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USS Daniel Boone (SSBN 629)

USS DANIEL BOONE was the 12^th LAFAYETTE - class nuclear powered fleet ballistic missile submarine. Decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on February 18, 1994, the DANIEL BOONE subsequently entered the Navy's Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program. Recycling was finished on November 4, 1994.

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Crew List:

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

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Accidents aboard USS DANIEL BOONE:

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USS DANIEL BOONE History:

USS DANIEL BOONE was a JAMES MADISON-class nuclear-powered fleet ballistic missile submarine built to anchor the United States' sea-based strategic deterrent through the most intense decades of the Cold War. Ordered on July 21, 1961, as part of the "41 for Freedom" force of ballistic-missile submarines, she embodied the second generation of U.S. Polaris boats, designed from the outset to accept progressively more capable missile systems, from Polaris A-3 to Poseidon C-3 and later Trident I (C-4).

Construction began at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California, where her keel was laid on February 6, 1962. She was the third JAMES MADISON-class boat and the only U.S. Navy ship to carry the name of the frontier explorer Daniel Boone. DANIEL BOONE was launched on June 22, 1963, with Mrs. James H. Wakelin Jr., wife of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research and Development, serving as sponsor. After fitting out, she was commissioned at Mare Island on April 23, 1964. The submarine entered service with the standard dual-crew configuration used on fleet ballistic missile submarines: Commander George P. Steele took command of the Blue Crew, while Commander Alan B. Crabtree commanded the Gold Crew.

Following commissioning, USS DANIEL BOONE began an extensive shakedown and evaluation program that reflected the Navy's determination to validate both the new class and its strategic role. She operated from the West Coast to Washington, then headed across the Pacific to Pearl Harbor, before transiting the Panama Canal to reach Cape Kennedy, Florida. During this period, she conducted UGM-27 Polaris A-3 test firings in July 1964 on the Atlantic test ranges, demonstrating the performance of her missile battery, fire-control systems and navigation suite under operational conditions.

In the same year, the Navy decided to establish a permanent ballistic-missile submarine presence with the Pacific Fleet. DANIEL BOONE was selected as the pathfinder. On August 21, 1964, she was designated the first fleet ballistic missile submarine to become operational with the Pacific Fleet, a change that reflected evolving Cold War strategy as U.S. planners focused more attention on the Soviet Far East and on reassuring allies in the Pacific basin. In November 1964, she arrived at submarine base Pearl Harbor, joining the Pacific Fleet formally. Shortly afterward, she continued westward to the new forward base at Apra Harbor, Guam, in the Mariana Islands. There, she moored in early December alongside the submarine tender PROTEUS (AS 19) and completed the first Polaris ballistic-missile loadout ever conducted from a tender, rather than at a fixed shore facility, demonstrating the Navy's concept of a highly mobile, forward-based deterrent force.

The operational career of USS DANIEL BOONE began in earnest on December 25, 1964, when the Blue Crew took the submarine out of Guam for her first strategic deterrent patrol, equipped with sixteen Polaris A-3 missiles. In keeping with ballistic-missile submarine practice, she adopted an alternating crew cycle. Each crew - Blue and Gold - conducted roughly 70-day submerged patrols, followed by refit, upkeep and training periods ashore. The Gold Crew completed its first deterrent patrol in April 1965. Over the next several years, DANIEL BOONE maintained a steady rhythm of patrols in the Pacific, contributing to continuous at-sea deterrence at a time when the Vietnam War was escalating and tensions with the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China remained high. Operating from Guam and supported by tenders such as PROTEUS, she spent the bulk of each year submerged, maintaining hidden patrol routes within range of strategic targets.

By early 1968, DANIEL BOONE's consistently reliable performance during these Pacific deterrent patrols had earned formal recognition. The boat and her crews were awarded the Navy Unit Commendation for a sequence of highly effective patrols in the mid-1960s, and officers who served aboard during this period later recalled completing five successive patrols while the ship maintained that high standard. These awards reflected the boat's contribution to the credibility of the U.S. second-strike capability during a phase of the Cold War when ballistic-missile submarines were becoming the central pillar of strategic deterrence.

