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USS Hyman G. Rickover (SSN 709)

USS HYMAN G. RICKOVER was the 22^nd LOS ANGELES class attack submarine and the 17^th ship in that class built by Electric Boat in Groton, CT.

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Crew List:

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

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USS HYMAN G. RICKOVER Patch Gallery:

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About the Ship's Name:

Admiral Rickover, the Father of the Nuclear Navy, was born in Makow, Russia (which is now Poland) on January 27, 1900. At the age of six, he emigrated with his parents to the United States, settling in Chicago, Illinois. Admiral Rickover entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1918 and was commissioned an ensign in June 1922.

Following sea duty aboard USS LA VALLETTE (DD 315) and USS NEVADA (BB 36), Admiral Rickover attended Columbia University, where he earned the degree of Master of Science in Electrical Engineering. From 1929 to 1933, he qualified for submarine duty and command aboard the submarines S-9 and S-48. In June 1937, he assumed command of USS FINCH. Later that year, he was selected as an Engineering Duty Officer and spent the remainder of his career serving in that specialty.

During World War II, Admiral Rickover served as Head of the Electrical Section of the Bureau of Ships and later as Commanding Officer of the Naval Repair Base, Okinawa. In 1946, he was assigned to the Atomic Energy Commission laboratory at Oak Ridge, Tennessee and, in early 1949, to the Division of Reactor Development, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

As director of the Naval Reactors Branch, Admiral Rickover developed the world's first nuclear powered submarine, USS NAUTILUS (SSN 571), which went to sea in 1955. In the years that followed, Admiral Rickover directed all aspects of building and operating the nuclear fleet.

Admiral Rickover's numerous medals and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Navy Commendation Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. In recognition of his wartime service, he was made Honorary Commander of the Military Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

Admiral Rickover was twice awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for exceptional public service. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter presented Admiral Rickover with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest non-military honor, for his contributions to world peace.

Admiral Rickover retired from the United States Navy on January 31, 1982, after over 63 years of service to his country and to 13 Presidents. His name is memorialized in the attack submarine USS HYMAN G. RICKOVER (SSN 709) and Rickover Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy. Admiral Rickover died on July 8, 1986 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

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USS HYMAN G. RICKOVER History:

USS HYMAN G. RICKOVER entered service in the closing years of the Cold War after a protracted build that began when the contract was awarded on December 10, 1973. Electric Boat at Groton laid her keel on July 24, 1981, launched her on August 27, 1983, with Eleonore Rickover as sponsor, and commissioned her at Submarine Base New London on July 21, 1984.

She initially operated from Groton, completing shakedown and early trials as a new unit of Submarine Squadron Two before shifting homeport to Norfolk on May 3, 1985. During the latter half of 1984, she proved out combat and engineering systems with Weapons System Accuracy Tests on August 6-20 that bracketed liberty at Roosevelt Roads from August 10-15 and Fredericksted, St. Croix from August 17-20, then executed Mk 48 certification from October 30-November 2, made a visit to Port Canaveral on November 3-7, and closed the year with her first Operational Reactor Safeguards Examination on December 11-12. Post-shakedown availability at Electric Boat ran through early April 1985, followed by workups, weapons accuracy evolutions, and summer port calls at Port Everglades on May 31-June 1, Roosevelt Roads on June 4-10, and St. Croix on June 11-16 that led into pre-overseas movement preparations in July.

The submarine's first Mediterranean deployment began from Norfolk on October 25, 1985. After transiting east, she entered routine Sixth Fleet tasking through the winter, with port calls at Naples on December 13-17 and La Maddalena on December 19-31 while conducting anti-submarine warfare operations. For its performance in November-December, the boat received Commander Sixth Fleet's "Hook 'Em" award for ASW excellence, a distinction it would earn again later in the decade. In early 1986, she continued undersea operations in the Mediterranean, scored above average on ORSE, then made upkeep alongside the tender PROTEUS (AS 19) at La Maddalena from February 7-25, visited Toulon on March 8-11, and returned to Norfolk on March 21. Post-deployment, she supported exercises with NORFOLK (SSN 714) and ran Prospective Commanding Officer operations with PHOENIX (SSN 702) and the destroyer CARON (DD 970), operated at AUTEC, and visited Port Canaveral on May 19-21 and Port Everglades on May 28-30. Through June and July, she ran midshipman training and certifications, then in August conducted a training swing to New London and Halifax. After September preparations alongside EMORY S. LAND (AS 39), she executed an extended North Atlantic ASW operation beginning October 17, capped by a Faslane visit on November 24-28 and a return to Norfolk on December 11. Her 1986 performance garnered the Atlantic Fleet Golden Anchor and Submarine Squadron Eight's ASW White "A" and Engineering Red "E".

