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USS Whale (SSN 638)

USS WHALE was the second STURGEON - class fast attack submarine and the second ship in the Navy to bear the name. Both decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on June 25, 1996, the WHALE had already been deactivated on April 28, 1995, and entered the Navy's Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash., on October 20, 1995. Recycling of the submarine was finished on July 1, 1996.

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Crew List:

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

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USS WHALE History:

USS WHALE was the second United States Navy ship to bear the name WHALE and the second submarine of the STURGEON-class. She was built for the Cold War requirements of submerged endurance, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance, independent undersea operations, fleet exercises, Arctic operations, and deployments whose detailed tracks and objectives were often not publicly released.

The contract for USS WHALE was awarded on November 30, 1961, to the General Dynamics Quincy Shipbuilding Division at Quincy, Massachusetts. Her keel was laid there on May 27, 1964. She was part of the STURGEON-class, a design that grew out of the earlier THRESHER/PERMIT lineage and reflected the United States Navy's post-THRESHER (SSN 593) emphasis on submarine safety, quality assurance, seawater-system integrity, and improved survivability.

USS WHALE was launched on October 14, 1966, at Quincy. Her sponsor was Mrs. Russell B. Long, wife of Senator Russell B. Long of Louisiana. The launching was part of a double launching with USS SUNFISH (SSN 649), another STURGEON-class submarine. After fitting out, testing, and final preparation, USS WHALE was commissioned on October 12, 1968, with Commander William M. Wolff Jr. in command.

USS WHALE arrived at her first home port, Charleston, South Carolina, on November 2, 1968. After one week in port, she put to sea on November 9, 1968, for shakedown training. During November and December 1968, she completed shakedown training together with post-commissioning tests, trials, and qualifications. In January 1969, she began normal operations from Charleston, conducting attack-submarine training along the southeastern coast of the United States. This early period placed her in the Atlantic submarine force at a time when the United States Navy was simultaneously supporting the Vietnam War, tracking the growth of the Soviet submarine fleet, and refining the tactics and technology of nuclear attack-submarine operations.

On March 18, 1969, USS WHALE departed Charleston for northern operations above the Arctic Circle. On April 6, 1969, she reached and surfaced at the North Pole in commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of Rear Admiral Robert E. Peary's 1909 arrival there. This was an early and important STURGEON-class under-ice milestone. The event placed USS WHALE within the long line of American under-ice submarine operations that had begun with earlier nuclear submarines such as USS NAUTILUS (SSN 571), USS SKATE (SSN 578), USS SARGO (SSN 583), and USS SEADRAGON (SSN 584). Under-ice work had direct Cold War importance because the Arctic was close to Soviet Northern Fleet operating areas and because operations beneath ice tested navigation, communications, sonar, surfacing procedures, and equipment reliability in one of the most demanding environments for a submarine.

After the North Pole surfacing, USS WHALE completed her mission under the polar ice cap and headed south. She made a port visit to Faslane, Scotland, then returned across the Atlantic and arrived back at Charleston on May 9, 1969. Following two months of local operations from Charleston, she sailed to Groton, Connecticut, for her post-shakedown repair period at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics. After about three months in the shipyard, she left Groton on October 16, 1969, arrived back at Charleston on October 20, 1969, and conducted local operations for the remainder of the year.

During the first half of 1970, USS WHALE continued operations from Charleston. In late January 1970, she participated in tests with a Navy Underwater Demolition Team. In February and March 1970, she took part in three major fleet exercises. In April 1970, she headed north for a brief tour as a training ship for the Prospective Commanding Officers' School at New London, Connecticut. She returned to Charleston at the end of the first week in May and spent the remainder of that month conducting acoustic trials. These activities show the normal early-career pattern of a new nuclear attack submarine: local operations, weapons and acoustic trials, services to training commands, and participation in fleet-level exercises intended to improve anti-submarine warfare readiness.