By March 1969, USS DANIEL BOONE had completed 19 deterrent patrols in the Pacific and accumulated more than 1,000 days submerged. At that point, the Navy withdrew her from forward deployment to prepare for modernization. She returned to Pearl Harbor and then transited the Panama Canal to reach the East Coast and Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company in Virginia, entering the yard on May 12, 1969, for her first major overhaul and refueling. This yard period included conversion to carry the new UGM-73 Poseidon C-3 ballistic missile, which offered greater range and multiple independently targeted warheads compared with Polaris, as well as associated upgrades to her missile fire-control and navigation systems.

Sea trials during this conversion period led to USS DANIEL BOONE's most serious peacetime incident. In May 1970, while conducting high-speed trials off the Virginia capes, she collided with the merchant ship M/V PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT QUEZON. A later decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals concluded that the submarine was at fault in the incident. The collision did not threaten the integrity of the nuclear plant, but it damaged the submarine and required additional repairs at Newport News, extending the overhaul by roughly four months and demonstrating the risks of operating a large, deep-diving submarine at high speed in congested coastal waters.

Once repairs and conversion work were complete, DANIEL BOONE resumed sea trials and then moved to the Atlantic missile test ranges off Cape Kennedy (Cape Canaveral) for a series of Poseidon test launches. In late 1970, she conducted submerged launches of production-evaluation Poseidon missiles in support of the C-3 introduction program, confirming that the new missile could be fired accurately from an operational boat under patrol conditions. These launches took place in parallel with similar tests by other converted SSBNs such as USS JAMES MADISON (SSBN 627), and they marked DANIEL BOONE's transition from Polaris to Poseidon.

Following this post-overhaul test period, USS DANIEL BOONE transferred permanently to the Atlantic Fleet. Her new homeport became charleston, South Carolina, a major base for fleet ballistic missile submarines and their support infrastructure. From Charleston, she crossed the Atlantic to the forward base at Holy Loch, Scotland, where U.S. ballistic-missile submarines operated from a floating dry dock and submarine tenders in the sheltered anchorage. DANIEL BOONE began deterrent patrols from Holy Loch in April 1971. In the following years, she settled into a routine of Poseidon-equipped strategic patrols in the North Atlantic and Norwegian Sea areas, operating against the backdrop of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I) and ongoing modernization of both NATO and Warsaw Pact strategic forces.

By the mid-1970s, the boat required a second full overhaul and refueling. On March 23, 1976, USS DANIEL BOONE entered Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for a comprehensive refit. Over the two-year yard period, she received reactor refueling, machinery refurbishment, updated sensors and further refinements to her Poseidon systems and combat suite. The overhaul was completed on March 24, 1978, making her one of the first Poseidon-equipped SSBNs to emerge from a second full life-cycle refueling. In May 1978, she conducted a Demonstration and Shakedown Operation that included the successful launch of a Poseidon missile, confirming the performance of the refitted ship and crew. On October 18, 1978, DANIEL BOONE deployed on her first deterrent patrol following the Portsmouth overhaul, resuming Atlantic patrols from Charleston and Holy Loch.

In the late 1970s, the Navy began preparing to introduce the UGM-96 Trident I (C-4) missile. Rather than assign the new missile solely to the emerging OHIO-class SSBNs, the Navy decided to backfit selected JAMES MADISON- and BENJAMIN FRANKLIN-class boats with Trident I under the Extended Refit Program. USS DANIEL BOONE was among the first chosen. According to this program, several JAMES MADISON-class submarines received Trident I during intensive "pierside" industrial periods at their ballistic-missile bases, rather than in lengthy dry-dock overhauls. On September 6, 1980, after completing this conversion, USS DANIEL BOONE deployed on an operational patrol as the first JAMES MADISON-class submarine to go to sea with the Trident I system.

Throughout the early 1980s, DANIEL BOONE continued to conduct strategic deterrent patrols with Trident I missiles from Charleston and Holy Loch, integrating into the evolving force structure of U.S. Atlantic strategic submarines. In April 1984, the submarine temporarily abandoned the traditional Blue/Gold dual-crew pattern for her 57th deterrent patrol, operating with a combined crew. This arrangement, noted in later accounts, illustrated the flexibility of the crew structure and the maturity of the boat's operating procedures after two decades of patrols.