In 1987, HYMAN G. RICKOVER opened the year supporting ATLANTA (SSN 712) and JACKSONVILLE (SSN 699) and then entered a Selected Restricted Availability, including dry-docking in the floating dock RESOLUTE. Back at sea from May 4, she took part in FleetEx 2-87 with JOHN L. HALL (FFG 32), WAINWRIGHT (CG 28) and Patrol Wing Eleven, devoted much of the summer to Tomahawk test work off Puerto Rico and weapons shots from the Gulf of Mexico operating areas near Eglin and Port Everglades, and served as an aggressor submarine for FleetEx 3-87 against the battleship IOWA (BB 61). After midshipmen operations and a dependents cruise on August 2, she completed refresher training and POMCERT at Groton and then made a short North Atlantic deployment from October 14-December 21 that included a stop at Holy Loch.

The operating pace remained high in 1988. Following support operations for Patrol Wing Eleven in February, the boat executed an above-average ORSE, participated with the FORRESTAL (CV 59) battle group in FleetEx 1-88 and the large Caribbean exercise Ocean Venture, and paused for liberty in St. Croix on April 22-23. After May upkeep alongside HUNLEY (AS 31), she spent June-July providing target and training services for BATON ROUGE (SSN 689), HAMMERHEAD (SSN 663), RAY (SSN 653), GALLERY (FFG 26) and multiple air ASW units, with a Port Everglades visit on June 21-24. She completed TRE and acoustic trials at AUTEC in August-September, finished deployment preparations, and on December 30 departed Norfolk for a five-month Mediterranean deployment that PBS simultaneously documented for the 1991 film "Steel Boats, Iron Men".

From January-May 1989, she executed seven special operations and exercises, rotated through upkeeps at La Maddalena on February 3-9, March 6-13 and April 25-May 12, and made port calls at Toulon on March 15-20, Ashdod on April 10-14, and Naples on April 19-24. Commander Sixth Fleet again awarded the "Hook 'Em" for ASW performance. Departing the theater, the submarine conducted an exercise with the AMERICA (CV 66) battle group from May 17-27, completed ORSE above average, and returned to Norfolk for stand-down and maintenance before late-summer training at AUTEC and autumn exercises with the DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN 69) battle group and a Port Canaveral visit on October 7-10. A Selected Restricted Availability closed the year.

After SRA, 1990 opened with POM workups and an extended North Atlantic deployment that began March 21 and ran into late June, including liberty in Holy Loch on May 28-29, Portsmouth on May 31-June 7, and Brest on June 8-12. She embarked the ORSE team off Bermuda on June 13, scored above average, and returned to Norfolk on June 29. The remainder of 1990 alternated maintenance and at-sea certification, with support to the JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV 67) battle group in August, midshipman tours at Annapolis on September 1-6, inspections and PCO operations through the autumn, multiple short visits to Roosevelt Roads in November, and TRE on November 12-15.

After December-January POM upkeep and POMCERT, the submarine deployed again to the North Atlantic on February 6, 1991, returning on May 10 after port calls at Rosyth on April 10-12, Rotterdam on April 15-19, and Lisbon on April 23-26. Summer 1991 operations included support to PCU ASHEVILLE (SSN 758) and target services for ATLANTA, MINNEAPOLIS-SAINT PAUL (SSN 708) and BATON ROUGE, a Port Everglades visit on June 18-21, additional midshipman training from Charleston, and August work with KITTY HAWK (CV 63) at AUTEC. Pre-overhaul testing through the autumn led into a Depot Modernization Period that began in Dry Dock Two at Norfolk Naval Shipyard on January 31, 1992.

Through 1992, the DMP overhauled the submarine's sensors and combat systems, including BQQ-5D upgrades, installation of the TB-23 towed array, new special hull treatment, radio-room improvements and an Electrostatic Suspended Gyro Navigation suite. Completing DMP on February 6, 1993, she conducted post-availability sea and sonar trials, exercised with the carrier AMERICA and paused in Bermuda on March 5-9, then ran a Weapons Systems Acceptance Test at Port Everglades and AUTEC from March 12-22. A spring dry-dock period for purification discharge followed, and during the summer she trained with MIAMI (SSN 755) and visited Port Everglades on July 16-20. After further weapons certification and sound trials and a September upkeep at Norfolk, she embarked families for a Tiger Cruise to Port Everglades on October 6-8, supported Broward County Navy Day on October 9-12, and in November hosted outside visitors as the year closed with preparations for the next cycle.

Early 1994 brought an unplanned dry-docking at Kings Bay from January 5-21 to repair the sonar dome, preceded by a short Tiger Cruise south. She then joined the GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73) battle group for COMPTUEX and FLEETEX events in Puerto Rico operating areas through early February, returned to Norfolk for POM upkeep on March 12-April 20, exercised again off Charleston and Jacksonville in mid-April, and completed final preparations through May 17.

Deploying on May 20, 1994, with the GEORGE WASHINGTON battle group, HYMAN G. RICKOVER spent six months in the Mediterranean conducting two NATO exercises - Swordfish on June 10-14 and Dynamic Guard on September 29-October 15 - hosted multiple senior visitors, and made a busy sequence of port calls: Lisbon on June 2-9 during the 600th anniversary of Prince Henry the Navigator, Gibraltar on July 7-14, La Maddalena on July 18-26 (and again September 16-24 and October 17-30), Souda Bay on August 5-10, Toulon on August 16-19 for the 50th anniversary of Operation Dragoon, and Taranto on September 26-29. She completed ORSE on November 14-17 and returned to Norfolk on November 17.

