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USS Casimir Pulaski (SSBN 633)

USS CASIMIR PULASKI was the 16^th LAFAYETTE - class nuclear powered fleet ballistic missile submarine. Both decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on March 7, 1994, the CASIMIR PULASKI subsequently entered the Navy’s Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash. Recycling was finished on October 21, 1994.

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Crew List:

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

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About the Ship's Name:

Casimir Pulaski, born in Podolia, Poland about 1748 was active in the Polish independence movement and in 1772 fled to Turkey, thence to Paris and Boston in 1777. Joining the Continental Army, he served at Brandywine and Germantown, then led cavalry units during the winter of 1777-78. Refusing to serve under Gen. Anthony Wayne, he resigned his command in March 1778. Forming an independent cavalry corps he continued to serve the cause of American independence. After service along the Delaware, he was ordered south in February 1779 to block British forces moving up from Savannah. After defeat he joined with Gen. Lincoln and the French fleet to attack Savannah. Mortally wounded during the seige of that city, he died aboard the vessel WASP.

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USS CASIMIR PULASKI History:

USS CASIMIR PULASKI was a JAMES MADISON-class fleet ballistic missile submarine built as part of the United States Navy's "41 for Freedom" force, intended to maintain a continuous seaborne nuclear deterrent during the Cold War. The construction contract was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics at Groton, Connecticut, on July 20, 1961. Her keel was laid there on January 12, 1963, and she was launched on February 1, 1964, sponsored by Mary Louise (Metz) Gronouski, wife of postmaster general John A. Gronouski. After fitting out, the new submarine made her first dive on June 28, 1964, and was commissioned on August 14, 1964, with Captain Robert L. J. Long in command of the Blue Crew and Commander Thomas B. Brittain Jr. in command of the Gold Crew.

Immediately after commissioning, USS CASIMIR PULASKI left Groton for an extended shakedown period off Cape Kennedy, Florida, a standard step for new Polaris submarines intended to verify both the ship and her missile systems. Over roughly three months in late 1964, both crews alternated at sea, exercising navigation, engineering, and weapons systems and conducting live missile firings. The Blue Crew conducted the boat's first UGM-27 Polaris A-3 launch on October 31, 1964, followed by the Gold Crew's first firing on November 13, 1964, both from the Eastern Test Range off Cape Kennedy as part of the Demonstration and Shakedown Operation (DASO) series that qualified the submarine and her crews for strategic service. Shakedown concluded on December 5, 1964, when the submarine returned to Groton for minor post-shakedown work.

Following this initial phase, USS CASIMIR PULASKI proceeded south to the Polaris Missile Facility Atlantic at Naval Weapons Station Charleston, South Carolina, where she completed final weapons load-out and pre-deployment checks. She was assigned to Submarine Squadron 16, the Atlantic force responsible for Polaris patrols from the forward base at Rota, Spain. In March 1965, she sailed across the Atlantic to Naval Station Rota, entering the pattern that would define the rest of the decade: alternating Blue and Gold crews, each taking the submarine on extended submerged deterrent patrols while the other crew remained ashore for training and leave. The Blue Crew began the boat's first deterrent patrol on April 13, 1965, departing Rota to take station in the Atlantic patrol areas designated for Polaris submarines within NATO's overall nuclear planning framework.

From 1965 through 1969, USS CASIMIR PULASKI operated almost continuously as a strategic deterrent platform. Based at Rota under Submarine Squadron 16, she alternated patrols between the two crews, cycling between long periods at sea at operating depth and shorter refit periods in Spain during which crews were swapped, maintenance conducted, and missiles and torpedoes serviced. These patrols took place against the backdrop of the intensifying Cold War in Europe, the Vietnam War, and, later in the decade, the first moves toward US-Soviet arms control. By the end of 1969, USS CASIMIR PULASKI had completed 20 deterrent patrols, a measure of the tempo at which the "41 for Freedom" boats were kept at sea to maintain a survivable second-strike capability.

On January 5, 1970, after her twentieth patrol, USS CASIMIR PULASKI returned to Electric Boat in Groton for a major refueling overhaul and conversion to carry the next-generation UGM-73 Poseidon C-3 missile. During this shipyard period, the S5W reactor plant received a new S3G core and the missile compartment was modified to accommodate the heavier and more capable Poseidon system, reflecting the broader US policy shift from early Polaris missiles to weapons with greater range and multiple independently targetable warheads. The conversion made her the seventh SSBN to receive Poseidon capability. On completion of this extensive work, she was reassigned from Submarine Squadron 16 to Submarine Squadron 14, the Polaris-Poseidon squadron operating from Holy Loch, Scotland. She departed Groton on April 30, 1971, bound for Holy Loch, which served as the primary forward support base for Atlantic Fleet SSBNs operating in the northern Atlantic.

