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USS Daniel Webster (SSBN 626)

USS DANIEL WEBSTER was the ninth LAFAYETTE - class nuclear powered fleet ballistic missile submarine and the only submarine in her class with its diving planes not located on the sail but forward on the bow. Decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on August 30, 1990, DANIEL WEBSTER was subsequently converted to a Dockside Trainer (S5W Prototype facility), located at Naval Nuclear Power Training Unit, Charleston, SC., and redesignated as Moored Training Ship MTS-626.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS DANIEL WEBSTER. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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USS DANIEL WEBSTER History:

USS DANIEL WEBSTER was one of the LAFAYETTE-class fleet ballistic missile submarines built as part of the United States Navy's "41 for Freedom" force, and she had a career that combined technical firsts in the Polaris A-3 program, a long sequence of deterrent patrols, and a later life as a nuclear propulsion training ship.

The contract to build USS DANIEL WEBSTER was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics at Groton, Connecticut, on February 3, 1961, as the U.S. Navy was expanding its second generation of ballistic-missile submarines beyond the earlier GEORGE WASHINGTON- and ETHAN ALLEN-classes. Her keel was laid at Groton on December 28, 1961. She was named for the 19th-century American statesman Daniel Webster, and her sponsor at launching was Mary Ernestine Appleton Goodrich, a great-great-granddaughter of Webster. The submarine was launched on April 27, 1963, and commissioned on April 9, 1964, with two crews established from the outset: Commander Marvin S. Blair took command of the Blue Crew and Commander Lloyd S. Smith the Gold Crew, following the dual-crew concept adopted for all U.S. ballistic-missile submarines to maximize time at sea.

From the beginning, USS DANIEL WEBSTER stood out visually among her LAFAYETTE-class sisters because of her experimental bow planes. Instead of the usual fairwater planes on the sail, she carried diving planes on a small "mini-sail" located on the forward hull, which earned her the nickname "Old Funny Fins". This configuration was designed to reduce "porpoising" during submerged operations and was technically successful, but the extra structure and machinery reduced hydrodynamic efficiency and slightly lowered speed. In the mid-1970s, during an overhaul, the unusual bow planes were removed and standard fairwater planes were installed, bringing her appearance into line with other boats of the class.

Operationally, USS DANIEL WEBSTER was fitted from the start as the lead platform for the improved POLARIS A-3 missile. The A-3 was the final and most capable version of Polaris, with a range of about 2,500 nautical miles and an advanced re-entry system, and the Navy's Special Projects Office planned to introduce it quickly into the fleet. In 1964, DANIEL WEBSTER became the first ballistic-missile submarine to be outfitted with A-3 missiles in their production configuration. On September 28, 1964, she began her initial operational deterrent patrol carrying 16 Polaris A-3 missiles, an event which the Navy's Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) identifies as the date on which the Polaris A-3 became operational.

Around this same period, she conducted the first submerged launch of an improved production version of Polaris, a milestone later highlighted in the Navy's official historical summary of her career. This placed USS DANIEL WEBSTER at the center of the transition from earlier Polaris models to the longer-range A-3 system, in the immediate post-Cuban Missile Crisis phase of the Cold War, when increasing missile range allowed U.S. submarines to patrol further from Soviet coastal defenses.

In the mid-1960s, DANIEL WEBSTER settled into the typical rhythm of a fleet ballistic-missile submarine: alternating Blue and Gold crews, each taking the submarine to sea on extended deterrent patrols and then turning her over to the other crew at an advanced refit site. She was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet and to an FBM submarine squadron, and open-source crew recollections indicate that by the later 1960s she conducted a number of Polaris A-3 patrols with refit periods at advanced bases such as Rota, Spain, and Holy Loch, Scotland, though detailed patrol schedules remain largely confined to official records. Over these years, she accumulated a substantial number of Polaris patrols, contributing to the continuous at-sea deterrent that was central to U.S. nuclear posture in the Atlantic.

By 1968, the Polaris A-3 system was itself being improved, and USS DANIEL WEBSTER again played a visible role. In September 1968, after successfully test-firing two improved A-3 missiles off Cape Kennedy, she entered the shipyard at Newport News, Virginia, for her first major overhaul and refueling. Contemporary recollections from former personnel describe her as the first of the Polaris A-3-equipped submarines to undergo such a major yard period and refueling. The overhaul, which ran into late 1969, combined reactor refueling, machinery and hull maintenance, and updates to combat and navigation systems. After the yard work was completed in November 1969, DANIEL WEBSTER conducted the usual series of post-overhaul shakedown operations to re-certify her systems and train both crews.

In early 1970, USS DANIEL WEBSTER undertook a sequence of movements that are unusually well documented in open sources. According to a detailed timeline assembled from Cold War Boats records, on January 10, 1970, the Gold Crew relieved the Blue Crew, and on January 12 she departed Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, heading north. She reached Charleston, South Carolina, on January 18, departed again on January 19, and arrived at Port Canaveral, Florida, on January 23. These short transits and port calls formed part of her work-up and repositioning after the Newport News overhaul. Shortly afterward, DANIEL WEBSTER transited the Panama Canal bound for the Pacific. On March 14, 1970, she and USS GUARDFISH (SSN 612) were photographed together in the canal, an event later described by Navy historians as the first meeting of two nuclear submarines in the Panama Canal. The transit reflected a strategic shift in which some LAFAYETTE-class boats were redeployed to the Pacific, where Submarine Squadron 15 coordinated deterrent patrols in the western Pacific as the Vietnam War was winding down and attention increasingly focused on long-term strategic competition with the Soviet Union in Asia.

