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USS Patrick Henry (SSBN 599)

- later SSN 599 -
- decommissioned -


USS PATRICK HENRY was the Navy's second nuclear-powered fleet ballistic missile submarine and the second ship in the GEORGE WASHINGTON - class. In the early 1980s, the PATRICK HENRY was redesignated as SSN 599 and her missile launch capability was disabled to comply with the SALT I treaty. The PATRICK HENRY mainly conducted training exercises in her new role. Decommissioned on May 25, 1984, and stricken from the Navy list on December 16, 1985, the PATRICK HENRY spent the next years at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash., awaiting to be disposed of through the Navy's Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program. Recycling of the PATRICK HENRY was finished on August 31, 1997.

General Characteristics:Awarded: December 31, 1957
Keel laid: May 27, 1958
Launched: September 22, 1959
Commissioned: April 11, 1960
Decommissioned: May 25, 1984
Builder: Electric Boat Co., Groton, Conn.
Propulsion system: one S5W nuclear reactor
Propellers: one
Length: 381.6 feet (116.3 meters)
Beam: 33.1 feet (10.1 meters)
Draft: 28.9 feet (8.8 meters)
Displacement: approx. 6,700 tons submerged
Speed: Surfaced: 15 knots, Submerged: 20 knots
Armament: 16 vertical tubes for Polaris missiles, six 21" torpedo tubes
Crew: 12 Officers and 128 Enlisted (two crews)


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Crew List:

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


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About the Submarine's Name:

Patrick Henry, born in Hanover Co., Va., in 1736, was licensed to practice law in 1760 and became an immediate success. On 20 May 1765, he became a member of the House of Burgesses, defending the western and northern counties against the tidewater region. He was the leader of a new party between 1765 and 1770, thereafter consolidating the opposition to Great Britain. Chosen delegate to the first Continental Congress, he supported radical, nationalistic measures. On 20 March 1775, at an assembly meeting in Richmond, he uttered his famous saying “Give me liberty, or give me death.” In May 1776, he was elected Governor of Virginia and twice reelected. He was Governor again 1784-86. He died at Red Hill Plantation, Charlotte Co., Va., 1799.


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