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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive


Contributed by Mike Smolinski
Radio Call Sign: November - Foxtrot - Quebec - Whiskey

Flying Fish (SSN-673)

Sturgeon Class Attack Submarine: Laid down, 30 June 1967, at Electric Boat Division, General Dynamics Corp., Groton, CT.; Launched, 17 May 1969; Commissioned, USS Flying Fish (SSN-673), 29 April 1970; Decommissioned and simultaneously struck from the Naval Register, 16 May 1996; Final Disposition, disposed of through NPSSRP (Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program) at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA., 15 October 1996.

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.
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For Full Size Image		SizeImage DescriptionContributed By
Flying Fish21k Commemorative postal cover marking Flying Fish's (SSN-673) launching at Electric Boat Division, General Dynamics Corp., Groton, CT., 17 May 1969. Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
Flying Fish62kBow on view of the Flying Fish (SSN-673) underway, possibly during her seatrials off the New England coast, circa 1970. Official US Navy photo courtesy of Wendell Royce McLaughlin Jr.
Flying Fish112kFlying Fish (SSN-673) underway, possibly during her seatrials off the New England coast, circa 1970. Official US Navy photo courtesy of 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. Photo added 04/22/07.
Flying Fish30kFlying Fish (SSN-673), (closest pier forward gourp) 1970's at Norfolk VA. Courtesy of John Hummel.
Flying Fish56kFlying Fish (SSN-673), underway, port side view, circa 1972-73, off Norfolk, VA.Courtesy of Dennis M. Bartholomew.
Flying Fish47kSail of the Flying Fish (SSN-673) protruding through the polar ice in her 1977 visit to the North Pole. US Navy photo courtesy of US Navy Arctic Submarine Laboratory & csp.navy.mil.
Flying Fish49k Commemorative postal cover marking Flying Fish's (SSN-673) Sea Ops off the Florida Gold coast, 30 June 1983. Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
Flying Fish600kA bow view of the nuclear-powered attack submarine Flying Fish (SSN-673) underway off Cape Henry on 1 Feb 1991. Defense Visual Information Center photo # DN-ST-91-05705 by PH1 David B. Loveall, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil.
Flying Fish72kFlying Fish (SSN-673), dockside, starboard view at Gibraltar 26th June 1994.Courtesy of Daniel Ferro.
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 Flying Fish (SSN-673) 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
USSFlying Fish (SS 229) & (SSN 673)
FAS--SSN-637 Sturgeon class
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