By the mid-1980s, with her hull and machinery approaching the later stages of their planned service life, USS DANIEL BOONE entered another major overhaul and refueling. She went to Tenneco's Newport News yard in Virginia for this work, which was underway by 1985. Sources describe this as her final major shipyard period, involving reactor refueling, life-extension work on critical systems, modernization of electronics and refinements to her Trident I fire-control and navigation equipment. The overhaul was largely complete by late 1985 or early 1986, after which DANIEL BOONE prepared to resume deterrent patrols.

During her post-overhaul trials, however, DANIEL BOONE suffered another serious mishap. On April 25, 1987, while in the James River near Newport News on sea trials, the submarine grounded. An attempt to use the secondary propulsion motor to counter tidal currents led to the unit striking a sandbar. When it was retracted, it opened a hole in the hull in the area where the motor was mounted. Rapid action by watchstanders in the machinery spaces prevented flooding from becoming critical, and the submarine returned to dry dock at Tenneco for repairs. Official Navy accident chronologies record the grounding on April 25, 1987, and later published accounts describe the episode as an example of how procedural errors in shallow, confined waters could have serious consequences even for experienced crews.

After repairs were complete, USS DANIEL BOONE rejoined the operational Trident force. Later in 1987, she again took part in missile test operations on the Atlantic ranges. In August 1987, her Blue Crew successfully launched a Trident I missile off Cape Canaveral during a demonstration and shakedown sequence, validating the ship's systems and crew performance after the James River grounding and subsequent shipyard period. This launch formed part of the Navy's ongoing program of periodic test firings from operational submarines to verify missile reliability and crew proficiency.

Through the late 1980s, USS DANIEL BOONE continued alternating deterrent patrols and training cycles from charleston and Holy Loch, operating within Submarine Squadron Sixteen's portion of the strategic deterrent schedule. On March 24, 1990, her Blue Crew conducted a notable test event in which four Trident I missiles were launched in succession during a follow-on operational test (FOTCET) on the Atlantic test range. This multi-missile firing, recorded in Trident I missile chronologies, demonstrated both the reliability of the C-4 system and the ability of a JAMES MADISON-class hull to sustain rapid launch sequences decades after initial construction.

As the Cold War wound down after 1991, the Navy began drawing down its older ballistic-missile submarine force under arms-control agreements and force-structure reviews. In 1992, DANIEL BOONE off-loaded her Trident I missiles and participated in anti-submarine warfare exercises off Charleston, serving as a target and training platform for ASW ships and aircraft instead of conducting strategic patrols. In the same year, she received several major awards. Submarine Squadron Sixteen awarded her the Battle Efficiency "E" for overall combat readiness, while the Navy League presented its Ballistic Submarine Outstanding Performance Award to the ship. That year, she also became the first Navy unit to receive the Omaha Trophy from U.S. Strategic Command and its Strategic Command Consultation Committee, recognizing DANIEL BOONE as the top performer among units supporting the nation's strategic deterrence mission.

By this point, after nearly three decades in service, USS DANIEL BOONE had compiled an extensive patrol record. Official accounts state that she completed 75 strategic deterrent patrols over her career, with a continuously evolving missile load that mirrored the progression of U.S. submarine-launched ballistic missile technology from Polaris A-3 through Poseidon C-3 to Trident I C-4.

With the end of the Cold War and new strategic arms agreements in place, the Navy retired many of the "41 for Freedom" submarines in the early 1990s. After completing her final exercises and patrols, USS DANIEL BOONE was placed in commission in reserve in July 1993, marking the end of her operational career. She then proceeded via the Panama Canal to Bremerton, Washington, where she entered the Navy's nuclear-powered ship and submarine recycling program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. On February 18, 1994, DANIEL BOONE was formally decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register. Her recycling was completed on November 4, 1994, at which point her reactor compartment was sealed and disposed of according to U.S. Navy procedures for nuclear-powered vessels.

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