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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive


Contributed by Mike Smolinski
Radio Call Sign: November - Papa - Yankee - Sierra

Simon Bolivar (SSBN-641)

Benjamin Franklin Class Ballistic Missile Submarine: Laid down, 17 August 1963, at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Newport News, VA; Launched, 22 August 1964; Commissioned, USS Simon Bolivar (SSBN-641), 29 October 1965; Decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register, 24 February 1995; Disposed of through the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program, 1 October 1995 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.
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Simon Bolivar45k A South American soldier, statesman, and revolutionary leader, Simon Bolivar was born in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1783. He fought under Francisco Miranda in a revolt against the Spanish in 1810 but was forced to flee. He planned and led another revolution in Venezuela (1815 to 1818) which was successful. Bolivar raised a small army in New Granada (now Colombia) and defeated the Spanish at Boyaca in 1819 and was subsequently made president of the new republic of Colombia with almost supreme power. In 1821, Bolivar marched south to Quito, Ecuador. In August 1824, his army defeated the Spanish in the battle of Junin which, with General Antonio Sucre's victory at Ayacucho in December, freed Peru from Spain. Bolivar organized a new republic, named Bolivia, in 1825. Simon Bolivar died on 17 December 1830 on his estate near Santa Marta, Colombia.
Photo: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540, courtesy of Bill Gonyo. Photo added 02/02/08.
Simon Bolivar122kCommemorative post mark on the occasion of the Simon Bolivar's (SSBN-641) launching at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Newport News, VA, 22 August 1964.
Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
Simon Bolivar122kCommemorative post mark on the occasion of the Simon Bolivar's (SSBN-641) commissioning, 29 October 1965.
Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
Simon Bolivar98kSimon Bolivar (SSBN-641) underway sometime around the time of her commissioning, 29 October 1965.
US Navy photo.
Simon Bolivar109kSimon Bolivar (SSBN-641) underway sometime around the time of her commissioning, 29 October 1965.
US Navy photo courtesy of Wendell Royce McLaughlin Jr.
Simon Bolivar45k Simon Bolivar (SSNB-641) underway sometime around the time of her commissioning, 29 October 1965.
U.S. Navy Photograph courtesy of pelicanharborsubvets. Photo added 02/02/08.
Simon Bolivar97kSimon Bolivar (SSNB-641) during trials in September 1965.
USN photo courtesy of Robert Hurst.
Simon Bolivar47kChange of command ceremony aboard the Simon Bolivar (SSNB-641). US Navy photo courtesy of Robert Hall.
Simon Bolivar181kSimon Bolivar (SSNB-641) underway, with dolphins jumping at the bow, port side view, circa 1980's near the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
US Navy photo.
Simon Bolivar68kRepresentatives of the navies participating in Operation Unitas XXV pay homage to South America hero Simon Bolivar at the monument erected in his honor, 1 Jun 1984.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph # DN-ST-85-08277, by PH2 Terry Mitchell, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil.
Simon Bolivar322kA starboard bow view of the nuclear-powered strategic missile submarine Simon Bolivar (SSBN-641) underway, 1 Feb 1991.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph # DN-ST-91-05230, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil.
Simon Bolivar281kSimon Bolivar (SSNB-641) at Port Canaveral, FL., 22 Aug 1993, celebrating the 29th anniversary of her launching.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph # DN-SC-93-06089, by OS2 John Bouvia, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil.
Simon Bolivar98kA bow view of the nuclear-powered strategic missile submarine Simon Bolivar (SSNB-641) at Port Canaveral, FL., 22 Aug 1993.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph # DN-SC-93-06090, by OS2 John Bouvia, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil. Photo courtesy of Bill Gonyo.
Simon Bolivar67kSimon Bolivar (SSBN-641) starboard side view in Gibraltar 5th March 1994.
Courtesy of Daniel Ferro.
Scraping26kCommemorative post mark issued on the occasion of Stonewall Jackson (SSBN-634), Mariano G. Vallejo (SSBN-658) , Simon Bolivar (SSBN-641), and Hammerhead (SSN-663), at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, entering Dry Dock No. 4 for scraping 8 November 1994.
Courtesy of 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 Simon Bolivar (SSBN 641)
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
USS Simon Bolivar SSBN 641
FAS - SSBN-640 Benjamin Franklin Class FBM Submarines
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