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USS Seahorse (SSN 669)

Named after the small fish whose head and upper body suggest the head and neck of a horse, the USS SEAHORSE was the 21^st STURGEON - class nuclear-powered attack submarine. The USS SEAHORSE was deactivated on March 1, 1995, and entered the Navy's Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, Wash., the same day. Officially decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on August 17, 1995, the recycling of the SEAHORSE was completed on September 30, 1996.

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Crew List:

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

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USS SEAHORSE History:

USS SEAHORSE was the third United States Navy ship, and the second submarine, to bear the name Seahorse. The contract for USS SEAHORSE was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation at Groton, Connecticut, on March 9, 1965. Her keel was laid down on August 13, 1966. She was launched on June 15, 1968, sponsored by Mrs. Paul R. Ignatius, wife of Secretary of the Navy Paul R. Ignatius. She was commissioned on September 19, 1969, at Submarine Base New London at Groton, Connecticut, with Commander George T. Harper Jr. in command. At commissioning, USS SEAHORSE entered the fleet as one of the growing number of nuclear-powered attack submarines that formed the undersea component of American maritime strategy. She carried the motto "Thoroughbred of the Fleet".

After commissioning, USS SEAHORSE conducted shakedown in the Caribbean. During this first operating period, she visited Roosevelt Roads and San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Frederiksted on St. Croix in the United States Virgin Islands. After completing her initial training and shakedown cycle, she returned to her assigned home port of Charleston, South Carolina, and joined the Atlantic Fleet submarine force, including Submarine Division Forty-Two and Submarine Squadron Four. Through November 1970, she operated in the Atlantic and Caribbean, carrying out local operations, attack-submarine training, and anti-submarine warfare training. This early work was the normal but essential transition from a newly commissioned submarine to a deployable fleet unit, and it placed her in the core mission set of the STURGEON-class: tracking, screening, surveillance, and anti-submarine operations in the Atlantic.

On November 30, 1970, USS SEAHORSE departed Charleston on her first major deployment. She operated in the Atlantic and made a port visit to Bremerhaven, West Germany. The visit placed the new submarine in a country central to the Nato security system during the Cold War. West Germany stood on the front line of the East-West military confrontation, and American naval presence in northern European ports supported the wider pattern of alliance readiness and reassurance. USS SEAHORSE returned to Charleston on February 14, 1971. For the next four months, she carried out attack-submarine training, participated in air-group operations, and prepared for an extended Mediterranean deployment.

USS SEAHORSE departed Charleston on June 21, 1971, for the Mediterranean. She arrived at Rota, Spain, on July 2, 1971. Rota was a major United States and Nato support point at the western entrance to the Mediterranean, often used by American forces moving between the Atlantic and Sixth Fleet operating areas. USS SEAHORSE continued to operate in the Mediterranean until October 4, 1971. The deployment earned her first Meritorious Unit Commendation. The deployment took place in a Mediterranean environment shaped by Soviet naval presence, Arab-Israeli tensions, Nato southern-flank concerns, and the United States Sixth Fleet's continuing forward role. After returning to Charleston, USS SEAHORSE operated from her home port for approximately three and a half months.

On January 24, 1972, USS SEAHORSE ran aground while putting to sea from Charleston and remained stranded for about two hours. After freeing herself, she returned to port for inspection and minor repairs. After inspection and repair, the submarine resumed her operating schedule.

On February 9, 1972, USS SEAHORSE departed Charleston again for a North Atlantic deployment. During this deployment, she visited Faslane, Scotland, an important Royal Navy and NATO submarine base on the Clyde. Faslane's role in British and allied submarine operations made it a significant port in the Cold War North Atlantic system. USS SEAHORSE returned to Charleston on May 11, 1972. During June, July, and August 1972, she spent four weeks at sea in the Atlantic, providing services for air groups and participating in destroyer operations. This work supported the training of surface and air anti-submarine forces, an important part of fleet readiness because United States and allied surface ships and aircraft needed realistic submarine opponents to maintain proficiency.

In September 1972, USS SEAHORSE departed for the North Atlantic to participate in NATO Exercise Strong Express. Strong Express was one of the large alliance exercises of the period and was designed to test reinforcement, sea control, and allied coordination in northern waters. USS SEAHORSE's participation was followed by exercises with the United Kingdom and Canada in October 1972 and with the Royal Netherlands Navy in November 1972. She returned to Charleston on November 5, 1972. These operations linked her to the North Atlantic and northern European operating pattern that would remain a recurring theme in her career: NATO exercises, anti-submarine training, and work in waters relevant to Soviet Northern Fleet access routes.

