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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Contributed by Mike Smolinski

Shark (SSN-591)

Radio Call Sign: November - Oscar - Kilo - Mike

Skipjack Class Attack Submarine: Laid down, 24 February 1958, at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Newport News, VA.; Launched, 16 March 1960; Commissioned, USS Shark (SSN-591), 9 February 1961; Decommissioned and simultaneously struck from the Naval Register, 15 September 1990; Final Disposition, transferred to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, 1 October 1995 for disposed through NPSSRP (Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program) at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA., completed 28 June 1996.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 2,880 t., Submerged: 3,500 t.; Length 251' 9"; Beam 32'; Draft 28 ft.; Speed, Surfaced 15 kts, Submerged 30+ kts; Depth Limit 700'; Complement 118; Combat Systems, Sonar, BQR-12, BQR-2 passive, BQS-4 (modified) active/passive; Radar BPS-12; Fire Control, MK-101 torpedo FCS, ASW MK-48; Armament, six 21" torpedo tubes, forward; Propulsion System, one S5W nuclear reactor, two Westinghouse steam turbines, one propeller 15,000 shp.

Size	Image Description	Contributed By
179k	Submarine Silhouettes of 1960: Nautilus (SSN-571), Seawolf (SSN-575), Skate (SSN-578), Skipjack (SS-585), Triton (SSRN-586), Halibut (SSGN-587), Thresher (SSN-593), Tullibee (SSN-597), George Washington (SSBN-598), & Ethan Allen (SSBN-608) classes.	U.S. Navy Photograph submitted by Ron Titus, courtesy of Ingersoll-Rand. Corp.
187k	Nuclear Submarine Profiles 1960: Nautilus (SSN-571), Seawolf (SSN-575), Triton (SSRN-586), Skate (SSN-578) & Skipjack (SS-585) classes, Halibut (SSGN-587) & Tullibee (SSN-597) classes, George Washington (SSBN-598) & Thresher (SSN-593) classes.	US Navy photo courtesy of Ron Titus courtesy of Ingersoll-Rand. Corp. Photo i.d. courtesy of Dave Johnston.
60k	Watercolour and gouache on paper painting by the artist Viktor Stepansky entitled "Diving Skipjack Class". The Skipjack Class (SSN-585 / 88-92) - clearing showing the tear-drop shape adopted by many of the submarine's successors. The Scorpion (SSN-589) is pictured here underway.	Photo & text courtesy of subart.net.
201k	Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co President W.E. Blewett Jr. speaks on board the Shark (SSN-591) at Dry Dock #2 as he delivered the Yard's first Nuclear boat during her commissioning ceremony on 9 February 1961. Among those present is Mrs. Louis Shane, who sponsored the boat and was the wife of the late Lieutenant Commander Louis Shane, Jr., K.I.A. while commanding the Shark (SS-174), approximately 11 February 1942.	Photo from Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. magazine March 1961, Volume XX, # II. Courtesy of John Shane, whose grandmother, Mrs. Louis Shane sponsored the boat and was the wife of the late Lieutenant Commander Louis Shane, Jr. who was K.I.A. while commanding the Shark (SS-174), approximately 11 February 1942.
438k	Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co President W.E. Blewett Jr. speaks on board the Shark (SSN-591) at Dry Dock #2 as he delivered the Yard's first Nuclear boat during her commissioning ceremony on 9 February 1961. Among those present is Mrs. Louis Shane, who sponsored the boat and was the wife of the late Lieutenant Commander Louis Shane, Jr., K.I.A. while commanding the Shark (SS-174), approximately 11 February 1942.	Photo from Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. magazine March 1961, Volume XX, # II. Courtesy of John Shane, whose grandmother, Mrs. Louis Shane sponsored the boat and was the wife of the late Lieutenant Commander Louis Shane, Jr. who was K.I.A. while commanding the Shark (SS-174), approximately 11 February 1942.
79k	Mrs. Louis Shane, sponsor of the Shark (SSN-591) and wife of the late Lieutenant Commander Louis Shane, Jr. gives the boat her first taste of champagne at her launching, 16 March 1960.	Photo from Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. magazine, 1961, pg 11. Courtesy of John Shane, whose grandmother, Mrs. Louis Shane sponsored the boat and was the wife of the late Lieutenant Commander Louis Shane, Jr. who was K.I.A. while commanding the Shark (SS-174), approximately 11 February 1942.
