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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Contributed by Mike Smolinski

Radio Call Sign: November - Uniform - Sierra - Golf

Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN-631)

Lafayette Class Ballistic Missile Submarine: Laid down, 18 August 1962, at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corp., Groton, CT.; Launched, 2 November 1963; Commissioned, USS Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN 631), 17 July 1964; Decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register, 12 June 1992; Disposed of through the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program, 29 March 1993 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 7,250 t., Submerged: 8,250 t.; Length 425' ; Beam 33'; Draft 32'; Speed, Surfaced/Submerged 20+ kts; Complement 120; Test depth 1,300'; Armament, 16 missile tubes, four 21" torpedo tubes; Propulsion, S5W Pressurized Water Nuclear Reactor, two geared turbines at 15,000 shp, one propeller.

Size	Image Description	Source
149k	Ulysses S. Grant, victorious commander of the Union Army during the Civil War, and 18th President of the United States, was born 1822 at Point Pleasant, Ohio. He graduated from West Point in 1843; served under Taylor and Scott in the Mexican War; resigned his commission 1854. On the outbreak of Civil War he was commissioned Colonel of the 21st Illinois Volunteer Infantry, later Major General of Volunteers. His wise use of power afloat in combined operations, commencing with the occupation of Paducah, Ky., won impressive victories at Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga. His determination to win prompted Lincoln to appoint him supreme commander of the Union forces. His relentless campaign against Richmond, in which he continued to take full advantage of the North's control of the sea, forced Lee to surrender at Appomattox. In 1867 Grant received an interim appointment as Secretary of War. In 1868 he was elected to his first of two terms as President. He devoted his later years to the writing of his "memoirs," which were published in 1885, the year of his death.	Photo from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540, courtesy of Bill Gonyo.
31k	Commemorative post mark honoring the launching of the Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN-631), 2 November 1963.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
57k	Commemorative post mark honoring the commissioning of the Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN-631), 17 July 1964.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
130k	Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN-631), during her shakedown cruise off the New England coast, August 1964.	USN photo courtesy of David Buell.
117k	Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN-631) underway off the coast of Virginia, probably during her shakedown cruise circa August 1964.	Photo by Lloyd Everton, courtesy of Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydocking Company, submitted by Wendell Royce McLaughlin Jr.
30k	Commemorative post mark honoring the first launching of a Polaris missle of the Blue crew of the Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN-631), 5 September 1964.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
34k	Commemorative post mark honoring the first launching of a Polaris missle of the Gold crew of the Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN-631), 21 September 1964.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
283k	Following shakedown, the fleet ballistic missile (FBM) submarine got underway from Groton in early December 1964, bound for the Pacific. Transiting the Panama Canal on New Year's Eve, Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN-631) arrived at Pearl Harbor in January 1965. An aerial view of the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal. At center, a US Navy *Lafayette-class* nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, (Not necessarily the *Ulysses S. Grant*) waits in one lock while a container ship enters the other.	USN photo # DA-ST-90-07096, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil. Partial text courtesy of DANFS & dodmedia.osd.mil.
40k	Commemorative post mark honoring the first patrol of the Gold crew of the Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN-631), 25 June 1965.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
279k	Poseidon Missle DASO launch from the Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN-631) off Cape Caneveral, Florida.	US Navy photo courtesy of CDR M.J. Holden / cs.nps.navy.mil.
229k	A Poseidon C-3 (UGM-73A) fleet ballistic missile lifts off after being launched from the submerged nuclear-powered strategic missile submarine Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN-631) on 26 May 1979. This is the 70th test launch of a Poseidon C-3.	Official U.S. Navy Photograph # DF-SC-84-05193 from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil & submitted by Bill Gonyo.
417k	A view of a mock-up of a Trident I C-4 missile, right, and its predecessor, the Poseidon C-3 missile, at Sunnyvale, CA. The Trident is used on the nuclear-powered fleet ballistic missile submarine. In the foreground is a model of the nuclear-powered fleet ballistic missile submarine Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN-631) showing a simulated launching of a Poseidon missile on 2 Oct 1981.	Official U.S. Navy Photograph # DN-SC-82-00006 from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil & submitted by Bill Gonyo.
92k	Captain Bruce L. Bullough commanded Jack (SSN-605) from November 1988 until *Jack* was decommissioned on 11 July 1990. Bruce assumed command of Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN-631) (BLUE) in August 1990, completing two patrols in command.	US Navy photo courtesy of Bill Gonyo. Photo added 12/28/08.
568k	A port bow view of the nuclear-powered strategic missile submarine Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN-631) entering port at NAS Barbers Point, Hawaii, 1 Feb 1991.	Official U.S. Navy Photograph # DN-ST-91-05227 by PH2 Dextradeur, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil & submitted by Bill Gonyo.
77k	Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN-631), at Groton, 13 December 1991.	Photo by Ken Hart.
1.1mb	An aerial view of four Lafayette class (SSBN-616) nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines in the early stages of being scrapped out in a graving dock at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Washington, 17 May 1993. The Lafayette (SSBN-616) & Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN-631) are most likely the two on the port side. They were the first two boats of this class to be decommissioned. The next two boats to be decommissioned were the John Adams (SSBN-620) & Tecumseh (SSBN-628), and they might be the two on the starboard side.	USN photo # DN-ST-95-01860 by Calvin Larsen, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil.
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.