Commander William E. Ratliff relieved Commander Harper on September 25, 1970, and remained in command through this first major operational phase. On October 6, 1973, the Yom Kippur War began when Egypt and Syria attacked Israel. The conflict produced a major superpower naval confrontation in the Mediterranean, with United States and Soviet naval forces monitoring events, signaling resolve, and positioning themselves in a region where escalation was a serious concern. On October 25, 1973, USS SEAHORSE got underway on less than twenty-four hours' notice and deployed to the eastern Mediterranean. Sources describe her tasking as part of United States naval and air forces monitoring the Middle East crisis and ensuring freedom of passage.

On December 13, 1973, Commander Nathan A. Heuberger relieved Commander Ratliff as commanding officer. From August 16, 1975, through September 25, 1975, USS SEAHORSE operated in company with USS NIMITZ (CVN 68) and USS SOUTH CAROLINA (CGN 37) as part of Navy Nuclear Task Group 75. The task group demonstrated the Navy's use of nuclear-powered surface and undersea units in integrated operations. For USS SEAHORSE, the event also showed her role as a submarine element in a larger force, providing undersea capability, anti-submarine training value, and operational support to nuclear-powered fleet units.

In early 1976, USS SEAHORSE deployed again to the North Atlantic and remained underway for ninety consecutive days. On November 3, 1976, USS SEAHORSE entered the Mediterranean for a deployment that lasted until May 11, 1977. This deployment bridged the end of Commander Heuberger's tour and the start of the next command period. On January 22, 1977, Commander Henry C. McKinney relieved Commander Heuberger as commanding officer. The Mediterranean deployment again placed the submarine within the Sixth Fleet environment, where American ships operated amid Soviet naval activity, NATO southern-flank requirements, and continuing regional instability.

Throughout 1978 and 1979, USS SEAHORSE underwent nuclear refueling, overhaul, and systems update at Charleston Naval Shipyard. This was one of the major material events of her service life. A refueling overhaul was a large shipyard availability involving the nuclear propulsion plant, inspection, repair, modernization, and post-overhaul testing. When the overhaul was complete, USS SEAHORSE returned to fleet service with updated systems and renewed propulsion-plant life.

On June 12, 1980, Captain Joseph D. Sharpe Jr. relieved Commander McKinney. In 1980, USS SEAHORSE deployed to the North Atlantic, Norwegian Sea, and Mediterranean Sea on a five-month cruise. These waters represented three interconnected Cold War operating environments: the North Atlantic sea lanes, the Norwegian Sea near Soviet Northern Fleet operating areas, and the Mediterranean Sixth Fleet theater. The cruise took place in a period of renewed international tension after the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in December 1979 and amid continuing uncertainty in the Middle East after the Iranian Revolution. In July 1981, USS SEAHORSE participated in a major Second Fleet exercise that ranged from the North Atlantic to the Caribbean. Such exercises tested wide-area command and control, anti-submarine warfare, sea control, and the integration of submarines with surface and air forces.

In October 1981, USS SEAHORSE departed for the Indian Ocean. She returned to Charleston in April 1982 after a 181-day deployment of approximately 46,000 miles that circumnavigated the globe and touched five of the modern Seven Seas and all four oceans. The Indian Ocean had become increasingly important to the United States Navy after the Iranian Revolution, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the expansion of American presence around the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.

During the remainder of 1982, USS SEAHORSE deployed to the North Atlantic, conducted Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle operations, and participated in the joint United States-Canadian Maritime Combined Operational Training exercise, Marcot 82. Rescue-vehicle work was important because submarine rescue capability depended on realistic training, interface procedures, and coordination between the distressed-submarine concept, rescue vehicles, support ships, and participating submarines. Marcot 82 placed USS SEAHORSE in a bilateral United States-Canadian anti-submarine warfare environment, consistent with the importance of Canadian and American cooperation in the North Atlantic.

On August 23, 1983, Captain Jasper B. Johnson relieved Captain Sharpe as commanding officer. The early 1980s saw intense United States-Soviet maritime competition, large NATO exercises, and major emphasis on forward maritime strategy. Submarines such as USS SEAHORSE were used for surveillance, anti-submarine operations, independent missions, and exercise support.

