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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive


Patches contributed by Mike Smolinski

Halibut (SSGN-587) (SSN-587)
Active Career - Decommissioning


Radio Call Sign: November - Alpha - Quebec - Hotel
To Additional Pages

Keel Laying - Construction
Launching
Commissioning

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
Presidential Unit Citation - Navy Unit Commendation (3) - National Defense Service Medal
Halibut Class Guided Missile Submarine: Laid down, 11 April 1957, at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, CA.; Launched, 9 January 1959; Commissioned, USS Halibut (SSGN-587), 4 January 1960; Converted to an Attack Submarine at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, 6 February 1965 to 6 September 1965, Redesignated (SSN-587), 8 August 1965; Decommissioned, 30 June 1976; Laid up awaiting disposal through the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program (NPSSRP) at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA., at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA.; Struck from the Naval Register, 30 April 1986; Final Disposition; disposed of through NPSSRP, 9 September 1994.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 3,655 t., Submerged: 5,000 t.; Length 350'; Beam 29'; Complement 9 Officers 88 Enlisted; Armament, one Regulus missile launcher, (could carry *five* Regulus I missiles, and potentially could have carried the Reg II but that program was cancelled before it ever got the chance), six 21" torpedo tubes; Propulsion, S3G nuclear reactors, **double five bladed propellers. **(Contributed by Don Hulse, EMC9SS0 USN RET).
Click On Image
For Full Size Image		SizeImage DescriptionSource
Halibut40k Artists conception of Halibut (SSGN-587) firing a Regulus missile.
 Courtesy of Nick Spark.
Halibut113k Halibut (SSGN-587) firing a Regulus missile in front of the Lexington (CV-16) , 25 March 1960, the first nuclear powered submarine to successfully launch a guided missile.
Courtesy of Nick Spark.
Halibut44kThe Halibut (SSGN-587) departed for her shakedown cruise 11 March 1960. On the way to Australia, 25 March, she became the first nuclear powered submarine to successfully launch a guided missile. She is pictured here firing a Regulus 1 missile on 31st March 1960.
Partial text courtesy of DANFS. USN photo courtesy of Robert Hurst.
Halibut217k Periscope shot of a Regulus missile launched by the Halibut (SSGN-587) 25 March 1960.
USN photo courtesy of Don Hulse, EMC9-SS0 (USN RET.)
Halibut282kCrew of the Halibut (SSGN-587) lined up on deck for one of our inspections and award ceremonies. Note the Regulus missles on deck and on dock at Pearl Harbor, circa, 1960-62.
USN photo & text courtesy of Don Hulse, EMC9-SS0 (USN RET.)
Halibut248kHalibut (SSGN-587) goes south: Auckland NZ, 21 April 1960. Photo by Chris Howell, courtesy of John Hummel.
Halibut434kHalibut (SSGN-587) goes south: Auckland NZ, 21 April 1960. Photo by Chris Howell, courtesy of John Hummel.
Halibut41k Commemorative postal cover issued on the occasion of Halibut's (SSGN-587) visit to Austrailia, 4 May 1960.
Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
Halibut604kHalibut (SSGN-587) at sea off of US Naval Submarine Base, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 16 October 1962 with VSH-8602 (or) 8601.
Bob Koscak was a Hospital Corpsman (HM3) serving with the First Marine Brigade at Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station on Oahu from 1963-1965.
During 1964 a platoon-size (40?) commando group of Marines was formed from the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, and he was the Marine unit Corpsman. They trained extensively for about 6 weeks and culminated their training aboard the Halibut for a number of days, probably in the early fall of 1964. They were not scuba certified, but did all their training surface swimming and with rubber boats.
Training consisted of launching the boats by throwing them over the side and paddling them into shore. Another technique was to place the boats on the sub deck and the sub then gradually submerged, leaving them to paddle away (for all their lives).
Pick up techniques were by grouping the boats together into 2 groups, and the sub would snag the rope connecting the boat groups with its periscope, towing them out to sea where they could be picked up and boats recovered. They also used that technique to launch boats. Because of those "periscope" recovery efforts he got to claim that he was one of the few people in the world to get run over by a submarine twice in one day. A story for another time. 		Photo i.d. & text courtesy of Bob Koscak.
