A long hull Sturgeon-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the silversides, a small fish marked with a silvery stripe along each side of its body. The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut on 25 June 1968 and her keel was laid down on 13 October 1969. She was launched on 4 June 1971 sponsored by Mrs. John H. Chafee, wife of the then Secretary of the Navy, and commissioned on 5 May 1972, with Commander John E. Allen in command. Following shakedown in the Atlantic and Caribbean, Silversides began operations in the Atlantic, home ported at Charleston, South Carolina.  The USS Silversides  moved it's home port to Norfolk, Virginia and joined Submarine Squadron Six.

In Fall 1989 USS Silversides surfaced at the North Pole, proceeded out of the Arctic Ocean into the Pacific, participated in Pacific Fleet Exercises, made port calls in Hawaii and California and proceeded back to Norfolk through the Panama canal, becoming only the second submarine to circumnavigate the North American Continent. In mid 1994, she moved from her homeport in Norfolk to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii for decommissioning on 21 July 1994.

Silversides was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 2 August 1994. Ex-Silversides entered the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program in Bremerton, Washington, on 1 October 2000 and on 1 October 2001 ceased to exist.

 

 

STURGEON CLASS SUBMARINES

---

The Sturgeon-class attack submarine (SSN) were the "ships of the line" of the submarine attack fleet throughout the Cold War. They were phased out in the 1990s and early 21st century in favor of the Los Angeles and Virginia classes.

All Sturgeons were designed to surface through ice, with a reinforced sail and diving planes capable of rotating all the way to vertical.

Beginning with Archerfish (SSN-678) units of this class had a 10-foot longer hull, giving them more living and working space than previous submarines. Parche (SSN-683) received an addition 100-foot hull extension containing research and development equipment that brought her total length to 401 feet.

A total of six boats were modified to carry the SEAL Dry Deck Shelter (DDS). The DDS is a submersible launch hangar with a hyperbaric chamber attached to the ship's Weapon Shipping Hatch. DDS-equipped boats were tasked with the covert insertion of special forces troops.

 

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

---

• Displacement: 4960 tons submerged

• Length: 292 feet / 89 meters (short hull), 302 feet / 92 meters (long hull), 401 feet / 122 meters

• Beam: 32 feet / 9.7 meters

• Propulsion: S5W reactor

• Speed: 25+ knots / 46 km/h submerged

• Depth: 1300 feet /400 meters

• Complement: 107

• Armament: Four torpedo tubes

 

DRY DECK SHELTER (DDS)

---

The USS Silversides was also a DDS capable vessel. The DDS is a removable module that can be attached to a submarine to allow divers easy exit and entrance while the boat is submerged. The host submarine must be specially modified to accommodate the DDS, with the appropriate mating hatch configuration, electrical connections, and piping for ventilation, divers' air, and draining water.

The United States Navy's DDSs are 11.6 meters (38 feet) long by 2.7 meters (9 feet) high and wide, add about 30 tons to its host submarine's submerged displacement, can be transported by trucks or C-5 Galaxy aircraft, and require one to three days to install and test. They have three HY-80 steel sections within the outer glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) fairing: a spherical hyperbaric chamber at the forward end to treat injured divers, a smaller spherical transfer trunk, and a cylindrical hangar with elliptical ends to house a Swimmer Delivery Vehicle (SDV) or 20 SEALs with four Combat Rubber Raiding Craft (CRRC).