While alongside at Holy Loch in June 1971, USS CASIMIR PULASKI became the first submarine to receive the newly developed Integrated Data Acquisition System (IDAS) M-35 set, which allowed more detailed collection of flight and system data during missile tests. Shortly thereafter, she began Poseidon DASO firings from the Atlantic test ranges. On July 2, 1971, the Blue Crew conducted the submarine's first Poseidon C-3 launch in support of DASO, followed by a Gold Crew Poseidon firing on August 16, 1971. These launches formed part of the Navy's program to validate the Poseidon weapon system on each converted boat. With the DASO sequence successfully completed, USS CASIMIR PULASKI returned to the operational force, beginning her first operational Poseidon deterrent patrol on October 28, 1971, after loading tactical missiles at Charleston and rejoining Submarine Squadron 14.

Testing of the Poseidon system from USS CASIMIR PULASKI continued. During the sixth C-3 operational test series on March 2, 1973, the Gold Crew launched four Poseidon missiles from the submarine, providing additional data on system performance and reliability under operationally realistic conditions. Through these years, she maintained the standard dual-crew pattern, operating primarily from Holy Loch while conducting patrols in the Atlantic. In July 1974, Submarine Squadron 14 awarded USS CASIMIR PULASKI the Battle Efficiency "E", marking the first time a ballistic missile submarine received this award, which recognized consistent excellence across readiness, engineering, weapons, and navigation. Later that year, she completed her fiftieth strategic deterrent patrol, illustrating how the early Polaris boats, once converted to Poseidon, continued to carry a significant portion of the US strategic warhead load even as arms control talks such as SALT I reshaped overall nuclear force planning.

Throughout the mid- and late 1970s, USS CASIMIR PULASKI remained a Poseidon boat under Submarine Squadron 14, based at Holy Loch and operating in the Atlantic. She took part in further missile-related testing, including follow-on operational test firings that demonstrated both the reliability of the C-3 missiles and the ability of the converted JAMES MADISON-class hulls to sustain long-term operations with the newer system. By early 1980, she had completed 52 deterrent patrols. In keeping with the Navy's plan to extend the service life of selected "41 for Freedom" submarines and to standardize on the UGM-96 Trident I C-4 missile, she was scheduled for a second major overhaul and missile conversion.

In early 1980, USS CASIMIR PULASKI arrived at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Virginia for refueling and conversion from Poseidon C-3 to Trident I C-4. This lengthy shipyard period involved another reactor refueling, modifications to missile tubes and associated systems to accommodate the longer-range Trident missile, and upgrades to navigation, fire control, and habitability systems, aligning the older JAMES MADISON-class hull with the emerging Trident basing concept centered on Kings Bay, Georgia. Work at Newport News continued into the early 1980s. On December 10, 1982, the submarine completed this overhaul and conversion and, now one of the last twelve Poseidon boats to be modernized for Trident I, proceeded to her new homeport at naval submarine base Kings Bay. She was reassigned once more to Submarine Squadron 16, which had transferred its operations from Rota to Kings Bay as that base was built up into the primary Atlantic Trident facility.

Following post-overhaul trials, USS CASIMIR PULASKI conducted her Trident I DASO. On April 19, 1983, the Gold Crew launched a Trident I C-4 missile from the Eastern Test Range off Cape Canaveral as part of this series. The flight was intentionally terminated after launch because of a malfunction, but the test still provided valuable data on the new configuration and completed the formal DASO requirement for the submarine. Having been certified to operate with Trident I, she entered the Kings Bay patrol cycle. On June 3, 1983, she deployed on her first operational Trident patrol, now contributing to the Atlantic-based Trident force at a time when the OHIO-class SSBNs were entering service but the older "41 for Freedom" hulls still carried much of the deployed East Coast missile inventory.

