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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive


Patch on left contributed by Mike Smolinski, on right by Jack Treutle
Radio Call Sign: November - Yankee - Uniform - Golf

Archerfish (SSN-678)

Sturgeon Class Attack Submarine: Laid down, 19 June 1969, at the Electric Boat Div., General Dynamics Corp., Groton, CT.; Launched, 16 January 1971; Commissioned, USS Archerfish (SSN-678), 17 December 1971, at New London, CT.; Decommissioned and simultaneously struck from the Naval Register, 31 March 1998; Final Disposition, disposed of through (NPSSRP) the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA., 6 November 1998.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 3,640 t., Submerged: 4,640 t.; Length 302'; 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 multifunction bow mounted, BQR-7 passive in submarines with BQQ-2, BQS-13 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		SizeImage DescriptionContributed By
Archerfish489kArcherfish (SSN-678) slides stern first from the launching ways on into the Thames River at the Electric Boat Div., General Dynamics Corp., Groton, CT., 16 January 1971.USN photo # NPC 1147466 courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com
Archerfish625kBow view of a stern first launching of the Archerfish (SSN-678).USN photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com
Archerfish389kTriage of photos from Welcome Aboard pamphlet of the Archerfish (SSN-678).USN photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com
Archerfish351k14 September 1971 finds the Archerfish (SSN-678) on her trials. USN photo # NPC 1149879 courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com
Archerfish21k Commemorative post card marking the commissioning of the Archerfish (SSN-678), 17 December 1971.Courtesy of Richard Leonhardt.
Archerfish86kThe Commanding officer in the cockpit of the Archerfish (SSN-678), possibly during her sea-trials off the New England coast, 1971-72.Official USN 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.USN photo courtesy of Robert Hall.
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0867822		 550k 11 page Archerfish (SSN-678) Welcome Aboard PDF, circa 1981. Photos courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com
ICEX476kNear the North Pole. This is probably the only photo ever taken of a submarine surfaced through the polar ice and helicopter in the same picture.
If my memory is correct, the photo was taken by ET2 Phil Darrow and we were on an expedition to chart a course through the polar cap in ICEX 79. The chopper was from a support team that I believe came from an outpost in Greenland.		USN photo by ET2 Phil Darrow, courtesy of Allan Koenig, Archerfish 1976 - 80.
ICEX 86802kThe expanse of endless waste seems to engulf the Ray (SSN-653), Hawkbill (SSN-666), and & Archerfish (SSN-678) during ICEX 86. Official USN photo # DN-SC-86-07409, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil.
Photo i.d. courtesy of John R.V. Jones, STS1/SS, USS RAY (SSN-653) '81 - '86 COMSUBRON 4 Staff '86-'88.
ICEX 86441kAn elevated view of the attack submarines Ray (SSN-653), Hawkbill (SSN-666), and & Archerfish (SSN-678) surfaced at the geographic North Pole, 6 May 1986 during ICEX 86. This is the first time three nuclear-powered submarines have simultaneously surfaced at the pole.Official USN photo # DN-SC-86-07408, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil.
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0867823		 1.35k An elevated view of the attack submarines Ray (SSN-653), Hawkbill (SSN-666), and Archerfish (SSN-678) surfaced at the geographic North Pole. This is the first time three nuclear-powered submarines have simultaneously surfaced at the pole 6 May 1986 during ICEX 86. Photo courtesy of NARAprodstorage
Archerfish211k Weapons Department photo of the Archerfish (SSN-678) while in a refueling overhaul in Bremerton, WA (~1989).Photo by Eric Herman, FTG1 (ss/dv).