132k	The Shark (SSN-591) shortly before her launching, 16 March 1960. The Polaris submarine Sam Houston (SSBN-609) is completely enclosed in the background.	Photo from Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. magazine March 1961, Volume XX, # II. Courtesy of John Shane & Robert Hall.
263k	The following text is the Shark's (SSN-591) commissioning ceremony speech from Vice Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Russell on 9 February 1961. Mr. Blewett, Admiral Burch, LDCR Fagan (pictured) her commander distinguished guests, commissioned officers and enlisted men of Shark (SSN-591). It is always an honor for a sailor to participate in the commissioning of a new fighting ship, and it is particularly so for me in this case, because of the deep regard and close friendship I held for the commanding officer of a previous *Shark. I speak of Lieutenant Commander Louis Shane, Jr., who commanded Shark* Number 4, the SS-174, in the early rugged days of World War II in the fighting around the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies. World War II found that *Shark* in the southwest Pacific and one of her early tasks was to move Admiral Hart, Commander of the Asiatic Fleet, from Manila to Suerabaja. She was then assigned the task of attacking targets of opportunity in the Molucca Sea. During one of these war patrols, she was depth charged a number of times and apparently had a hot time in the Molucca Sea and around Celebes Island until the 7th of February 1942 when the last communication was received from her. From all evidence available after the war, *Shark* was lost as a result of a depth charge attack on 11 February off Manedo, a town in the Northern Celebes. All of us in the Navy, I am sure, retain a very vivid memory of the circumstances under which we first joined the service. I joined the Navy in company with Louis Shane. Louis, son of Captain Shane, Inspector of Naval Machinery of the shipyard in our hometown of Tacoma, Washington; Ted Rimer, the son of a Coast Guard officer; and I, were the three appointments to the Naval Academy made by our local congressman in the year 1922. As classmates at the Naval Academy and close friends in Service thereafter, I greatly admired Louis Shane. We have the honor of having his wife Marjorie here today. She was the gracious lady who sponsored this ship when launched last March. Today as we commission *Shark* Number 6, we return to the active list a well-remembered and cherished name. In creating a new *Shark* we honor those gallant ships of the past which have borne that name, and we especially pay tribute to the heroic crews who manned them. This morning, as I toured *Shark* with Mrs. Shane, I was reminded of the many outstanding contributions the Newport News Shipbuilding Company has made in building our fleet. The Newport News Shipyard has been in the forefront of supplying ships for the Navy since the Yard's first job of naval construction, the gunboat, Nashville (PG-7), built in 1897. Just ten years after that beginning when President Teddy Roosevelt sent the great *"White Fleet"* on its famous around-the-world cruise, no less than seven of the sixteen battleships making that fourteen months voyage bore the Newport News trademark. It is worthy of note that during World War I this Yard furnished a greater amount of shipping tonnage than all other yards in the United States combined. During World War II, over half of the fast aircraft carriers which proved such a crucial factor in forcing a decision in the Pacific were built here. Such gallant ships as the Nashville (CL-43), Pennsylvania (BB-38), Boise (CL-47), two Rangers (CV-4)& (CVA-61), two Yorktowns (CV-5 & 10), Enterprise (CV-6), Essex (CV-9), Franklin(CV-13), and many others have carried the trademark of this great shipbuilding establishment. My first assignment in the Fleet in 1926 was the battleship West Virginia (BB-48) which was built here. In 1936, I was engaged in the fitting out of the aircraft carrier *Yorktown* here. There is a motto carved in stone in the Yard which I shall always remember. It is the motto given to the Shipyard by its founder, Mr. Huntington - it reads - "we will build good ships, at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but we will build good ships." We are here to place in commission this latest product of the engineering skill, dynamic imagination and productive know-how of the shipbuilders in Newport News. The *Shark* is the second nuclear powered submarine of the *Skipjack Class* powered by a water cooled nuclear reactor built by Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It incorporates the latest advances in power and hull design in submarine construction. The combination of nuclear propulsion and