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USS Spadefish (SSN 668)

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USS SPADEFISH was one of the STURGEON - class attack submarines and the second ship in the Navy to bear the name. After a final Persian Gulf deployment in 1996, SPADEFISH arrived at Bremerton, Wash., and remained at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Recycling activity is recorded as beginning on October 1, 1996. USS SPADEFISH was formally decommissioned and stricken on April 11, 1997, and recycling was completed on October 24, 1997.

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Crew List:

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

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Accidents aboard USS SPADEFISH:

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USS SPADEFISH History:

USS SPADEFISH was the second United States Navy ship to bear the name Spadefish, a name taken from a spiny-finned fish found in the coastal waters of the western Atlantic. The contract for USS SPADEFISH was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company at Newport News, Virginia, on March 9, 1965. Her keel was laid down on December 21, 1966. She was launched on May 15, 1968, sponsored by Mrs. Charles T. Booth, and commissioned on August 14, 1969, with Lieutenant Commander George M. Henson in command.

After commissioning, USS SPADEFISH completed shakedown in the Atlantic and then entered the normal post-shakedown cycle of correction, alteration, testing, and operational training. From April 1970 to June 1970, she underwent post-shakedown repairs and alterations at Newport News. In July 1970, she participated in anti-submarine warfare exercises in the North Atlantic. These early exercises placed the new submarine directly into the mission for which the STURGEON-class had been designed: detection, tracking, and engagement of submarines and surface ships in a Cold War maritime environment increasingly shaped by the Soviet submarine force. After returning to Norfolk, USS SPADEFISH deployed in the Atlantic from October 1970 to December 1970. Later ship material credits her with a Navy Unit Commendation for a 1970 independent operation.

On February 18, 1971, USS SPADEFISH departed on her second Atlantic deployment. During that deployment, she visited Faslane, Scotland, an important British naval and submarine support location. She returned to Norfolk on April 18, 1971. For the rest of 1971 she operated in the Norfolk area, conducting anti-submarine warfare exercises and attack-submarine training. Public ship material also records a Meritorious Unit Commendation for a 1971 operation. The combination of Atlantic deployment, Faslane port visit, local training, and command recognition reflects the high operational tempo of Norfolk-based nuclear attack submarines during the early 1970s, when the United States Navy maintained global commitments while also sustaining continuous readiness against Soviet naval forces.

During 1972, USS SPADEFISH continued training operations in the Norfolk area before deploying again to the Atlantic from June 1972 to August 1972. That deployment included a visit to Holy Loch, Scotland, the forward submarine support site in the United Kingdom best known for its role in supporting United States ballistic-missile submarines but also relevant to wider submarine activity. After returning to Norfolk, USS SPADEFISH deployed again in the Atlantic on October 10, 1972, and returned to Norfolk on December 17, 1972. In 1972, she received the Submarine Division Sixty-Two Battle Efficiency "E", a performance award reflecting readiness and operational effectiveness. These repeated deployments and exercises show the regular rhythm of an Atlantic Fleet attack submarine: local training, forward deployment, upkeep, renewed training, and another deployment.

Through June 1973, USS SPADEFISH operated from Norfolk along the United States East Coast. She conducted independent exercises, a fleet ballistic missile submarine security exercise, and independent attack-submarine training. In May and June 1973, she supported Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla Eight in an Atlantic readiness exercise and a sea-control exercise. This kind of work reflected the broader fleet role of nuclear attack submarines. They were not only independent undersea platforms but also essential training opponents and participants for surface forces, aircraft, and larger fleet formations trying to improve anti-submarine warfare and sea-control skills. At the end of June 1973, USS SPADEFISH spent a week at the Isle of Portland, England. In July 1973, she returned to the United States East Coast. At the beginning of September 1973, she entered Norfolk Naval Shipyard at Portsmouth, Virginia, for her first overhaul.

The overhaul period became notable because of a security incident. On January 21, 1974, while USS SPADEFISH was undergoing overhaul at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, the Navy publicly reported that it was investigating possible sabotage involving electrical wires that had been cut aboard the submarine. Public reporting indicated that wire-cutting incidents had occurred more than once since the fall of 1973. USS SPADEFISH completed the overhaul in July 1974 and resumed operations along the United States East Coast.

In February 1975, Commander John Stephen Perry became commanding officer. Under his command, USS SPADEFISH rebuilt her operating record after overhaul. Later ship material records that she reestablished her operational standing after the yard period and received a Meritorious Unit Commendation as the result of a Mediterranean Sea deployment in 1975. That deployment placed USS SPADEFISH in the United States Sixth Fleet environment. The Mediterranean in the mid-1970s was a major Cold War maritime theater, with regular Soviet naval activity, continuing regional instability after the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, and American concern over maintaining access, deterrence, and forward presence.

