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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Patches on left and center contributed by Mike Smolinski, on right by Jack Treutle

Grayling (SSN-646)

Radio Call Sign: November - Delta - Victor - Quebec

Sturgeon Class Attack Submarine: Laid down, 12 May 1964, at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, ME.: Launched, 22 June 1967; Commissioned, USS Grayling (SSN-646), 11 October 1969; Decommissioned and simultaneously struck from the Naval Register, 18 July 1997; Final Disposition, disposed of through the NPSSRP (Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program) at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA., 31 March 1998.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 3,640 t., Submerged: 4,640 t.; Length 292' 3"; Beam 31' 8"; Draft 28' 8"; Speed, Surfaced 15 kts, Submerged 25 kts; Depth limit 1,300'; Complement 108; Armament, four 21" torpedo tubes amidships aft of bow, MK 48 Torpedoes, UUM-44A SUBROC, UGM-84A/C Harpoon, MK 57 deep water mines, MK 60 CAPTOR mines; Combat Sensors, Radar, BPS-14/15 surface search, Sonars, BQQ-5 multi-function bow mounted, BQR-7 passive in submarines with BQQ-2, BQS-12 active 7, TB-16 or TB-23 towed array, EW Systems, WLQ-4(V), WLR-4(V), WLR-9 ; Propulsion System, one S5W nuclear reactor, two steam turbines, one propeller, 15,000 shp.

Size	Image Description	Contributed By
78k	In a typical Portsmouth Naval Shipyard launching, the Grayling (SSN-646) slides down the ways bow first during her launching at Kittery, ME., 22 June 1967.	USN photo courtesy of Robert Hurst.
72k	Front cover of the Launching Program for the Grayling (SSN-646) at Kittery, ME., 22 June 1967.	USN photo courtesy of Robert M. Cieri.
73k	Commemorative postal cover marking the Grayling's (SSN-646) launching at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, ME., 22 June 1967.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
48k	Front cover of the Commissioning Program for the Grayling (SSN-646) on 11 October 1969.	USN photo courtesy of Robert M. Cieri.
84k	Starboard view of the Grayling (SSN-646), circa her commissioning period, 1969.	USN photo.
123k	Port side view of the Grayling (SSN-646) underway, possibly circa her commissioning period, 1969.	Official US Navy photo courtesy of Wendell Royce McLaughlin Jr.
43k	Oil on canvas painting by the artist Jim Christley entitled "Trailing". During the Cold War the US Naval Submarine Force was tasked with keeping tabs on Soviet Naval movements in particular, the Soviet Submarine Force. Submarines of the *Sturgeon Class* were well suited to this task and often trailed Soviet submarines for days reporting on their movements and recording noise signatures. In this image, such a trailing has turned into a close aboard encounter as a Soviet *Viktor III Class* has turned to port to check his baffles (to listen to see if anyone is immediately astern). A trailing *Sturgeon* has stopped his screw and gone quiet. Extending far behind the US submarine is its towed array sonar which assists in giving a clear picture of the ocean’s acoustics	Photo & text courtesy of subart.net.
145k	Submerged submarines in tandem.	U.S. Navy Photo courtesy of Robert Hall.
237k	The Grayling (SSN-646) is entering Mare Island channel in March 1987 for her arrival at the shipyard for overhaul. She was under overhaul at yard from 30 March 1987 until 9 Jan 1990. The Carquinez Bridge is visible in the background. Large building beyond the bridge is the C&H Sugar Refinery at Crockett, CA.	USN photo # 219796-3-87, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
302k	A port view of the nuclear-powered attack submarine Grayling (SSN-646) underway off Portsmouth, N. H., 1 Feb 1991.	Official U.S. Navy Photograph # DN-ST-91-05696 by E.F. Capece, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil & submitted by Bill Gonyo.
29k	Commemorative post mark from Grayling's (SSN-646) visit to the North Pole, April 1992.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
559k	A port bow view of the nuclear-powered attack submarine Grayling (SSN-646) moored at a pier on 25 Jul 1993.	Official U.S. Navy Photograph # DN-SC-93-05986 by OS2 John Bouvia, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil & submitted by Bill Gonyo.
198k	An SH-60F "Seahawk" from the "Nightdippers" of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Five (HS-5) hovers in front of U.S. Navy's *Sturgeon-class* attack submarine, Grayling (SSN-646) while operating in the western Mediterranean Sea, Jun. 19, 1996. The Seahawk was operating from the deck of the U.S. Navy's nuclear powered aircraft carrier George Washington (CVN-73), while conducting a passing exercise with units from the French aircraft carrier Clemenceau's (R-98).	USN photo # 7340V-002, by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Jim Vidrine, courtesy of t2news.navy.m7z.net.
223k	Grayling (SSN-646) alongside at Groton, 1996.	Photo by Ken Hart.
136k	Starboard view sail of Grayling (SSN-646) at Groton 1996.	Photo by Lester Palifka.
133k	Bow view of Grayling (SSN-646) at Groton 1996.	Photo by Lester Palifka.
53k	Grayling (SSN-646) tied to the wharf at Groton CT., 1997.	Courtesy of Lester Palifka.
49k	Grayling (SSN-646) underway, date and place unknown.	US Navy photo courtesy of COMSUBGRU NINE web site.
62k	Commemorative postal cover issued on the occasion of the Grayling's (SSN-646) decommissioning, July 18, 1997.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
32k	Grayling (SSN-646) awaiting disposal at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA., 31 March 1998.	Courtesy of Don Shelton.
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.
44k	The Grayling's (SSN-646) sail, with its dive planes preserved as a memorial to its crew, at the US Navy's Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine.	Photo & text courtesy of Bill Fessenden. Photo added 07/21/07.