USS John C. Calhoun (SSBN 630)

- decommissioned -

USS JOHN C. CALHOUN was the 13^th LAFAYETTE - class nuclear powered fleet ballistic missile submarine. The JOHN C. CALHOUN was built to accommodate the Polaris A3 missiles and was refitted with the Poseidon missiles from 1969 on. From 1979-82, the JOHN C. CALHOUN received upgrades to carry the Trident I missiles.

Decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on March 28, 1994, the JOHN C. CALHOUN was adjacently disposed of through the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash. Recycling was completed on November 18, 1994.

General Characteristics:	Awarded: July 20, 1961
	Keel laid: June 4, 1962
	Launched: June 22, 1963
	Commissioned: September 15, 1964
	Decommissioned: March 28, 1994
	Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Va.
	Propulsion system: one S5W nuclear reactor
	Propellers: one
	Length: 425 feet (129.6 meters)
	Beam: 33 feet (10 meters)
	Draft: 31.5 feet (9.6 meters)
	Displacement: Surfaced: approx. 7,250 tons; Submerged: approx. 8,250 tons
	Speed: Surfaced: 16 - 20 knots;Submerged: 22 - 25 knots
	Armament: 16 vertical tubes for Polaris or Poseidon missiles, four 21" torpedo tubes for Mk-48 torpedoes, Mk-14/16 torpedoes, Mk-37 torpedoes and Mk-45 nuclear torpedoes
	Crew: 13 Officers and 130 Enlisted (two crews)

go to the end of the page

Crew List:

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

Click here to view the list.

go to the end of the page

Click here to see which USS JOHN C. CALHOUN memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

go to the end of the page

About the Ship's Name:

John Caldwell Calhoun was born 18 March 1782 in Abbeville District, S.C., educated at Yale, and admitted to the South Carolina Bar in 1807. Following a term in the state legislature from 1808 to 1809 Calhoun entered the House in 1811, where he quickly became a leader of the "War Hawks" and supported nationalistic legislation after the War of 1812.

He served as Secretary of War under Monroe; was a candidate for President in 1824; but was elected Vice-President, serving under Adams and Jackson between 1825 and 1832. Breaking with Jackson largely over nullification, Calhoun served in the Senate from 1832 until 1844 and became a leading exponent of state's rights and philosopher of nullification.

After a year as Tyler's Secretary of State, in which he secured the annexation of Texas, he returned to the Senate. A brilliant thinker and dynamic statesman, Calhoun was too ill to deliver his last speech, on the Compromise of 1850; and it was read instead by Senator Mason, of Virginia, 4 March 1850. Calhoun died in Washington 30 March 1850, to stand as America's greatest state's rights theoretician and one of its most distinguished legislators.

go to the end of the page

USS JOHN C. CALHOUN Image Gallery:

Back to Ballistic Submarines list.

Back to ships list.

Back to selection page.

Back to 1^st page.