On July 21, 1976, USS SPADEFISH was connected to a training incident involving the former diesel-electric submarine USS CHOPPER (SS 342). USS CHOPPER had been decommissioned and modified for use as a tethered submerged torpedo target. During the target event off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, USS SPADEFISH was on her final approach when USS CHOPPER began taking on water, broke her tethers, and sank before USS SPADEFISH could fire.

After further anti-submarine fleet operations and independent operations, USS SPADEFISH received the Commander Submarine Squadron Six Battle Efficiency "E" in January 1978. Later that same month, she entered Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company for her first refueling overhaul. This was one of the major engineering and maintenance events of her service life. A refueling overhaul was a substantial shipyard availability involving the nuclear propulsion plant and broad repair, modernization, inspection, and testing work. USS SPADEFISH returned to active service with Submarine Squadron Six in July 1979. On August 25, 1979, Commander Mario P. Fiori relieved Commander Perry as commanding officer.

After returning from refueling overhaul, USS SPADEFISH went through post-overhaul tests, evaluations, and renewed operational training. In March 1980, she deployed to the Mediterranean for five months. This deployment occurred during a period of rising international tension. The Soviet intervention in Afghanistan had begun in December 1979, the Iranian Revolution had transformed the regional balance in the Middle East, and the United States Navy was maintaining a strong presence in the Mediterranean and adjacent regions.

In May 1981, USS SPADEFISH conducted what later ship material describes as a highly successful unsupported independent operation and received the Navy Unit Commendation as a result. In submarine usage, an unsupported independent operation implies an extended mission conducted without immediate tender or close fleet support. In March 1982, USS SPADEFISH conducted another new type of independent operation, described in later ship material as completely successful and of particular significance.

In November 1982, after prospective commanding officer training, Commander George P. Bardsley assumed command of USS SPADEFISH. Under his command, USS SPADEFISH continued active Cold War service. A significant independent submarine operation is documented for the period from February 1983 to April 1983. Public award-related material confirms the period and importance of the operation.

Under Commander Bardsley, USS SPADEFISH conducted Arctic operations from August 4, 1984, to November 5, 1984. Public Arctic records also associate USS SPADEFISH with a 1984 polar transit. Under-ice operations required specialized navigation, sonar use, communications procedures, surfacing knowledge, and ship control under conditions very different from normal open-ocean operations. In strategic terms, the Arctic was important because it lay close to Soviet northern approaches and because both Soviet and American submarines used northern waters as operating areas, transit routes, and potential bastions.

On October 25, 1985, Commander Dennis George Murphy relieved Commander Bardsley as commanding officer. Crew recollections and memorabilia indicate continued overseas and Mediterranean-associated activity during parts of the decade. Her role remained consistent with Atlantic Fleet attack-submarine missions: anti-submarine warfare, independent operations, surveillance, fleet exercises, and forward support.

On April 15, 1989, Commander Charles Ray Trahan Jr. became commanding officer. USS SPADEFISH remained in service during the final years before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Public imagery and memorabilia point to Mediterranean-associated activity around 1990. The wider context was that by 1990 the Navy was moving from late-Cold-War routines into the crisis period created by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 and the buildup toward Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.

On December 21, 1991, Commander Richard Barry Williams assumed command. This change took place only days before the Soviet Union formally dissolved on December 26, 1991. The end of the Soviet state altered the strategic background of American submarine operations. They continued to carry out intelligence collection, surveillance, anti-submarine warfare, special support, regional presence, and technical operations. Under Commander Williams, USS SPADEFISH returned to the Arctic. In 1992, she conducted Arctic operations, and public Arctic-submarine references state that she surfaced at the North Pole that year. The Royal Navy submarine HMS TRENCHANT is also publicly associated with Arctic operations in 1992.

In 1993, USS SPADEFISH again conducted Arctic operations under Commander Williams, and public Arctic records again associate her with surfacing at the North Pole. These repeated Arctic operations in 1992 and 1993 were among the most notable late-career events in her record. The early 1990s also saw increased attention to scientific use of submarines in the Arctic, including separate Science Ice Expedition activity by other submarines.

In April 1994, Commander Carlton Winn "Buddy" Puryear Jr. became commanding officer. USS SPADEFISH's final years included Persian Gulf deployments in 1995 and 1996, both of which involved crossing the equator. These deployments belonged to the early post-Cold-War period in which the United States Navy placed increasing emphasis on regional contingencies, maritime security, sanctions enforcement, deterrence, and presence in the Middle East. After the 1991 Gulf War, the Persian Gulf remained a major focus of American naval activity because of Iraq, oil-route security, and continuing regional instability. After the Persian Gulf deployments in 1995 and 1996, with the 1996 deployment beginning at Norfolk and ending at Bremerton, USS SPADEFISH remained at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Recycling activity is recorded as beginning on October 1, 1996. She was formally decommissioned and stricken on April 11, 1997, and recycling was completed on October 24, 1997.

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