Search the Site with

General Characteristics

Crew List

Memorabilia

About the Ship's Name

History

Image Gallery

to end of page

USS George Washington Carver (SSBN 656)

USS GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER was the ninth BENJAMIN FRANKLIN - class nuclear powered fleet ballistic missile submarine and the first ship in the Navy to bear the name. Generally similar to the LAFAYETTE - class, the twelve BENJAMIN FRANKLIN - class submarines had a quieter machinery design, and were thus considered a separate class.

Decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on March 18, 1993, the GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER subsequently entered the Navy’s Nuclear Powered Ship and Recycling Program at Bremerton, Washington. Recycling was finished on March 21, 1994.

back to top

go to the end of the page

back to top

go to the end of the page

Crew List:

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

• Click here to view the list.

back to top

go to the end of the page

• Click here to see which USS GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

back to top

go to the end of the page

About the Ship's Name:

George Washington Carver was born in 1864 on a plantation near Diamond, Mo. His parents were Negro slaves owned by Moses Carver. When he was only a few months old, he and his mother were stolen by raiders and taken to Arkansas. After the end of the Civil War, he was recovered by his owner with whose family he remained until he set out to make his own way in the world at about the age of 9.

Overcoming prejudice and poverty, he eagerly seized every opportunity to acquire an education. He studied agricultural science at Iowa State College, graduating in 1894 and receiving a Master of Science degree 2 years later. After serving briefly on the faculty there, he joined Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, where he headed the Agricultural Department.

In the ensuing years, his achievements in the fields of soil conservation, crop diversification, and utilization of southern plants and crops won him worldwide acclaim. He is remembered for the ingenuity which enabled him to discover some 300 new and useful products from the peanut, over 100 from the sweet potato, and about 60 from the pecan. He also found new uses from cotton, cowpeas and wild plums. He selflessly refused offers of fortunes for the commercial exploitation of his discoveries, choosing rather to give them freely to mankind.

An indefatigable researcher and inventor, George Washington Carver died in Tuskegee, Ala., 5 January 1943.

back to top

go to the end of the page

USS GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER History:

The fleet ballistic missile submarine USS GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER was one of the later units of the "41 for Freedom" force of United States Navy strategic submarines, built at the height of the Cold War to provide a survivable sea-based nuclear deterrent. She was a BENJAMIN FRANKLIN-class boat, named for the American scientist and educator George Washington Carver, and was designed from the outset to carry sixteen submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).

The contract for GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER's construction was awarded on July 29, 1963, as part of the final group of "41 for Freedom" submarines. Her keel was laid on August 24, 1964, at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia, an important U.S. yard for nuclear submarine construction. She was launched there on August 14, 1965, with the noted contralto Marian Anderson serving as sponsor, reflecting the symbolic importance attached to the new strategic submarines.

After fitting-out and initial trials, USS GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER was commissioned on June 15, 1966. She entered service with the characteristic dual-crew arrangement used for U.S. ballistic-missile submarines: Captain R. D. Donavan took command of the Blue Crew and Lieutenant Commander Carl J. Lidel commanded the Gold Crew, allowing the submarine to spend the great majority of her time on patrol while crews alternated between sea duty and training.

Immediately after commissioning, GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER began shakedown operations and weapons testing with the Polaris A3 missile system. On September 1, 1966, she carried out her first recorded Polaris A3 launch from the Eastern Test Range off the Florida coast near Cape Kennedy (later Cape Canaveral), demonstrating the functioning of her missile tubes, fire-control system, and navigation chain under operational conditions. These early tests were part of the systematic process by which each new SSBN proved its ability to fire missiles accurately from a submerged position before being committed to deterrent patrols. After completing further shakedown training and evaluations, she moved into regular fleet ballistic missile operations as part of the Atlantic Fleet.

GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER's first strategic deterrent patrol began on December 12, 1966. From that point until September 1971, she operated out of Holy Loch, Scotland, the forward base for Submarine Squadron 14. Holy Loch provided a sheltered anchorage and a permanently stationed submarine tender that served as a floating maintenance and support base. During these years, tenders such as USS SIMON LAKE (AS 33) and later USS CANOPUS (AS 34) supported the squadron's Polaris submarines.

From Holy Loch, GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER conducted a continuous sequence of submerged Polaris A3 deterrent patrols in the North Atlantic as part of NATO's strategic posture, with Blue and Gold crews alternating aboard and undergoing training ashore between patrols. The detailed tracks and patrol dates remain classified, but the pattern followed that of other "41 for Freedom" boats: extended submerged deployments, brief refits alongside the tender for maintenance and resupply, and rapid turnaround back to sea.

During this early operational phase she also took part in follow-on testing of the Polaris system at the Eastern Test Range. On November 1, 1967, GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER conducted a series of three Polaris A3 follow-on operational test (FOT) launches from positions off the Florida coast, each recorded from the Eastern Test Range tracking network. These flights were the kind of repeated, instrumented tests used to verify the long-term reliability and accuracy of the Polaris system as the boats accumulated patrols. Through the late 1960s, this combination of operational patrols from Holy Loch and periodic test launches made GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER a routine part of the U.S. and NATO strategic deterrent aimed at countering Soviet nuclear and conventional power in Europe.

In September 1971, after nearly five years of Polaris patrols based out of Scotland, GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER left Holy Loch and transferred to Groton, Connecticut. For roughly two months, she conducted "special operations" under the control of Atlantic Fleet submarine authorities. The precise character of these operations is not publicly detailed, but they preceded a scheduled major yard period.

In November 1971, she entered the shipyard of the Electric Boat Division at Groton for her first reactor refueling and a substantial overhaul. This extended availability reflected broader changes in U.S. strategic forces: the UGM-73A Poseidon C3 missile was replacing Polaris, offering greater range and the ability to carry multiple independently targeted warheads, and a large portion of the LAFAYETTE and BENJAMIN FRANKLIN-class SSBNs were being converted to carry Poseidon as they came in for refueling.

GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER's yard period at Electric Boat in the early 1970s thus combined nuclear refueling with conversion from Polaris A3 to the Poseidon C3 system. Crew accounts describe "refueling and Poseidon conversion overhaul, shakedown, weapons certification, patrols out of Rota" in the mid-1970s, confirming that the Groton period included full weapons system conversion.

After completion of her overhaul, she rejoined the Atlantic Fleet and carried out a Demonstration and Shakedown Operation (DASO) with the Poseidon system. On May 19, 1973, she launched a Poseidon C3 missile from the Eastern Test Range off the Florida coast in a DASO firing that certified her new missile installation and crew procedures.

In the mid-1970s, GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER shifted her focus to operations connected with Naval Station Rota, Spain, where Submarine Squadron 16 provided a second forward base for Atlantic SSBNs. Rota, established as an FBM support site in the 1960s, allowed U.S. ballistic-missile submarines to patrol the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean more efficiently while being refitted alongside a tender between patrols. Crew recollections describe her conducting patrols out of Rota following the Poseidon conversion and making at least one liberty port call at Faslane, Scotland, the Royal Navy's principal Polaris base on the Clyde, during this phase of her service.

While operating in this Poseidon configuration, GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER continued to participate in weapon-system testing at the Eastern Test Range. On June 24, 1975, she executed two Poseidon C3 follow-on operational test launches in quick succession, again from positions off Florida, and on April 20, 1976, she conducted another pair of Poseidon C3 follow-on tests from the range. These series firings were used to validate both missile reliability and the performance of fire-control and navigation systems under operationally realistic conditions as the Poseidon system matured.

By February 1977, GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER entered dry dock at Naval Station Rota for another overhaul. A team from the Electric Boat Division in Groton was deployed to Spain to complete this refit, which combined hull, machinery and electronics work with routine maintenance on the Poseidon missile system.