USS SEAHORSE began 1985 underway above the Arctic Circle. A public United States naval operations review also places her at Portsmouth, England, on February 7, 1985. On April 11, 1985, Commander Wynn A. Harding relieved Captain Johnson as commanding officer. From August through October 1985, USS SEAHORSE was deployed in the North Atlantic. This was again a strategically important operating area because of Soviet submarine routes, NATO reinforcement plans, and the need to train and operate in northern maritime conditions. In July 1986, under Commander Harding, USS SEAHORSE deployed to the Arctic and surfaced through the ice at the North Pole. Arctic Submarine Laboratory records confirm USS SEAHORSE's Arctic operations in 1986 under Commander Harding, and under-ice operations required specialized navigation, sonar use, ship control, communications planning, and surfacing procedures. The Arctic was strategically significant because it lay across the operating approaches of the Soviet Northern Fleet and because under-ice operations offered both concealment and technical challenge.

In early 1987, USS SEAHORSE completed her second transit of the Panama Canal while en route to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, Washington, for overhaul. She was in shipyard hands from February 1987 through March 1989. On August 31, 1987, during that overhaul period, Commander Paul E. Taylor relieved Commander Harding as commanding officer. The Puget Sound overhaul was a major interruption in her operating life and was part of the maintenance cycle necessary to keep an older nuclear-powered attack submarine operational. In May 1989, after completion of the yard period, USS SEAHORSE completed her third transit of the Panama Canal and returned to Charleston.

From March through June 1990, USS SEAHORSE again deployed to Arctic waters and the North Pole. Arctic records show that USS GURNARD (SSN 662), commanded by Commander William F. Espinoza, and USS SEAHORSE, commanded by Commander Paul E. Taylor, conducted joint operations in the Arctic in 1990. Public Navy imagery from Ice Exercise 1990 shows USS SEAHORSE surfacing through the ice at the North Pole, with USS GURNARD also present. This joint operation was part of the Navy's continuing under-ice development and readiness work. The operation occurred at the very end of the Cold War, after the fall of the Berlin Wall but before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when Arctic submarine operations still had clear strategic relevance. On June 22, 1990, Commander James R. Alley relieved Commander Taylor as commanding officer.

In 1991, USS SEAHORSE received a second Meritorious Unit Commendation for operations that included under-ice operations, another surfacing through the ice at the North Pole, and notable operations in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. Arctic records also list USS SEAHORSE under Commander Alley as conducting Arctic operations in 1991. The broader strategic context was changing rapidly: the Soviet Union was approaching collapse, but United States attack submarines continued to conduct intelligence, surveillance, anti-submarine, and technical operations.

On October 16, 1992, USS SEAHORSE was photographed underway en route to the Mediterranean as part of the USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV 67) battle group. That image confirms her integration with a carrier battle group during a post-Cold-War Mediterranean movement. The early 1990s Mediterranean was no longer the same bipolar theater it had been in the 1970s and 1980s, but it remained important for American naval presence, regional crisis response, and operations connected with instability in the Balkans, the Middle East, and North Africa. On April 30, 1993, Commander Richard N. Current became commanding officer. In 1993, at the midpoint of another Mediterranean deployment, USS SEAHORSE won her second Battle Efficiency "E".

During 1994, USS SEAHORSE deployed as the submarine element of Unitas Thirty-Five Ninety-Four. Unitas was a long-running series of multinational naval exercises with Latin American navies, designed to improve interoperability, anti-submarine warfare proficiency, maritime cooperation, and regional naval relationships. USS SEAHORSE's role in Unitas Thirty-Five Ninety-Four was especially notable because the deployment lasted five months and circumnavigated South America around Cape Horn. She operated with Central and South American naval forces and conducted goodwill port calls. Public radio-monitoring material from July 1994 indicates exercise traffic involving the Venezuelan submarine ARV SABALO and USS SEAHORSE during the exercise, supporting her presence in that operating environment. At the conclusion of Unitas, USS SEAHORSE completed her fourth transit of the Panama Canal and returned to Charleston in December 1994.

In early 1995, USS SEAHORSE entered the final phase of her service. An inactivation ceremony at Charleston was conducted on January 6, 1995. After that ceremony, USS SEAHORSE departed Charleston, her home port for twenty-five years, and headed for Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for deactivation. En route, she again transited the Panama Canal and conducted Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle operations. The rescue-vehicle work was a final operational task tied to submarine rescue readiness before the boat entered the end-of-service process. Public administrative summaries place the deactivation and recycling-process entry on March 1, 1995.

USS SEAHORSE was formally decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on August 17, 1995, at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington. Her decommissioning marked the end of almost twenty-six years of commissioned service. Her awards include one Navy Unit Commendation, three Meritorious Unit Commendations, and two Battle Efficiency "E" awards. Her final disposal was carried out through the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Recycling was completed on September 30, 1996. One of her sail planes was later placed on public display in a memorial garden at the former Naval Air Station Sand Point, now Warren G. Magnuson Park, near Seattle.

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