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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive


Patches contributed by Mike Smolinski
Radio Call Sign: November - Charlie - Charlie - Yankee

Finback (SSN-670)

Sturgeon Class Attack Submarine: Laid down, 26 June 1967, at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Newport News, VA.; Launched, 7 December 1968; Commissioned, USS Finback (SSN-670), 4 February 1970; Decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register, 28 March 1997; Final Disposition, disposed of through the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program, 30 October 1997, at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 4,229 t., Submerged: 4,762 t.; Length 292'; Beam 31' 8"; Draft 31' 8"; Speed, Surfaced 15 kts, Submerged 25 kts; Test depth limit 1,300'; Complement 12 Officers 95 Enlisted; Armament, four 21" torpedo tubes amidships aft of bow, MK 48 Torpedoes, UUM-44A SUBROC, UGM-84A/C Harpoon, MK 57 deep water mines, Tomahawk missiles, 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 S5G nuclear reactor, two steam turbines, one propeller, 17,000 shp.
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For Full Size Image		SizeImage DescriptionContributed By
Finback159kThe bubbly bursts against the Finback (SSN-670) while being christened by Mrs. Charles F. Baird, wife of the Undersecretary of the Navy ,7 December 1968. Courtesy of Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co via S. Dale Hargrave. Photo added 02/12/09.
Finback87kFinback (SSN-670), at sea, probably during her alpha trials off Norfolk, VA. late 1967. Official US Navy photo by Lyold B. Everton, courtesy of Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co & Wendell Royce McLaughlin Jr.
Finback93kFinback (SSN-670), at sea off Norfolk, VA. circa late 1960s.Official US Navy photo courtesy of Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co & Wendell Royce McLaughlin Jr.
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.
Finback111kFinback (SSN-670), in drydock, circa 1984 in the fall during the SRA. Photo courtesy of Jay Parson, text i.d. courtesy of Bryan C. Carter, (ET1/ss) from December 1984 to January 1989.
Finback590k A bow view of the Sturgeon class (SSN-670) nuclear-powered attack submarine Finback (SSN-670), tied up at pier side at Port Canaveral, Florida, 13 Feb. 1994. USN photo # DN-SC-95-01926, by John Bouvia, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil.
Who Am I?796k A bow-on view of the submarine tender L.Y. Spear (AS-36) tied up at destroyer and submarine (D&S) pier 21 with four Los Angeles class and three Sturgeon class nuclear-powered attack submarines are tied up at destroyer and submarine (D&S)pier 22 at the naval base Norfolk, VA, on 28 Jan 1996. The first sub across the pier from the L.Y. Spear's stern is the Finback (SSN-670). USN photo # DN-SC-97-00621, by Robert J. Sitar, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil.
Who Am I?736k A stern view of the submarine tender L.Y. Spear (AS-36) tied up at destroyer and submarine (D&S) pier 21 at the naval base. Moored with the L.Y. Spear is four Los Angeles class and three Sturgeon class nuclear-powered attack submarines are tied up at destroyer and submarine (D&S)pier 22, 28 Jan 1996. The first sub across the pier from the L.Y. Spear's stern is the Finback (SSN-670). USN photo # DN-SC-97-00623, by Robert J. Sitar, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil.
Finback21kFinback (SSN-670), at anchor, Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, date unknown.Photo courtesy of Federation of American Scientists.
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.
There is no DANFS History currently available for Finback (SSN-670) 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
FAS--SSN-637 Sturgeon class
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