Operating from Kings Bay through the mid-1980s, USS CASIMIR PULASKI continued a high tempo of deterrent patrols and periodic missile tests. On June 17, 1985, she successfully conducted a salvo of four Trident I missiles on the Atlantic Test Range off Cape Canaveral, a follow-on operational test that demonstrated the maturity and reliability of the C-4 system in routine fleet service. Her performance during this period drew multiple awards. In October 1985, the Gold Crew received the Arleigh Burke Fleet Trophy as the unit in the Atlantic Fleet showing the greatest improvement in battle efficiency for the fiscal year, reflecting the crew's progress during the demanding post-conversion period. The submarine subsequently earned the fiscal year 1986 Battle Efficiency "E" for Submarine Squadron 16 and the Fleet Ballistic Submarine Superior Performance Award, also known as the Providence Plantation Trophy, recognizing her as the top-performing ballistic missile submarine in the Atlantic Fleet. For sustained superior performance between January 1, 1985, and October 2, 1986, USS CASIMIR PULASKI received a Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation. During these years, she also participated in additional follow-on operational testing of the Trident C-4 missile on the Atlantic Test Range, again combining deterrent patrols with carefully scheduled test launches.

By the late 1980s, the strategic environment was shifting as arms-control negotiations advanced and tensions in Europe began to ease, but Kings Bay-based submarines such as USS CASIMIR PULASKI continued to maintain continuous patrols. Between April 1 and May 20, 1989, she participated in Concept of Operations Exercise LANTCOOPEX 1-89, a notable experiment in operating away from a normal SSBN refit port. After completing a Gold Crew deterrent patrol, she arrived at Port Canaveral, Florida, where, under simulated wartime conditions and continuous security oversight by Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST) Marines, the Blue and Gold crews together with personnel from an accompanying submarine tender carried out a full resupply, major maintenance, and a torpedo reload using only a refit barge rather than a full tender alongside. Photographs from the exercise show harbor tugs such as TOMAHAWK (YTB 789) and PADUCAH (YTB 758) handling the submarine as she arrived and departed Port Canaveral. The exercise demonstrated that an SSBN could be refitted and turned around rapidly at an austere site distant from its normal support infrastructure. For their performance during LANTCOOPEX 1-89, the crews of USS CASIMIR PULASKI received a letter of commendation from secretary of the navy Henry L. Garrett III.

Later in 1989, Submarine Squadron 16 again awarded USS CASIMIR PULASKI the Battle Efficiency "E", confirming her status as one of the squadron's best-performing boats in the late Cold War period. That autumn, the submarine and her crews were directly affected by natural disaster relief efforts. After Hurricane Hugo caused widespread damage in the Caribbean and the southeastern United States in September 1989, elements of the Blue Crew assisted ashore. In November, the Blue Crew sailors received the Humanitarian Service Medal for their part in the broader Navy response to the hurricane's aftermath. Around the same period, the boat and her crews accumulated further distinctions recorded in later summaries, including recognition for outstanding Fleet Ballistic Missile performance in the Atlantic and association with the Neptune Award tradition within the submarine force, which highlighted individuals and units with extensive strategic patrol experience.

Even as the Cold War drew to a close, USS CASIMIR PULASKI continued her Kings Bay-based Trident patrols. In August 1989, she visited Charleston, South Carolina, for events marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of her commissioning, including a formal ceremony and ball that brought together current crew members and veterans of earlier Polaris and Poseidon patrols. Through the early 1990s, she remained on the roster of Atlantic Fleet Trident boats at a time when arms-reduction agreements such as START I and the post-Cold War drawdown began to reduce the number of older SSBNs in service.

In May 1993, USS CASIMIR PULASKI completed her eighty-eighth and final strategic deterrent patrol. This total was the highest number of patrols achieved by any of the original "41 for Freedom" submarines, underlining how intensively she had been employed since entering service in the mid-1960s. After that last patrol, the Navy combined the formerly separate Blue and Gold crews into a single crew in preparation for inactivation, and the submarine was transferred from the Atlantic to the Pacific Fleet for decommissioning work, joining other aging ballistic missile submarines at the Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, Washington.

USS CASIMIR PULASKI made her final cruise under the command of Commander Kenneth W. Wrona. On March 7, 1994, she was formally decommissioned and simultaneously stricken from the Naval Vessel Register, ending nearly three decades of service as a strategic deterrent platform. She then entered the Navy's Nuclear-Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Bremerton. On October 21, 1994, the recycling process was completed, with her reactor compartment prepared for long-term storage and the remaining hull and equipment scrapped or recycled. Over the course of her life she had transitioned from Polaris to Poseidon and ultimately to Trident I, shifted forward bases from Rota to Holy Loch to Kings Bay, and accumulated more strategic patrols than any of her sister ships, embodying the continuous at-sea deterrent posture that defined the US Navy's ballistic missile submarine force throughout the Cold War and into the early post-Cold War period.

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