USN photo by Photographer C.F. Labertew, SA, from the collection of W.P. Jones. U.S. Navy photo.
Halibut79kHalibut (SSGN-587), and Regulas missle in Sydney Harbor with the British submarine HMS Anchorite outboard, circa early 60's.
 Courtesy of Gary Flynn, USN-RET ex-GSSN, MT3 (SS), ETC (SS), and CWO-4
Regulus Deterrent Patrols1.3mRegulus Deterrent Patrols by the following submarines from Sept. 1959 to July 1964:
Tunny (SSG-282),
Barbero (SSG-317),
Grayback (SS-574),
Growler (SSG-577),&
Halibut (SSGN-587). 		Photograph courtesy of Ron Phillipi.
Halibut164kHalibut (SSGN-587), firing Regulus missile, date and place unknown.
 US Navy photo courtesy chinfo.navy.mil
Halibut58kHalibut (SSGN-587), with a full head of nuclear steam.
 Courtesy of Gary Flynn, USN-RET ex-GSSN, MT3 (SS), ETC (SS), and CWO-4
Halibut112kHalibut (SSGN-587), at Pearl Harbor, date unknown.© Richard Leonhardt
Halibut1.1mHalibut (SSGN-587) with Diamond Head in the background in late 1965. Note her topside thruster and she has no DSVR habitat.
USN photo courtesy of Darryl L. Baker.
Halibut73kHalibut (SSGN-587) underway off Bremerton, WA.
Courtesy of goatlocker.org.
Submarine Base Pearl Harbor564kSubmarine are from left to right: Halibut (SSGN-587), Pickerel (SS-524), Perch (LPSS-313), Unidentified and Tunny (APSS-282) at Submarine Base Pearl Harbor on 12 April 1967. U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Halibut135k Starboard view of the Halibut (SSGN-587) underway, possibly circa early 1970's.
Courtesy of Thomas McLoughlin.
Halibut160k Admiral Charles R. Larson was a 1958 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Larson twice served as Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He also served as Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Command (CINCPAC). His classmates at the Academy included future U.S. Senator John McCain and Vice Admiral John Poindexter. Admiral Larson was the first naval officer selected as a White House Fellow and served his fellowship in 1968 as Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior. From 1969 to 1971, he served as Naval Aide to the President of the United States. He reported back to sea duty as executive officer of the nuclear attack submarine Sculpin (SSN-590). Then from 1973 to 1976, he served as commanding officer of the nuclear attack submarine Halibut (SSGN-587). In 1976, Admiral Larson assumed duties as Commander, Submarine Development Group ONE in San Diego, Calif., in which he headed the Navy's worldwide deep submergence program
 USN photo courtesy of Bill Gonyo.
Halibut1.0m View of Halibut (SSGN-587) departing San Francisco likely in the mid 1970's.
One of Mare Island's Ocean Engineering Boats. Ocean Engineering is what we called Halibut (SSGN-587), Parche (SSN-683) & Seawolf (SSN-575) and the program to manage them. 		USN photo courtesy of Darryl L. Baker.
Halibut56k Front cover of the decommissioning program for the Halibut (SSGN-587) at Mare Island on 30 Jun 1976.
U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Halibut62k Page 1 of the decommissioning program for the Halibut (SSGN-587) at Mare Island on 30 Jun 1976.
U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Halibut116k Page 2 of the decommissioning program for the Halibut (SSGN-587) at Mare Island on 30 Jun 1976.
U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Halibut96k Page 3 of the decommissioning program for the Halibut (SSGN-587) at Mare Island on 30 Jun 1976.
U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Halibut50k Page 4 of the decommissioning program for the Halibut (SSGN-587) at Mare Island on 30 Jun 1976.
U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Halibut50k Page 5 and 6 of the decommissioning program for the Halibut (SSGN-587) at Mare Island on 30 Jun 1976.
U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Halibut67k Page 7 of the decommissioning program for the Halibut (SSGN-587) at Mare Island on 30 Jun 1976.
U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Halibut72k Page 8 of the decommissioning program for the Halibut (SSGN-587) at Mare Island on 30 Jun 1976.
U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Halibut81k Page 9 of the decommissioning program for the Halibut (SSGN-587) at Mare Island on 30 Jun 1976.