streamlined hull gives this class the greatest underwater performance of any ship in the fleet today. Her phenomenal speed and great maneuverability make her especially suited for carrying out her mission of attack. It is particularly appropriate that an attack submarine of such great capabilities be named *Shark, for the Shark* is a fighter and probably the most feared of fish. It is aggressive and courageous. It is a ferocious and bellicose fighting fish with a tenacious spirit, - a fitting name, indeed, for a United States man-of -war. Nuclear power in a submarine has been one of the greatest advances of our time. Many records have been established since Nautilus (SSN-571) sent her famous message "Underway on nuclear power," 17 January 1955. Seawolf (SSN-575) proved the submerged endurance capability of nuclear submarines and their crews with her record- breaking 60-day continually submerged patrol in 1958. *Nautilus* pioneered the vast new field of "exploration of inner space" - the probing of the heretofore inaccessible depths of the oceans - with her transit from the Pacific Ocean under the Arctic ice to the North Pole on 5 August 1958 and on to the Atlantic Ocean. She was followed by only a few days by Skate (SSN-578) who reached the North Pole from the Atlantic on 12 August. Just over a year later, *Skate* on a similar transit surfaced at the Pole on the 17th of March 1959 and there paid a final tribute to the pioneer of Arctic submarining, Sir Hubert Wilkins, by casting the ashes of that famous old explorer on the polar ice. Sargo (SSN-583) was at the North Pole exactly one year ago today, and more recently Seadragon (SSN-584) in August 1960, was the first submarine to transit from the Atlantic to the Pacific via the Arctic Ocean. And of course a feat without equal, and one in which all Navy men feel great pride, was Triton's (SSN-556) 84 days around the world submerged February through May last year in commemoration of the first world circumnavigator, Magellen. So it is that you have here a ship of most interesting and extensive capabilities, - a ship of war of a type in which we, the United States, excel. May your exploits in *Shark* match and excel those of the nuclear powered submarines who have pioneered the way. As you become an active unit of the U. S. Navy, you have an important place awaiting in the fleet which keeps the watch of freedom around the world. To close my remarks I shall deviate from the usual wishes to the ship's company for smooth sailing. These modern submarines always enjoy smooth sailing while cruising in the depths of the sea. However, I do wish each of you every success in carrying out your assigned missions. Great challenges and great opportunities await you. I envy you your opportunity to create new vista in tactics with the economy of "fewest fissions per mission." Good luck and Godspeed.	Photo from Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. magazine March 1961, Volume XX, # II. Courtesy of John Shane, whose grandmother, Mrs. Louis Shane sponsored the boat and was the wife of the late Lieutenant Commander Louis Shane, Jr. who was K.I.A. while commanding the Shark (SS-174), approximately 11 February 1942. Text courtesy of John Shane. Text added 11/09/08.
47k	Sailors onboard the deck of the Shark (SSN-591) salute the national ensign during her commissioning ceremony on 9 February 1961.	Photo from Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. magazine March 1961, Volume XX, # II. Courtesy of John Shane, whose grandmother, Mrs. Louis Shane sponsored the boat and was the wife of the late Lieutenant Commander Louis Shane, Jr. who was K.I.A. while commanding the Shark (SS-174), approximately 11 February 1942.
103k	Pre-commissioning photo of the Shark (SSN-591), 11 Jan. 1961.	USN photo.
131k	Shark's (SSN-591) commissioning crew wearing whites stand on the boat's sail in this 1961 photo.	USN photo courtesy of David Buell.
345k	Port quarter view of the Shark (SSN-591) cutting through the water, most likely soon after her commissioning, circa early 1961.	US Navy photo courtesy of John Shane, whose grandmother, Mrs. Louis Shane sponsored the boat and was the wife of the late Lieutenant Commander Louis Shane, Jr. who was K.I.A. while commanding the Shark (SS-174), approximately 11 February 1942.
118k	Bow on view of the Shark (SSN-591) cutting through the water most likely soon after her commissioning, circa early 1961.	US Navy photo courtesy of Wendell Royce McLaughlin Jr.
102k	Shark (SSN-591) approaching the Newport News (CA-148) in Athens, Greece during the 1961 Med. cruise.	Courtesy of George Klos.
41k	Shark (SSN-591) tied up alsongside the Newport News (CA-148) in Athens, Greece during the 1961 Med. cruise.	Courtesy of George Klos.
