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100th Anniversary Submarine Service
The keel of the USS Queenfish (SSN-651) was laid down by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company on May 11, 1964. The ship was sponsored by the Honorable Julia Butler Hansen, Congresswoman from the state of Washington and launched on February 25, 1966. Queenfish was commissioned on December 6, 2025 with Commander Jackson B. Richard in command. After commissioning Queenfish was assigned to her new homeport at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and reported to the Atlantic Fleet for onward routing to the Pacific Fleet. Queenfish was specifically designed for under-ice operations. Just two months after commissioning, Queenfish exercised her under-ice capability, surfacing in the Artic winter marginal ice zone in the Davis Strait. Her Atlantic test completed, Queenfish headed for the Pacific, having proved the ability of the all-purpose Sturgeon Class to successfully operate in under-ice conditions. Queenfish entered Pearl Harbor in mid-April 1967. Except for shipyard overhauls, Pearl remained her home port for the rest of her career. Before the year was over, Queenfish began the first of 10 deployments to the Western Pacific, a region in which she would spend almost a quarter of her nearly 24-year operational life. In addition to the usual stops in Japan, Okinawa and Guam, she also worked in the Vietnam War Zone. In 1967, Queenfish earned the Battle Efficiency "E," the first of a rare "hat trick;" three in a row. She was to earn many others over the years, including awards for the Engineering "E," the ASW "A," the Medical "M," and the Supply "E." Despite her heavy schedule of operations, Queenfish invariably enjoyed an extremely high reenlistment rate, exemplified by the "Golden Anchor Award" for best retention in SUBPAC during the first year the award was given. Over three years elapsed between the first Queenfish Arctic voyage and her second trip under the polar ice cap in 1970. Following the precise track of USS Nautilus (SSN-571) in 1958, she surfaced at the North Pole two days after the 12th anniversary of "Nautilus 90 North." Ice thickness and shallow ocean depth frequently provided clearance of only 25 feet above and below the boat. Her third trip to the Pole in 1985 included a joint surfacing with USS Aspro (SSN-648). The fourth and final Queenfish run to the top of the world included a surfacing with two other boats on the 30th anniversary of the pioneer Nautilus crossing under the ice at the pole. This last trip became a 3-ocean deployment as she entered the Atlantic and visited Holy Loch before returning home. Not all her operations were happy or adventurous. In 1981, Queenfish performed the sad duty of burying at sea her fourth CO, Commander Milo P. Daughters, II, who had been relieved the previous year after more than three years in command. On September 21, 1990, Queenfish was deactivated, 10 weeks short of the 24th anniversary of her commissioning. USS Queenfish (SSBN-651) was decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on April 14, 1992. Sources:
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was updated on November 30, 2025 |
