Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive


Contributed by Mike Smolinski
Radio Call Sign: November - Charlie - Whiskey - Juliet

Sunfish (SSN-649)

Sturgeon Class Attack Submarine: Laid down, 15 January 1965, at General Dynamics Corp., Quincy, MA; Launched, 14 October 1966; Commissioned, USS Sunfish (SSN-649), 15 March 1969; Decommissioned and simultaneously struck from the Naval Register, 31 March 1997; Final Disposition, disposed of through NPSSRP (Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program) at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA., 31 October 1997.

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.
Click On Image
For Full Size Image		SizeImage DescriptionContributed By
Whale31k Commemorative post mark on the occasion of the double launching of the Whale (SSN-638) & Sunfish (SSN-649) 14 October 1966.
Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
Sunfish57kThe Sunfish (SSN-649) alongside the Submarine Tender Hunley (AS-31) in 1967.
US Navy photo courtesy of tendertale.com & submitted by Bill Gonyo. Photo added 10/12/07.
Sunfish89kBow on view of the Sunfish (SSN-649) off Quincy MA, 10 March 1969, during her sea trials and five days before her commissioning.
US Navy photo.
Sunfish88kSunfish (SSN-649) underway during her sea trials, circa 1966-68.
US Navy photo courtesy of ssn649.net.
Sturgeon Class43k 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.
Submerged submarines145kSubmerged submarines in tandem.U.S. Navy Photo courtesy of Robert Hall.
Sunfish101kSunfish (SSN-649) at sunset, circa 1968-80.
US Navy photo courtesy of ssn649.net.
Sunfish68k Admiral James L. Holloway, III, USN, Chief of Naval Operations (left center) in the torpedo room of Sunfish (SSN-649), during a visit to the submarine at Charleston, South Carolina, 18 March 1976. Commander Zack T. Pate, Sunfish's commanding officer is in the center, talking with Admiral Holloway.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, # NH 103817, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.
Sunfish63kThis photo of the Sunfish (SSN-649) during an emergency surfacing maneuver, was taken by a Navy photographer onboard the Frank Cable (AS-40) prior to exercise "Swamp Fox 81" in which the tender and 6 of the SUBRON4 submarines (3 tied to each side) resided in St. Thomas, USVI for about a week, possibly fall/winter, 1981.
US Navy photo courtesy of ComSubGrp Nine web site. Partial text and photo i.d. courtesy of R/ Gregg Gumaskas STS1(SS) Sunfish 80-84.
Sunfish781kA port bow view of the Sunfish (SSN-649) entering the pier at Port Everglades, Florida on 23 May 1994.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph # DN-SC-03-10059, by OS2 John Bouvia, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil. and submitted by Bill Gonyo.
Sunfish659kA port bow view of the Sunfish (SSN-649) moored to the pier at Port Everglades, Florida on 23 May 1994.
Official U.S. Navy photo # DN-SC-03-10060, by OS2 John Bouvia, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil. and submitted by Bill Gonyo.
Sunfish20kSunfish (SSN-649) top left, James Madison (SSBN-627) top right, Spadefish (SSN-668) bottom left, and Finback (SSN-670) bottom right, at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA., 31 October 1997 awaiting scrapping.
 Courtesy of Don Sheldon.
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 Sunfish (SSN-649)
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 Sunfish (SSN 649)
aboutsubs.com - USS Sunfish (SSN-649)
Back To The Main Photo IndexBack To the Submarine Index

Problems and site related matters, E-mail Webmaster.
This page is created and maintained by Michael Mohl
© Michael Mohl © NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.