USS Triton (SSRN-586)
US Navy radar picket submarine.
History
USS Triton (SSRN/SSN-586), the only member of her class, was a nuclear powered radar picket submarine in the United States Navy. She was the only Western submarine powered by two nuclear reactors. Triton was the second submarine and the fourth vessel of the United States Navy to be named for the Greek god Triton. This naming convention was unusual at the time; U.S. Navy submarines were usually named for various species of fish. At the time of her commissioning in 1959, Triton was the largest, most powerful, and most expensive submarine ever built at $109 million (equivalent to $1.2 billion in 2025) excluding the cost of nuclear fuel and reactors.
Triton's shakedown cruise in early 1960 saw her become the first vessel to execute a submerged circumnavigation of the Earth, in Operation Sandblast. The voyage was made
under the command of Captain Edward L. "Ned" Beach Jr. Triton's mission as a radar picket submarine was made obsolete after two years by the introduction of the carrier-based Grumman WF-2 Tracer airborne early warning aircraft. She was converted to an attack submarine in 1962 and became the flagship for the Commander, Submarine Forces, U.S. Atlantic Fleet (COMSUBLANT) in 1964. She was decommissioned in 1969, the first U.S. nuclear submarine to be taken out of service.
Triton's hull was moored at the St. Julien's Creek Annex of Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia as part of the reserve fleet until 1993, though she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register in 1986. In 1993, she was towed to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard to await the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program. Triton landed on the keel resting blocks in the drydock basin on 1 October 2007 to begin this recycling process, which was completed effective 30 November 2009. Triton's sail superstructure was saved from the recycling process and is now part of the USS Triton Submarine Memorial Park located on Port of Benton Boulevard in Richland, Washington.
Text from Wikipedia: USS Triton (SSRN-586), CC BY-SA 4.0, lightly trimmed.
Key dates
- 1957With construction costs for Triton escalating, this long-range requirement was revised in 1957 to provide four nuclear-powered radar picket submarines for a single nuclear-powered carrier group, with the four remaining conventionally powered carrier groups supported by two diesel-electric radar picket submarines each.
- 1958Triton was launched on 19 August 1958, with Louise Willis, the wife of Vice Admiral John Wills USN (ret.), as her sponsor.
- 1959On 27 September 1959, Triton achieved "well in excess of" 30 kn (35 mph; 56 km/h) during her initial sea trials.
- 1960On 20 January 1960, Triton got underway to conduct an accelerated series of at-sea testing.
- 1960The actual submerged circumnavigation occurred between 24 February and 25 April 1960, covering 26,723 nautical miles (49,491 km; 30,752 mi) in 60 days and 21 hours at the average speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) while crossing the Equator on four different occasions.
- 1960For meritorious achievement from 16 February 1960 to 10 May 1960.
- 1961Triton's submerged circumnavigation, Operation Sandblast, was the subject of the ABC television series Expedition! broadcast on Tuesday, 14 February 1961.
- 1968From October 1968 through May 1969, she underwent preservation and deactivation processes, and she was decommissioned on 3 May 1969.
- 2004USS Triton Recruit Barracks (Ship 12) was dedicated in ceremonies at the U.S. Navy's Recruit Training Command, Naval Station Great Lakes, near North Chicago, Illinois, on 25 June 2004.
Dates and events quoted from the same Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Records that place someone aboard this ship
A ship history doesn't name everyone who served. These records do:
- Navy muster rolls, 1939–1949 (National Archives guide)
- Deck logs: how to get them (Naval History and Heritage Command)
- Crew lists research guide (NHHC)
- Search the National Archives Catalog for “USS Triton (SSRN-586)”