Commander Thomas A. Mayberry Jr. relieved Commander Wolff on January 24, 1970. USS WHALE departed Charleston on July 27, 1970, for an overseas deployment. That cruise initially concluded in mid-September with visits to Faslane and Holy Loch, Scotland. While she was in Scotland, the Jordanian crisis of September 1970, brought on by fighting between the Jordanian government and the Palestine Liberation Organization and aggravated by Syrian armored intervention in northern Jordan, led the United States to increase its visible naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean. USS WHALE received orders to join the United States Sixth Fleet and did so near the end of September 1970. She remained in the Mediterranean through October and into November. When the crisis eased, she headed back across the Atlantic and arrived at Charleston on November 18, 1970, remaining there for the rest of the year. This was one of the early examples in her career of an attack submarine's deployment being shaped by a wider geopolitical crisis.

During the first half of 1971, three fleet exercises and local operations from Charleston occupied USS WHALE. Late in July 1971, she deployed again for special operations in the Atlantic Ocean. The cruise concluded late in September at Bremerhaven, West Germany. USS WHALE returned to Charleston on October 12, 1971, and resumed local operations. That routine continued into 1972. On March 20, 1972, she departed again for another special operations cruise in the Atlantic. At the end of that voyage, she made a brief call at Holy Loch, Scotland, before returning to Charleston on June 9, 1972.

Almost two months later, USS WHALE left Charleston and shifted north to Naval Submarine Base New London, Connecticut, which became her new home port. Commander Guy H. Curtis III relieved Commander Mayberry on July 22, 1972, just before this major yard period. On August 7, 1972, USS WHALE entered the Electric Boat shipyard at Groton for a 46-week overhaul. She remained under repair and overhaul at Groton until October 27, 1973. After the overhaul, USS WHALE completed post-overhaul shakedown and refresher training in November and December 1973. She then began preparations for another Mediterranean deployment. The strategic background was the Middle Eastern crisis that followed the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War, in which the United States and the Soviet Union both watched the region closely and the Sixth Fleet remained a central American tool for presence and crisis response. Late in January 1974, however, USS WHALE was notified that her deployment had been delayed until May. During the interim, she conducted normal operations from Groton, including submarine anti-submarine warfare exercises, attack-submarine training, and the major fleet exercise Operation Safe Passage.

On May 3, 1974, USS WHALE departed Groton for the Mediterranean. On May 12, 1974, she shifted operational control from the United States Second Fleet to the Sixth Fleet. While in the Mediterranean, she participated in two North Atlantic Treaty Organization exercises, International Week and Dale Falcon, with units of the Greek and Italian navies. She also conducted several anti-submarine warfare exercises with other Sixth Fleet units. The Mediterranean remained a central Cold War maritime theater, with Soviet naval forces active there and the United States maintaining the Sixth Fleet to support North Atlantic Treaty Organization interests, monitor Soviet movements, and respond to regional crises. USS WHALE passed through the Strait of Gibraltar and shifted operational control back to Commander, Submarine Force, Atlantic Fleet, on October 18, 1974. During the voyage back to Groton, she took part in a fleet anti-submarine warfare exercise that ended on October 28, 1974. She arrived at Groton on October 30, 1974.

USS WHALE spent the next eleven months operating from Groton. Tests and evaluations occupied January and the first half of February 1975. Between February and June 1975, she provided training services for Atlantic Fleet units and for prospective commanding officers. Late in the summer, she served as a training platform for midshipmen during indoctrination cruises. Commander Linton F. Brooks relieved Commander Curtis on July 11, 1975. On September 29, 1975, USS WHALE stood out from Groton for another deployment with the Sixth Fleet. During that cruise, she took part in the major Second Fleet exercise Ocean Safari before joining Sixth Fleet forces in the Mediterranean. Once there, she participated in a series of unilateral, bilateral, and multilateral exercises with units of the Greek, French, Italian, and Dutch navies. She completed her Sixth Fleet tour during the second week of March 1976 and arrived back at Groton on March 26, 1976.