Following her move to the Pacific, DANIEL WEBSTER continued Polaris A-3 deterrent patrols under Pacific Fleet control. Open-source summaries suggest that by the mid-1970s she had completed several dozen Polaris patrols in total, alternating deployment and refit periods, although specific patrol counts by year and detailed operating areas remain classified or are not widely published. During this period, she still carried the distinctive bow-plane "mini-sail", but Navy records note that in a mid-1970s overhaul this arrangement was finally removed and standard sail-mounted fairwater planes were installed, eliminating the hydrodynamic penalty of the earlier experimental configuration.

By the mid-1970s, the Navy was introducing the POSEIDON C-3 missile to replace Polaris on selected boats. The Poseidon system offered multiple re-entry vehicles and improved accuracy, aligning with U.S. strategic doctrine in the era between the SALT I agreement and its follow-on negotiations. USS DANIEL WEBSTER was one of the last LAFAYETTE-class submarines selected for this back-fit. After completing many Polaris A-3 patrols, she entered Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for a second major overhaul and conversion to Poseidon. An authoritative Poseidon missile chronology records that on February 21, 1978, DANIEL WEBSTER completed her conversion to POSEIDON C-3 capability at Portsmouth. On March 29, 1978, her Blue Crew carried out a successful Demonstration and Shakedown Operation (DASO) launch of a Poseidon missile, certifying the upgraded weapons system and crew. Later that year, on September 16, 1978, she departed on her first operational deterrent patrol carrying Poseidon C-3 missiles.

In the early 1980s, DANIEL WEBSTER continued Poseidon patrols primarily from the Atlantic FBM support infrastructure, particularly Holy Loch in Scotland and ports on the U.S. East Coast. A concise patrol history preserved in open sources provides specific snapshots of this period. In July 1982, the Gold Crew took her on Patrol 50 from Holy Loch, with recorded port calls at Groton, Connecticut, and Kings Bay, Georgia, during the patrol cycle, illustrating how the submarine's movements supported emerging ballistic-missile submarine facilities such as Kings Bay.

In February 1983, she was in an Extended Refit Period (ERP) at Holy Loch for maintenance and preparations before returning to sea. In March 1984, she began Patrol 56 from Holy Loch, including a port visit to Naples, Italy, which reflected the integration of SSBN movements with broader Sixth Fleet presence in the Mediterranean.

By 1985, USS DANIEL WEBSTER's recorded movements show a pattern of shifting between Holy Loch and East Coast support sites. In March 1985, she made a port call at Groton while in transit to Naval Weapons Station Charleston, South Carolina. There, she entered another ERP in April 1985, undergoing maintenance and resupply. Later that year, she conducted Patrol 60, beginning in June 1985.

On September 2, 1985, she launched two POSEIDON C-3 missiles during a follow-on test (FOT) event, contributing to the continuing evaluation of Poseidon system reliability as the U.S. strategic missile inventory gradually shifted toward TRIDENT-equipped submarines. These tests took place against the backdrop of late Cold War arms-control negotiations, where demonstrated reliability and accuracy of existing systems informed broader strategic planning.

In the later 1980s, as newer OHIO-class TRIDENT submarines entered service, DANIEL WEBSTER remained active with Poseidon patrols but was increasingly part of an aging force. Patrol 66, conducted by the Gold Crew from December 1986 to March 1987, included another port visit to Naples, underscoring the continued integration of SSBN operations with Mediterranean deployments. Patrol 68 began from Holy Loch in June 1987, and during this patrol, DANIEL WEBSTER paid a port visit to Lisbon, Portugal, in November 1987, one of the last recorded foreign port calls in her operational career. Through these patrols, she continued to contribute to the U.S. strategic deterrent, even as the Navy planned to retire the remaining Polaris/Poseidon SSBNs in favor of the larger TRIDENT force.

Over the span of her active SSBN service, Navy historical summaries credit USS DANIEL WEBSTER with a total of 77 deterrent patrols, a figure that includes both her Polaris and Poseidon deployments. By 1990, with the Cold War nearing its end and arms-control agreements calling for reductions in older strategic systems, she was selected for withdrawal from frontline service. On August 30, 1990, USS DANIEL WEBSTER was decommissioned and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on the same day. Her ballistic-missile tubes were rendered inoperable, and she was removed from the roster of operational submarines.

Unlike many of her contemporaries, however, her hull was not immediately destined for dismantling. Instead, along with USS SAM RAYBURN (SSBN 635), she was chosen for conversion to a Moored Training Ship to support the Navy's nuclear propulsion training program. At Charleston Naval Shipyard in South Carolina, DANIEL WEBSTER underwent extensive modifications. Her missile compartment was structurally altered and the ballistic-missile system removed, while her S5W reactor plant and propulsion systems were reconfigured for a stationary training role with additional safety and monitoring equipment. After the conversion was complete, she was redesignated MTS-626 and towed upriver to her permanent berth at the Naval Nuclear Power Training Unit (NPTU) Charleston. There, she served for decades as a non-deploying, pier-side platform on which generations of officer and enlisted students learned to operate and maintain a pressurized-water reactor plant, practicing procedures on an actual former fleet submarine rather than a purpose-built prototype.

Open-source reporting indicates that USS DANIEL WEBSTER continued in this training role at NPTU Charleston until around 2021, a period far longer than her active patrol career. After the Navy completed newer training arrangements and decommissioned the moored training ships, MTS-626 was towed to Norfolk Naval Shipyard at Portsmouth, Virginia, to begin defueling and dismantling under the Navy's nuclear ship-recycling processes.

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