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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive


Contributed by Mike Smolinski.
Radio Call Sign: November - Delta - Uniform - Alpha

Gato (SSN-615)

Thresher Class Attack Submarine: Laid down, 15 December 1961, at the Electric Boat Division, General Dynamics Corp., Groton, CT.; Launched, 14 May 1964; Commissioned, USS Gato (SSN-615), 3 November 1967; Decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register, 1 October 1995; Laid up at Bremerton Naval Shipyard; Final Disposition, entered the NPSSRP (Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program) at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA., completed 1 November 1996.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 3,540 t., Submerged: 4,200 t.; Length 292'; Beam 31' 8"; ; Speed, Surfaced 15 kts, Submerged 28+ kts; Operating Depth 400'; Complement, 143; Sensors, BQR-5 bow mounted sonar, TB-26 Towed Sonar Array; Armament, four 21" torpedo tubes, forward, MK 48 torpedoes, UUM-44A SUBROC, UGM-84A/C Harpoon, MK 57 deep water mines, Mk 60 CAPTOR mines; Propulsion System, one S5W nuclear reactor, two Westinghouse steam turbines, one propeller 15,000 shp.
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For Full Size Image		SizeImage DescriptionContributed By
Thresher50kPlatform plan of Thresher (SSN-593) class submarines. PDF courtesy of Darryl L. Baker.
Gato 71kCommemorative post mark on the occasion of Gato's (SSN-615) keel plate being laid, 15 December 1961. Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
Gato376kMrs. Lawson P. Ramage gives the Gato (SSN-615) a taste of things to come.USN photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.
Photo added 05/14/12.
Gato 168k Gato (SSN-615) is waterborne at Electric Boat on 14 May 1964. US Navy photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.
Gato 171kLaunching program for the Gato (SSN-615) at Electric Boat on 14 May 1964. Courtesy of Darryl L. Baker.
Gato 164k Gato's (SSN-615) sponsor, Mrs. Lawson P. Ramage. Courtesy of Darryl L. Baker.
Gato 138kInside pages of the launching program for the Gato (SSN-615) at Electric Boat on 14 May 1964. Courtesy of Darryl L. Baker.
Gato 27kCommemorative post card marking the launching of the Gato (SSN-615), 14 May 1964.Courtesy of Richard Leonhardt.
Gato100k Gato (SSN-615) underway, probably off the Atlantic coast during her alpha sea-trials, circa 1965.Official US Navy photo courtesy of Wendell Royce McLaughlin Jr.
Gato368kFour page PDF Welcome Aboard pamphlet for the Gato (SSN-615).USN photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.
PDF added 05/14/12.
Gato 240k Bow view of the Gato (SSN-615), topside on 13 October 1967. US Navy photo # NPC 1127468 courtesy of Electric Boat & Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.
Gato 163k Gato (SSN-615) off the New England coast on 13 October 1967. US Navy photo # NPC 1127472 courtesy of Electric Boat & Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.
GNATS1.70kThis shows the submarine tender Fulton (AS-11) alongside the State Pier, New London, CT. The date is approximately 1967-69. At the end of the pier is the submarine rescue vessel Skylark (ASR-20). Aft of the Fulton is the Gato (SSN-615), and moored in the nest next to the Fulton is Dace (SSN-607), Jack (SSN-605), and an unknown Thresher/Permit class boat (inboard in the nest). The unknown boat has a teardrop shaped sonar dome on the bow, an unusual installation for a 593 class boat. It is for the General Noise and Tonal System (GNATS), a jamming/decoy sonar system. Normally the dome is found mounted aft. A rough guess as to the identity of the unknown boat is Pollack (SSN-603). USN photo courtesy of Dave Johnston.
Ric Hedman and Jim Christley contributed information for this photo.
Photo added 05/14/12.
Gato 160kGato (SSN-615), in floating drydock Shippingport ARDM-4, Groton, 1994. Photo by Lester G. Palifka, submitted by Ken Hart.
Gato 57kGato (SSN-615), dockside at Bremerton Naval Shipyard, 1995.Courtesy of Lester Palifka.
Gato 83kGato (SSN-615), mid water visitors coming along side, stern view, date and location unknown.Courtesy of globalsecurity.org
Gato 82kGato (SSN-615), mid water visitors coming along side, starboard view, date and location unknown.Courtesy of globalsecurity.org
Gato 202k Floating drydock Shippingport (ARDM-4), Groton, 1994 with partial view of Gato (SSN-615).Contributed by Ken Hart, photo courtesy of Lester Palifka.
Gato 179k View of starboard side, Floating drydock Shippingport (ARDM-4), Groton, 1994 with bow view of Gato (SSN-615). Contributed by Ken Hart, photo courtesy of Lester Palifka.
Gato 276k Floating drydock Shippingport (ARDM-4), Groton, 1994 with port side stern view of Gato (SSN-615). Contributed by Ken Hart, photo courtesy of Lester Palifka.
Gato 276k Floating drydock Shippingport (ARDM-4), Groton, 1994 with Starboard stern view ofGato (SSN-615).Contributed by Ken Hart, photo courtesy of Lester Palifka.
Gato 126k Front cover of Gato (SSN-615) Departure Ceremony pamphlet, 7 April 1995. USN Photo courtesy of Ken Hart.
Gato 129k Back cover of Gato (SSN-615) Departure Ceremony pamphlet, 7 April 1995. USN Photo courtesy of Ken Hart.
Gato461kFive page PDF Decommissioning pamphlet for the Gato (SSN-615), 25 April 1996.USN photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.
PDF added 05/14/12.
Gato 42k Starboard side close-up of sail of Gato (SSN-615) in Groton, May 1995. Photo by Ken Hart.
Gato 222k Meal request ticket from Gato (SSN-615) mess, known as The Black Cat Cafe. Photo by Ken Hart.
Gato 222kGato (SSN-615), alongside at Groton, in May of 1995, shortly before her decommissioning. Gato had just returned from a one-week run, which included surfacing at the site where Thresher (SSN-593) sank, where a ceremony was held, including reciting the names of all who had perished with her, a twenty-one gun salute, a prayer recital, and a wreath tossed onto the grave site by Captain Rick Martinez USN, commanding Gato . I was privileged to be aboard that week. Photo by Ken Hart.
Gato 262kGato (SSN-615), forward line handling crew standing ready as we near New London after returning from the ceremony at Thresher's (SSN-593) gravesite. Photo by Ken Hart.
Gato 307kGato (SSN-615), sonar room, underway in May of 1995. Photo by Ken Hart.
Gato 303kGato (SSN-615), bridge cockpit, May 1995. Photo by Ken Hart.
Gato 23k Lt. Michael J. Mosley glances at the intrusion of my lens in Gato's (SSN-615) bridge cockpit May 1995. Photo by Ken Hart.
Gato 216k Gato's (SSN-615) pennants, May 1995. Photo by Ken Hart.
Gato 54kCommemorative post mark on the occasion of Gato's (SSN-615) decommissioning, 24 April 1996. Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
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 Gato (SSN-615)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation
Fleet Reserve Association
Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
FAS - SSN-594 Permit Class

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