After returning from the Mediterranean, USS WHALE resumed normal East Coast operations until September 9, 1976, when she entered Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine, for a refueling overhaul. A refueling overhaul was one of the most important maintenance events in a nuclear submarine's service life, involving reactor-related work and extensive modernization and repair. USS WHALE remained in the shipyard until July 7, 1978, when the overhaul concluded. She then spent the remainder of 1978 in refresher training and weapons-system certification, rebuilding the full range of operational qualifications needed after the long yard period. Commander Clayton K. Morse relieved Commander Brooks on October 10, 1978, during the final phase of this post-overhaul recovery period.

In April 1979, USS WHALE departed Groton for another Mediterranean deployment. Public summaries of this deployment record port visits to Sousse, Tunisia; La Spezia, La Maddalena, and Naples, Italy; and Tangier, Morocco. While in the Mediterranean, she participated in fleet exercises. This deployment returned her to the Sixth Fleet pattern that had defined much of her 1970s service: independent submarine operations, anti-submarine warfare work, allied exercises, and port visits around the Mediterranean basin. After the deployment, from the fall of 1979 into 1980, USS WHALE was in an extended period of refit and repair, described publicly as a Selected Restricted Availability in a floating dry dock at Groton.

After refloating, workups, and training, USS WHALE proceeded south for torpedo proficiency exercises and made a liberty visit to Port Everglades, Florida. During the remainder of 1980 and the early part of 1981, she conducted short training and test deployments. Public summaries associate this period with exercises named Thunderbuoy and Whitefish. Commander Emil D. Morrow relieved Commander Morse on February 22, 1981. In June 1981, USS WHALE deployed again to the Mediterranean. She stopped at Cartagena, Spain, on the way, and then spent about six months in the Mediterranean.

The 1981 Mediterranean deployment took place during renewed tension in and around Libya. The United States challenged Libyan claims in the Gulf of Sidra, and in August 1981 American carrier aircraft shot down two Libyan aircraft after being fired upon during operations in the area. USS WHALE's role is general rather than tactical; she is recorded as having operated in the Mediterranean during this period and as having taken part in the broader American naval posture that challenged Libyan claims. She made periodic upkeep visits alongside the submarine tender USS ORION (AS 18) at La Maddalena, Sardinia. By early 1982, she was back at Groton, carrying out shorter training and workup operations.

In May 1982, USS WHALE departed on an Atlantic deployment that included a stop at Faslane, Scotland. After this deployment, she earned a Battle Efficiency "E", indicating overall excellence in readiness and performance within her command environment. Commander James E. Welsch relieved Commander Morrow on March 24, 1983. In mid-1983, USS WHALE carried out a combined North Atlantic deployment followed by an abbreviated Mediterranean patrol. This deployment was associated with relief of commitments that otherwise would have fallen to USS TULLIBEE (SSN 597), and it became known informally as the "Nor-Med Run". Recorded port visits during the deployment included Holy Loch, Scotland; Toulon, France; La Spezia, Italy; and La Maddalena, Italy. USS WHALE left La Maddalena on Christmas Day 1983 and returned to Groton in January 1984.

During 1984, USS WHALE spent much of the year in upkeep, refit, drills, and shorter training deployments. Public summaries specifically note a one-week visit to St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. In January 1985, she again deployed to the Mediterranean. Recorded port visits during this deployment included Holy Loch, Scotland; Brest, France; La Maddalena, Italy; and Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Commander John W. Francis relieved Commander Welsch on October 18, 1985. In November 1985, USS WHALE was temporarily reassigned to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, Washington, for an overhaul period. She remained at Bremerton through 1986 and into 1988. In January 1988 she was still completing the overhaul. After sea trials, she left Washington in May 1988 for return to her home port at Groton. During the transfer, she crossed the equator on June 17, 1988, and transited the Panama Canal on June 19, 1988. She then returned to Groton as an operational unit of Submarine Squadron Ten.

