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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive
Patches contributed by Mike Smolinski

USS Dixon (AS-37)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Whiskey - Romeo - Hotel
 NWRH
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation - Navy Expeditionary Medal
Bottom Row - Navy Battle "E" Ribbon (3) - National Defense Service Medal - Southwest Asia Service Medal
L. Y. Spear Class Submarine Tender:
  • Laid down, 7 September 1967, at General Dynamics Corp., Quincy, MA.
  • Launched, 20 June 1970
  • Commissioned USS Dixon (AS-37), 7 August 1971, CAPT. D. S. Boyd, USN
  • Decommissioned, 15 December 1995
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 18 March 1996
  • Laid up at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Portsmouth, VA.
  • Final Disposition, sunk as a target, 21 July 2003, Location: 031° 16' 17.9" North, 073° 57' 46.2" West Depth: 2805 fathoms
    Specifications:
    Displacement 14,362 t.(lt) 23,396 t. (fl)
    Length 643'
    Beam 85'
    Draft 29'
    Speed 18 kts.
    Complement 1,112
    Armament two twin 20mm gun mounts
    Propulsion two boilers, steam turbine, single shaft
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Dixon 47k
    Namesake

    George E. Dixon’s pre-war home was Mobile, Alabama, where he is believed to have been a steamboat engineer and auxiliary policeman. It was here he became close to Queen Bennett the oldest of 8 children of a steamboat captain. He was, however, many years her senior, which seemed to make no difference at all. In 1861 George Dixon went to war in the 21st Alabama Infantry where he was wounded at Shiloh. At this time his romance with Queen Bennett becomes legendary. Before his departure she had given him a twenty-dollar gold piece for good luck; and it was this gold coin that saved his leg and possibly his life as it stopped a minie ball that went crashing into his leg at Shiloh. After Shiloh, Dixon returned to Mobile to convalesce where he also worked in the machine shop preparing the submarine for service. Horace Lawson Hunley was a Louisiana sugar planter and deputy collector of U.S. Customs in New Orleans. With a handful of private associates he helped bankroll the submarine which was a private venture. On August 7, 1863 Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard called Hunley to Charleston to help break the blockade. Shown as follows is H. L. Hunley and the Park and Lyons Machine Shop in Mobile where the submarine was constructed.
    The Hunley actually sank three times during its career before she was finally successful. On August 29, 1863, the Hunley was swamped while moored by a passing ship when swells entered its open hatches. Five of its nine crewmen drowned. On October 15, 1863, the Hunley sank with all hands when unable to recover from a dive. The crew was unable to release the ballast which would have enabled them to resurface. All eight crewmen drowned which included H.L. Hunley. The third sinking was on Feb 17, 1864 when George E. Dixon and the Hunley made a night attack against the USS Housatonic, an 1800 ton blockading warship mounting 23 guns. The Hunley rammed the Housatonic with a harpoon-like spar, having an explosive charge of about ninety pounds attached to it. After embedding the spar into the Union warship's wooden side, the Hunley backed off several yards; a lanyard was pulled inside the submarine triggering the explosive charge against the Housatonic's hull. The Union warship sank, becoming the first victim of a submarine attack in history. There was to be a pre-arranged blue carbide signal from the Hunley that the attack had been completed and that the sub was coming home. This signal was actually observed from shore. The Hunley however was lost and not rediscovered for another 131 years until the found by author Clive Cussler and his team from the National Underwater and Marine Agency in partnership with the South Carolina Institute of Anthropology and Archaeology. On August 8th, 2000 at 8:37 a.m. the Hunley was lifted to the surface by a crane from the Clarissa B. 136 years after setting out on its attack.
    Photo is a facial re-creation of George E. Dixon by Sharon Longs for National Geographic Magazine.    		 Bill Gonyo
    Dixon 93k USS Dixon (AS-37) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, January 1974    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Dixon 43k USS Dixon (AS-37) tending submarines at Diego Garcia, date unknown. Contributed by Dave Gibson to
    Randy Guttery's
    Tendertales web site
    Samuel Gompers 55k USS Dixon (AS-37) and USS Samuel Gompers (AD-37) side by side at Diego Garcia. After a 60-day deployment Samuel Gompers turned over the job of Indian Ocean fleet repairs to Dixon, date unknown.
    US Navy photo by PH3 Book.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Dixon 28k USS Dixon (AS-37) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo    		 Courtesy Randy Guttery
    Tendertales web site
    Dixon 84k USS Dixon (AS-37) tending submarines at Sub Base San Diego, circa 1977-79 Photo by Dr. Kenneth Hartman
    Dixon 53k USS Dixon (AS-37) tending submarines at Sub Base San Diego, date unknown. Robert Hall USS Tidewater
    Dixon 66k USS Dixon (AS-37) underway, date and location unknown. Robert Hall USS Tidewater
    YTB-826 2469k USS Dixon (AS-37) in her berth at Sub Base San Diego, 1 July 1982. In the foreground the large harbor tug Washtucna (YTB-826) nudges the Los Angeles class nuclear-powered attack submarine USS La Jolla (SSN-701) into her berth outboard of the 594 class attack submarine USS Plunger (SSN-595). .
    DVIC photo # DN-ST-83-10231 by PH2 Randy Hays.    		 Defense Visual Information Center
    There is no DANFS history currently available for USS Dixon (AS-37) at Navsource
    USS Dixson (AS-37) Commanding Officers
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S.Navy Memorial Foundation
    Fleet Reserve Association
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    Submarine Tenders of the United States Navy
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    Last Updated 12 June 2009