Following completion of her Rota shipyard period, GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER returned to full patrol status with the Poseidon system. On July 8, 1978, she arrived back at the Rota tender refit site at the conclusion of a strategic deterrent patrol that was recorded as the 500th Poseidon C3 patrol completed by the U.S. SSBN force, a milestone reflecting the maturity and scale of the Poseidon program. In this period, the submarine continued a pattern of alternating patrols and refits from Rota, contributing to the forward-deployed Atlantic deterrent posture at a time when NATO and Warsaw Pact navies were both increasingly active in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean.

In the late 1970s and into 1980, GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER took part in further intensive Poseidon testing. On April 21, 1980, she conducted a notable series of four Poseidon C3 follow-on operational test launches from the Eastern Test Range, with launches recorded at 21:47 and 21:48, again from the standard missile-test areas off Cape Canaveral. These multiple salvos were part of high-tempo testing at the end of the Poseidon era, as the newer OHIO-class SSBNs armed with Trident C4 missiles were beginning to enter service and the older classes approached their eventual deactivation.

After completing her 53rd strategic deterrent patrol in 1982, GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER was scheduled for a second nuclear refueling and major modernization. She commenced this refueling overhaul at Newport News Shipbuilding on November 7, 1982, entering a yard that was by then deeply experienced in overhauling fleet ballistic-missile submarines and upgrading their combat systems. During this second refueling overhaul, her reactor core was replaced and her systems were updated to keep her compatible with the remaining life of the Poseidon program and the evolving requirements for communications, navigation, and safety in the strategic submarine force.

On completion of this second refueling overhaul, GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER again entered a post-overhaul Demonstration and Shakedown Operation. On August 10, 1985, she executed a Poseidon C3 missile launch from the Eastern Test Range at 17:00 as part of this DASO, confirming the successful integration of her upgraded systems and the readiness of her crew to return to the deterrent patrol cycle. The launch, also highlighted in later Navy reporting as a significant Poseidon C3 test, occurred in the closing years of Poseidon's operational life, which would end in 1992 as Trident-armed submarines took over the strategic SSBN role.

In February 1986, GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER returned to Holy Loch, Scotland, resuming operations under the umbrella of Submarine Squadron 14. Operating again from this long-established overseas anchorage, she continued to conduct Poseidon deterrent patrols in the late 1980s, even as arms-control negotiations and the impending end of the Cold War began to shape the future of the strategic submarine force. The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), signed on July 31, 1991, and the progressive introduction of OHIO-class SSBNs meant that older Poseidon-armed submarines like GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER were scheduled for deactivation and removal of their ballistic missiles.

In 1991, GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER's role as a ballistic-missile carrier formally ended. That year, her ballistic missiles were removed and her missile tubes were filled with ballast at Naval Weapons Station Charleston, South Carolina, a process that effectively converted her from an operational SSBN to a nuclear-powered submarine without ballistic missiles while she remained in commission. After this work, she and her crew received a change of homeport to Naval Submarine Base Bangor, Washington. From Bangor she carried out various assignments on the U.S. West Coast, providing fleet-support and training services during the period when the Navy was drawing down the Poseidon force and shifting its strategic deterrent emphasis to OHIO-class submarines armed with Trident missiles.

The final phase of GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER's life took place at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington. She arrived there to enter the Navy's Ship and Submarine Recycling Program as her operational usefulness ended and the treaty-driven reductions in older strategic platforms proceeded. GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on March 18, 1993 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Her hull then went through the controlled dismantling and recycling process used for nuclear-powered ships. This work was completed on March 12, 1994, formally closing the record of USS GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER as one of the later but long-serving members of the original U.S. fleet ballistic-missile submarine force.

back to top

go to the end of the page

USS GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER Image Gallery:

back to top

Back to Ballistic Submarines list.

Back to ships list.

Back to selection page.

Back to 1^st page.