Archerfish162kVoyage to the bottom of the tub.
"Bluenosed" during Icex88. 		Photo by Eric Herman, FTG1 (ss/dv).
Archerfish322kSDV logo created James Raab as a general T shirt design. Photo i.d. via MMCM/SS/DV Banas.
Photo by Eric Herman, FTG1 (ss/dv).
Archerfish235k A pair of rigid-hull inflatable boats from Special Boat Unit 4 (SBU-4) operate alongside the nuclear-powered attack submarine Archerfish (SSN-678) during the joint service exercise Ocean Venture '93, off the coast of Puerto Rico on 5 May 1993. The Archerfish has a dry deck shelter attached to its deck. Official USN photo # DN-ST-93-05192, by PH2 (DV) Glen Hurd, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil. & submitted by Bill Gonyo.
Archerfish280kStarboard bow view of Archerfish (SSN-678), with DDS at pier 31 south, Groton, May 1995.Photo by Ken Hart.
Archerfish129k View of the sail of the Archerfish (SSN-678), May 1995. Photo by Ken Hart.
Archerfish98k Close-up view of DDS on Archerfish (SSN-678) aft deck., May 1995. Photo by Ken Hart.
Wyoming153kWyoming (SSBN-742) commissioning ceremony, at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corp., Groton, CT., 13 July 1996. Note in the background the Archerfish (SSN-678) heading to the Mediterranean Sea for a six month deployment. The Archerfish was home ported out of Groton and would work with Seal Team 2 deploying them from the DDS. Photo & text i.d. courtesy of Robert K. Montomery, MM2(SS) (Retired), SSBN 742 Plankowner.
Electric Division photo now in the USN photo archives, courtesy of Federaltion of American Scientists.
Archerfish21kArcherfish (SSN-678), after breaking through the Arctic ice cap, 5 September 1997.USN photo courtesy of the Arctic Submarine Laboratory.
Archerfish47k Commemorative post card marking the occasion of the Archerfish (SSN-678) breaking through the Arctic ice cap, 5 September 1997. Courtesy of Jack Treutle (of blessed memory).
Archerfish28k Commemorative post card marking the occasion of the Archerfish (SSN-678) breaking through the Arctic ice cap, 5 September 1997 during the SCICEX 1997 Expedition. Courtesy of Jack Treutle (of blessed memory).
Archerfish24k Archerfish (SSN-678) on the Surface during SCICEX 1997 Expedition.USN photo courtesy of the Arctic Submarine Laboratory & csp.navy.mil.
Archerfish163k The U.S. Navy's nuclear powered Sturgeon Class submarine, Archerfish (SSN-678), prepares to transfer CNN media crews off the coast of Augusta Bay, Sicily, March 5, 1997.USN photo N-6135B-008 Lieutenant Barbara A. Burfeind, courtesy of csp.navy.mil.
Archerfish518k Archerfish (SSN-678) somewhere at sometime.USN photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.
Archerfish96kArcherfish (SSN-678), underway, date and place unknown.USN photo courtesy of the Federation of American Scientists.
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).
As time passes & more boats are retired from service and their reactors are brought here, so the numbers rise. In this photo dated November 2009, 98 nuclear submarines and six nuclear cruisers have been recycled. For an up to date view, click here		USN photo submitted by Jack Treutle (of blessed memory).
Insert link courtesy of wikimedia.org
Commanding Officers
01CDR. Bird, Ralph Gordon, USN (USNA 1956)17.12.1971 - 06.04.1974 First Date in Commission
02CDR. Ward, Sibley Logan III, USN (USNA 1960)06.04.1974 - 14.04.1978
03CDR. Plummer, Galen Robert, USN14.04.1978 - 20.08.1981
04CDR. Almon, John Sterling, USN20.08.1981 - 19.04.1985
05CDR. Riegel, Michael Glen, USN19.04.1985 - 11.03.1988
06CDR. Shalles, Siegfried Lee, USN11.03.1988 - 15.03.1991
07CDR. Leahy, Kevin Bernard, USN15.03.1991 - 05.08.1993
08CDR. Holland, Robert Dale, USN05.08.1993 - 13.02.1996
09CDR. Kremer, Steven Robert, USN (USNA 1979)13.02.1996 - 31.03.1998 Last Date in Commission
Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler
View the Archerfish (SSN-678)
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
FAS--SSN-637 Sturgeon class
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