995, commemorated its installation. The preserved sail remains a visible artifact of the nameship of a class that formed one of the principal foundations of the American nuclear attack-submarine force during the Cold War.

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