U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Halibut101k Capt. Charles R. Larson, Commanding Officer of Halibut (SSGN-587) addresses a crowd of over 500 persons at the decommissioning of the ship at Mare Island on 30 Jun 1976.
U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Halibut48k The flag is lowered for the last time aboard the Halibut (SSGN-587) at the decommissioning ceremonies at Mare Island on 30 Jun 1976.
U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Halibut23k Commemorative postal cover marking the Halibut (SSGN-587) last day in commission, 30 Jun 1976.
 Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
Halibut24k Commemorative postal cover marking the Halibut (SSGN-587) decommissioning, 30 Jun 1976.
 Courtesy of Richard Leonhardt.
Halibut141kModel of the Halibut (SSGN-587) in her later (1970's) Special Operations version.
Photo courtesy of Tom Dougherty.
Halibut29kThis is a granite pebble about the size of a 50 cent piece recovered from the Sea of Okhotsk between the Kamchatka peninsula and the Russian mainland during one of the spy missions by the Halibut (SSGN-587) to recover data from the "pod" that was left next to an underwater telephone line to monitor Soviet Naval messages.
Courtesy of Ric Hedman.
Halibut62k Model of the Halibut (SSGN-587), at the time of her decommissioning. The model is incorrect, in that it has fairings leading to the leading edge of the rear planes.
Courtesy of Nick Spark.
Reactor Compartments83kTrench 94, Hanford Site, Washington, 1994. Hull sections containing defueled reactor compartments of decommissioned nuclear-powered submarines are put in disposal trenches. Once full, the trench will be filled with dirt and buried. The compartments are expected to retain their integrity for more than 600 years. USN photo & partial text courtesy of home.flash.net/~tomj/tunny/chop/rx. & submitted by Jack Treutle.
Spent Fuel569kSealed reactor compartments are shipped by barge out of Puget Sound Naval Base down the coast and along the Columbia River to the port of Benton. There the radioactively-contaminated hull sections are transferred to special multiwheeled high-load trailers for transport to the Hanford Reservation in Washington State. Pictured below is the burial ground for spent fuel of the following 77 nuclear reactor submarines as of March 2003:
Patrick Henry (SSBN-599),
Snook (SSN-592),
George Washington (SSBN-598),
Scamp (SSN-588),
Robert E. Lee (SSBN-601),
Thomas Jefferson (SSBN-618),
Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600),
Dace (SSN-607),
John Adams (SSBN-620),
Abraham Lincoln (SSBN-602),
Barb (SSN-596),
Ethan Allen (SSBN-608),
Thomas A. Edison (SSBN-610),
Pollack (SSN-603),
Glenard P. Lipscomb (SSN-685),
James Monroe (SSBN-622),
Skipjack (SS-585),
Nathan Hale (SSBN-623),
Plunger (SSN-595),
Shark (SSN-591),
Lafayette (SSBN-616),
Sam Houston (SSBN-609),
Jack (SSN-605),
Haddo (SSN-604),
Tinosa (SSN-606),
Guardfish (SSN-612),
Permit (SSN-594),
Queenfish (SSN-651),
Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN-631),
John Marshall (SSBN-611),
George C. Marshall (SSBN-654),
Flasher (SSN-613),
Guitarro (SSN-665),
Alexander Hamilton (SSBN-617),
George Washington Carver (SSBN-656),
Tecumseh (SSBN-628),
Halibut (SSGN-587),
Will Rogers (SSBN-659),
Henry L. Stimson (SSBN-655),
Daniel Boone (SSBN-629),
Greenling (SSN-614),
John C. Calhoun (SSBN-630),
Casimir Pulaski (SSBN-633),
Skate (SSN-578),
Sargo (SSN-583),
Francis Scott Key (SSBN-657),
Sturgeon (SSN-637),
Benjamin Franklin (SSBN-640),
Swordfish (SSN-579),
Seadragon (SSN-584),
Stonewall Jackson (SSBN-634),
Simon Bolivar (SSBN-641),
Hammerhead (SSN-663),
Mariano G. Vallejo (SSBN-658) ,
Tullibee (SSN-597),
Lewis & Clark (SSBN-644),
Pargo (SSN-650),
Seahorse (SSN-669),
Gurnard (SSN-662),
Flying Fish (SSN-673),
Gato (SSN-615),
Puffer (SSN-652),
Seawolf (SSN-575),
Baton Rouge (SSN-689),
Bergall (SSN-667),
Whale (SSN-638),
Henry Clay (SSBN-625),
James Madison (SSBN-627),
Finback (SSN-670),
Spadefish (SSN-668),
Sunfish (SSN-649),
George Bancroft (SSBN-643),
Grayling (SSN-646),
Pintado (SSN-672),
Tunny (SSN-682),
Archerfish (SSN-678),
& Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624).
USN photo & partial text courtesy of home.flash.net/~tomj/tunny/chop/rx. & submitted by Jack Treutle.
View the Halibut (SSGN-587)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation
Fleet Reserve Association
Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Regulus; U.S. Navy's first nuclear missile submarines.
aboutsubs.com - Halibut (SSGN-587)
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