USS WHALE's next major deployment was to the Mediterranean from January 1989 through June 1989. Public summaries record port visits in Scotland, Portugal, Spain, and Italy. Commander Ronald D. Deering relieved Commander Francis on June 26, 1989, after this deployment. The year came as the Cold War was beginning to change rapidly. Political movements in Eastern Europe were weakening Soviet control, and by the end of 1989 the Berlin Wall had fallen. USS WHALE, however, still served within a submarine force structured around North Atlantic, Mediterranean, Arctic, and anti-submarine warfare commitments developed during decades of competition with the Soviet Navy.

From August 1990 through December 1990, USS WHALE deployed to the North Atlantic under Commander Deering. For this deployment, she was awarded her fifth Meritorious Unit Commendation. The deployment took place during a year of major geopolitical transition. Germany reunified on October 3, 1990, while the United States was also responding to Iraq's August 2, 1990, invasion of Kuwait.

In 1991, USS WHALE received the last Battle Efficiency "E" awarded by Submarine Squadron Ten. She was then assigned to Submarine Squadron Two and conducted another North Atlantic deployment, publicly described as a second "Northern Run". This shift from Submarine Squadron Ten to Submarine Squadron Two reflected the reorganization and contraction of the submarine force as the Cold War ended. Commander Andrew V. Harris Jr. relieved Commander Deering on November 23, 1991.

In 1992, under Commander Harris, USS WHALE participated in Unitas XXXIII, the long-running annual exercise series with South American navies. During Unitas XXXIII, she circumnavigated South America and made port calls in Puerto Rico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Panama, and Colombia. She again crossed the equator and transited the Panama Canal from south to north before returning to port in November 1992. The Panama visit was marked by the death of the ship's chief yeoman from a heart attack, a personal loss that stands out in the otherwise operational public record. The Unitas deployment placed USS WHALE in a hemispheric naval-diplomacy and training role, allowing South American navies to train with a nuclear-powered attack submarine while the United States Navy maintained long-standing regional exercise relationships during the early post-Cold War period.

In 1993, USS WHALE operated in the western Atlantic and Caribbean areas. Public summaries record a visit to Bermuda while she was transiting from the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center torpedo firing range and Florida ports of call. The same year, she conducted a scientific exercise under the ice cap at the North Pole and in the North Atlantic. This late-career return to polar work echoed her 1969 North Pole surfacing and showed that, even near the end of her service life, she remained useful for under-ice and scientific-support operations.

Commander Kenneth S. Pugh relieved Commander Harris on January 21, 1994, becoming USS WHALE's final commanding officer. In 1994, USS WHALE deployed to the Arctic in support of combined United States and Royal Navy testing of submarine equipment and collection of environmental data in the polar region. Public summaries identify HMS TRENCHANT (S 91) as the British submarine associated with this work, and the Arctic Submarine Laboratory chronology records USS WHALE, under Commander Pugh, as conducting Arctic operations in 1994. During Joint Subicex 1-94, USS WHALE surfaced at the North Pole on April 16, 1994, twenty-five years and ten days after her first North Pole surfacing. Around this period, she also completed a polar longitude circumnavigation by crossing all lines of longitude while operating around the North Pole, an unusual geographic achievement made possible by operating at the pole rather than by circumnavigating the globe in the conventional sense. After the Arctic work, she made visits to Norway, Germany, and Scotland and returned to Submarine Squadron Two in July 1994.

After returning from this final major Arctic operating period, USS WHALE entered the last phase of her career. She was deactivated while still in commission on April 28, 1995. On October 1, 1995, she was placed in reserve, in commission. On October 20, 1995, she entered the Navy's Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington. She was formally decommissioned on June 25, 1996, and struck from the Naval Vessel Register the same day. The recycling process was completed on July 1, 1996.

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