Through 1995, the boat alternated training and upkeep, entered a three-month SRA at Norfolk Naval Shipyard from March 28-June 12, conducted sea and acoustic trials, trained midshipmen with a Port Canaveral visit on June 30-July 4 and a Tiger Cruise back to Norfolk, then worked up in the Narragansett Bay and Groton operating areas and finished the year with pre-deployment training and a December 15 POMCERT.

On January 10, 1996, she deployed to the North Atlantic for operations vital to national security, executed a PASSEX with Norwegian forces, visited Haakonsvern on March 13-17 (including a VIP cruise for the Norwegian defense minister), embarked the ORSE team at New London and completed ORSE on March 30, then returned the same day to Norfolk. Mid-1996 saw three weeks of midshipman operations in the Cape Canaveral areas, a two-month preservation-and-upkeep effort interrupted by Hurricane Bertha in July, and a Tomahawk Quality Assurance Operational Test Launch from September 12-27. After additional evaluations at AUTEC in November, the submarine became the first ship to score an overall "excellent" on TRE that December and received Submarine Squadron Eight's Battle Efficiency "E" and Golden Anchor awards for 1996.

In 1997, HYMAN G. RICKOVER supported other submarines in Virginia Capes and AUTEC waters, successfully completed ORSE, and mixed local operations with liberty in Halifax on May 18-21 and Groton on May 24-June 9. After a summer POM cycle, she finished PDT and POMCERT in the autumn and deployed to the North Atlantic from December 6, 1997 to March 1998, visiting Tromso on January 19-23 and Brest on March 9-16 and completing ORSE on March 25-27 en route home. Post-deployment upkeep ran through late May, followed by three weeks of ASW exercise work in the Charleston and Jacksonville areas and a Fort Lauderdale visit on June 17-22. The submarine spent July on midshipman operations (with a short dependents cruise on July 18), then anchored off Annapolis on September 23-28 for tours that brought more than 700 visitors aboard. CNO project testing and Roosevelt Roads stops closed the year.

From January 1-April 6, 1999, she underwent an SRA at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, returned to sea for services to Atlantic Fleet units, completed inspections and surveys, trained at Groton in July, and finished a second POM upkeep by mid-September. After late-autumn trials and POMCERT (November 15-23), HYMAN G. RICKOVER deployed again on December 10, 1999 for North Atlantic operations, adding a sequence of liberty calls at Bergen on February 17-21, Faslane on March 2-15, Tromso on April 6-7, and Wilhelmshaven on May 18-22 before returning on June 10, 2000. She then alternated maintenance, short training periods and a family Tiger Cruise in July, completed a TRE and AUTEC torpedo proficiency in late September, and in October-November introduced notable sonar and radio upgrades that were proved at sea in December.

In early 2001, she entered dry dock for a resin discharge, completed ORSE workups, and through spring and summer advanced through PDT and POM preparations, including a Cape Canaveral visit on May 18-21. The post-9/11 deployment that followed ran from October 5, 2001 to April 5, 2002 in the North Atlantic with port calls at Faslane on November 19-December 4 and March 13-18, Tromso on December 14-18, and Bergen on January 28-February 5. She completed ORSE on April 3-5 en route to Norfolk. After return on April 5, she alternated upkeep and operations, visited Cape Canaveral on June 20-24, assisted PHILADELPHIA (SSN 690)'s TRE, and then entered Interim Dry Docking at Norfolk Naval Shipyard from August 22 through year-end.

The 2003-2004 cycle began with January sea trials and acoustic work at AUTEC in early February, followed by TRE in mid-March, PDT at Groton from May 20-June 5, and a second POM upkeep in late summer. HYMAN G. RICKOVER deployed again from October 10, 2003 to April 10, 2004 for national-tasking operations in the North Atlantic, calling at Tromso on November 18-21, Portsmouth from December 2-17, and Tromso again on February 2-12 before returning to Norfolk on April 10.

She executed local operations through summer 2004 to include a nuclear weapons acceptance inspection on July 6-8, a quality assurance service test on July 10-15, and participation in SMART SEARCH '04 from August 24-September 6. On October 1, 2004, she entered Dry Dock No. 1 at Newport News for an extended availability that ran into early 2005.

One final North Atlantic deployment followed from June into October 11, 2006, with visits to Haakonsvern, Faslane, and Rota that reflected the familiar pattern of Sixth Fleet presence and allied interoperability. On December 14, 2006, the submarine entered inactivation status. In early 2007, she prepared at Norfolk for deactivation and then shifted to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for fuel removal and inactivation work from March 19-December 17, 2007, the date of her decommissioning and final crew offload. The following year she was towed to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard to await recycling under the Ship-Submarine Recycling Program.

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USS HYMAN G. RICKOVER Image Gallery:

The photo below was taken by me and shows a number of decommissioned nuclear-powered attack submarines laid up at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash. The photo was taken from Port Orchard, Wash., on May 12, 2012. The submarines' names are on the photo.

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