71k	Commemorative post mark honoring Shark (SSN-591) goodwill visit to Portsmouth England, March 1962.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
105k	Shark (SSN-591), in port at San Juan, PR., 1965. Triton (SSN-586) is on the *Shark's* right.	Photograped and contributed courtesy of John Hummel.
127k	Shark (SSN-591), in port at San Juan, PR., 1965. Triton (SSN-586) on left, you just see her topside. Redfin, (SS-272) and Requin (SS-481) are outboard of her.	Photograped and contributed courtesy of John Hummel.
345k	Shark (SSN-591), April 17, 1967, Chesapeak Bay, Maryland.	Courtesy of John Hummel.
68k	Port side view of the Shark (SSN-591) underway, circa 1971.	Photo courtesy of All Hands Magazine, Sept. 1971, submitted by Stan Svec.
297k	A photo of the Shark (SSN-591) issued by the ship and project team during her overhaul at Mare Island from 1 Oct 1981 to 2 Jun 1983.	USN Photo # 180674, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
179k	A starboard bow view of the submarine tender L. Y. SPEAR (AS-36) moored at the destroyer and submarine piers at Norfolk Naval Base on 7 Sep 1983. A *Skipjack class* nuclear-powered attack submarine is moored alongside, possibly the Skipjack (SS-585), Shark (SSN-591) or Snook (SSN-592).	Official U.S. Navy Photograph # DN-ST-85-11655, by Don S. Montgomery, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil.
645k	A port bow view of the nuclear-powered attack submarine Shark (SSN-591) underway, 1 Sep 1985.	Official U.S. Navy Photograph # DN-SC-86-03560 from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil.
563k	Crew members stand on the sail and diving planes of the nuclear-powered attack submarine Shark (SSN-591) as locomotives pull it through the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal on 11 Nov 1989. The submarine is en route to the Pacific Ocean.	Official U.S. Navy Photograph # DF-ST-93-04964 by MSGT. Herbert Cintron Jr., from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil.
430k	The cargo ship *Solar Wind* stands above the nuclear-powered attack submarine Shark (SSN-591) as locomotives pull it through the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal on 11 Nov 1989. The submarine is en route to the Pacific Ocean.	Official U.S. Navy Photograph # DF-ST-93-04965 by MSGT. Herbert Cintron Jr., from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil. & submited by Bill Gonyo.
976k	Crew members stand on the sail and diving planes of the nuclear-powered attack submarine Shark (SSN-591) as locomotives pull it through the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal on 11 Nov 1989. The submarine is en route to the Pacific Ocean.	Official U.S. Navy Photograph # DF-ST-93-04967 by MSGT. Herbert Cintron Jr., from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil.
297k	Cover of Shark (SSN-591) Deactivation Ceremony pamphlet, 11 October, 1989.	Courtesy of Ken Hart / USN.
291k	"Sign of the times." March 1994 photo of Nuclear submarines at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard waiting in line for scrapping. Top row left to right are Ethan Allen (SSBN-608), Seawolf (SSN-575), Plunger (SSN-595), Shark (SSN-591), Nathanael Greene (SSBN-636), Glenard P. Lipscomb (SSN-685) alongside Sperry (AS-12), with Triton (SSRN-586) across the pier from the *Sperry* . Bottom row, from left to right Thomas A. Edison (SSBN-610), Skipjack (SS-585), Snook (SSN-592), Henry Clay (SSBN-625), Lapon (SSN-661), Dace (SSN-607), Skate (SSN-578), Swordfish (SSN-579), Sargo (SSN-583) , Seadragon (SSN-584). Across the pier are Thomas Jefferson (SSBN-618), and not in view, Patrick Henry (SSBN-599), George Washington (SSBN-598),Barb (SSN-596) & Sea Devil (SSN-664). There are so many submarines at PSNSY that the yard is running out of pier space.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
83k	Trench 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.
569k	Sealed 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.
185k	Moored submarines awaiting their final fate at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA sometime in 1996: From left to right: Shark (SSN-591), Plunger (SSN-595), Snook (SSN-592) & Patrick Henry (SSBN-599).	Photograph courtesy of Ray Arntson via btrosper.com. Photo added 11/09/08.