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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Contributed by Mike Smolinski

Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600) (SSN-600)
Commissioning - Decommissioning

Radio Call Sign: November - Papa - Yankee - Sierra

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Mockup - Keel Laying
Construction
Launching

George Washington Class Ballistic Missile Submarine: Authorized as Scamp (SSN-588); Laid down as Scamp (SSN-600), 20 May 1958, at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, CA.; Renamed and redesignated Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600), 6 November 1958; Launched, 3 October 1959; Commissioned, USS Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600), 13 February 1961; Decommissioned and simultaneously struck from the Naval Register, 1 December 1982; Final Disposition, disposed of through NPSSRP (Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program) at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA., 24 March 1995.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 5,946 t., Submerged: 6,700 t.; Length 382'; Beam 33'; Draft 29'; Speed, Surfaced 16 kts, Submerged 20+ kts; Complement 139; Test Depth 700'; Armament, 16 missile tubes; six 21" torpedo tubes, Propulsion, S5W Pressurized Water Nuclear Reactor, 2 geared turbines at 15,000 shp, one propeller.

Size	Image Description	Source
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. Photo added 09/24/07.
102k	A cutaway diagram of Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600) by Electric Boat.	U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
215k	Bow view of Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600) in Mare Island dry dock #3 on 6 April 1960.	U.S. Navy photo # 47623-4-60, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
208k	Stern view of Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600) in Mare Island dry dock #3 on 6 April 1960.	U.S. Navy photo # 47624-4-60, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
287k	The Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600) departing Mare Island on her first builders trails on 2 Dec. 1960.	U.S. Navy photo # 49937-12-60, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
122k	In order to spice up some dull Navy life aboard ship, American Shuffleboard rep Sol Lipkin was called upon by the US Navy Officer and Chaplain of theTheodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600) to help get a table shuffleboard installed to give the crew something competive to do while spending days and months on underwater missions, including an upcoming "shakedown" mission)... something more competive than watching movies was their goal. The shuffleboard installation became part of the outfitting to-do list. It was installed on the topedo rack's steel structure that lifts up/down and the legs on the shuffleboard cradle had to be drastically shortened to accommodate to be the correct height needed for play from the shuffleboard's cradle. The tournament was MC'd by the Navy Commander (who was also a surgeon/doctor by trade). Sol Lipkin has a reel tape of this tournament that he is trying to locate so that it can be reproduced and preserved on more durable media. Sol does not recall the names of the Commander and Lieutenent (Sr. Grade Officer) that ended up as partners against two other crew members in the final match of the tournament, but does vividly recall the final shots of the tournament. The score was 20-20 (21 point game format) and the Captain had the last weight (hammer). His opponent threw a short weight, so it seemed almost definitely that the Captain would have no problem outpassing his opponent's short weight to capture the one point needed to win the tournament. However, it appears that someone tipped off the helmsman and with perfect timing, as the Captain threw his hammer to pass the short weight, the submarine took a tilt that placed the Captain's hammer into the "rough" (which was the Navy crew's term for when a weight went into the gutter)... so the two opposing crew members won without the hammer and with only a short weight on the board and were officially the tournament Champions!	Partial text courtesy of Dan Danielson. Photo courtesy of Sol Lipkin, Tom & Lynda French, The Board Talk Editors/Publishers).
139k	Theodore Roosevelt's (SSBN-600) torpedo room and nuclear powered shuffle tableboard.	Photo courtesy of Sol Lipkin, Tom & Lynda French, The Board Talk Editors/Publishers).
139k	Theodore Roosevelt's (SSBN-600) torpedo room and nuclear powered shuffle tableboard.	Photo courtesy of Sol Lipkin, Tom & Lynda French, The Board Talk Editors/Publishers).
125k	Pages 1 & 2 of the Theodore Roosevelt's (SSBN-600) commissioning program, 13 Feb. 1961.	U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
169k	Pages 3 & 4 of the Theodore Roosevelt's (SSBN-600) commissioning program, listing the Blue & Gold crews, 13 Feb. 1961.	U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
262k	VADM F. N. Kivette, Commander, Western Sea Frontier receiving honors at commissioning ceremony of Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600) at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in dry dock 3, 13 Feb. 1961.	U.S. Navy photo # NY9 50405-2-61, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
229k	Commissioning ceremony of Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600) at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in dry dock 3, 13 Feb. 1961.	U.S. Navy photo # NY9 50406-2-61, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
256k	The colors are raised during the commissioning ceremony of Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600) at Mare Island Shipyard in dry dock 3, 13 Feb. 1961.	U.S. Navy photo # NY9 50411-2-61, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
60k	The Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600) rounds North Island as she enters San Diego harbor on 22 Feb. 1961, one week after her commissioning.	USN photo.
49k	Commemorative postal cover issued on the occasion of one of the Theodore Roosevelt's (SSBN-600) Polaris patrols, 1962.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
168k	Port side view of the Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600) off Diamond Head, Hawaii, possibly circa 1974.	Photo courtesy of John Hummel.
81k	The Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600) in 1974 at Cape Canaveral, Florida conducting missile test's.	USN photo courtesy of Bill Gonyo.
101k	Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600) with six open torpedo tubes in drydock.	Photo courtesy of John Wiles Communicator, Electrical Div. Officer, and DCA between 1976 and 1979, Gold and Combined Crew.
70k	Night photo of the Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600) in floating dry-dock in Guam '76.	Photo courtesy of John Wiles Communicator, Electrical Div. Officer, and DCA between 1976 and 1979, Gold and Combined Crew.
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-616) , 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.