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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Contributed by Mike Smolinski.

Radio Call Sign: November - Kilo - Echo - Echo

Aspro (SSN-648)

Sturgeon Class Attack Submarine: Laid down, 23 November 1964, at Ingalls Shipbuilding Pascagoula, MS.; Launched, 29 November 1967; Commissioned, USS Aspro (SSN-648), 20 February 1969; Decommissioned and simultaneously struck from the Naval Register, 31 March 1995; Final Disposition, disposed of through NPSSRP (Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program) at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA., 3 November 2000.

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
47k	Aspro (SSN-648), entering Pearl Harbor during the early 70's.	Courtesy of John Hummel.
136k	Another photo behind the palm trees that every submarine seems to pass is the fate of the Aspro (SSN-648), as she enters Pearl Harbor, circa 1980. Note the small private plane above the trees.	Official US Navy photo courtesy of Wendell Royce McLaughlin Jr.
26k	The sail of the Aspro (SSN-648) at the North Pole in 1982.	USN photo courtesy of Artic Submarine Laboratory & csp.navy.mil.
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. Photo added 04/22/07.
136k	The floating drydock Competent (AFDM-6) starts flooding to refloat Aspro (SSN-648) at Pearl Harbor, April 1992.	US Navy photo courtesy of Scott Weeks.
135k	Aspro (SSN-648), crew photo taken while she was up on keel blocks in Competent (AFDM-6), at Pearl Harbor, February to April 1992.	US Navy photo courtesy of Scott Weeks.
118k	Competent (AFDM-6), flooding to refloat Aspro (SSN-648)at Pearl Harbor, April 1992.	US Navy photo courtesy of Scott Weeks.
31k	Haddock (SSN-621), at top, followed by Ethan Allen (SSBN-608), Aspro (SSN-648), Bergal (SSN-667) and Silversides (SSN-679) at bottom, awaiting scrapping at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA., 2000.	Photo courtesy of Don Shelton.

There is no DANFS History currently available for Aspro (SSN-648) at the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site, the main archive for the DANFS Online Project.

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation
Fleet Reserve Association

Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Aspro Net
FAS - SSN-637 Sturgeon class

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