įor the yard, the Power Plant Project manager was a separate function on these original nuclear subs. During the parallel construction of the first nuclear submarines, the Navy, the Atomic Energy Commission, its independent labs, and the shipyard all worked together to learn together. Like all of the original nuclear subs, the project manager at Electric Boat was the general manager of the company, Bill Jones. Sterling Cole, and commissioned on 30 March 1957. It was launched on 21 July 1955 sponsored by Mary Elizabeth (Thomas) Cole, wife of New York Congressman W. Seawolf's keel was laid down 7 September 1953, by the Electric Boat division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut. Initial construction Postcard showing launch Its future uses, after the reactor plant was replaced with a light water system, included covert operations in foreign waters, for which it was converted January 1971 – June 1973. Seawolf was originally thought of publicly as a hunter-killer submarine, but in fact was intended to be a one-off test platform for the SIR (aka S2G) LMFR reactor and future sonar platforms. Īlthough fully armed, Seawolf, like the first nuclear submarine, Nautilus, was primarily an experimental vessel. The S2G reactor was replaced with a pressurized water reactor similar to Nautilus and designated S2Wa, the replacement process lasting from 12 December 1958 to 30 September 1960. In Rickover's words they were "expensive to build, complex to operate, susceptible to prolonged shutdown as a result of even minor malfunctions, and difficult and time-consuming to repair." The leaks in the Seawolf steam plant were an important factor in the decision but even more persuasive were the inherent limitations in sodium-cooled systems. Early in November 1956, he informed the Commission that he would take steps toward replacing the reactor in Seawolf with a water-cooled plant similar to that in the Nautilus. The Atomic Energy Commission historians' account of the sodium-cooled reactor experience was:Īlthough makeshift repairs permitted the Seawolf to complete her initial sea trials on reduced power in February 1957, Rickover had already decided to abandon the sodium-cooled reactor. The prototype plant was eventually designated S1G and Seawolf 's plant as S2G. The Submarine Intermediate Reactor (SIR) nuclear plant was designed by General Electric's Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory and prototyped in West Milton, New York. Seawolf was the same basic "double hull" twin-screw submarine design as her predecessor USS Nautilus (SSN-571), but her propulsion system was more technologically advanced. ![]() Originally laid down in 1953, her distinctive reactor was later replaced with a standard pressurized water reactor, the replacement process lasting from 12 December 1958 to 30 September 1960. ![]() This sonar arrangement resulted in an unusual bow shape above the water for a U.S. Her overall design (known as SCB 64A) was a variant of Nautilus, but with numerous detail changes, such as a conning tower, stepped sail, and the BQR-4 passive sonar mounted in the top portion of the bow instead of further below. USS Seawolf (SSN-575) was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the seawolf, the second nuclear submarine, and the only US submarine built with a liquid metal cooled ( sodium), beryllium- moderated nuclear reactor, the S2G. S2G, replaced by S2Wa in 1960, geared steam turbines, two shafts, approx. For other ships with the same name, see USS Seawolf.Įlectric Boat division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticutĭisposed of by submarine recycling 30 Sept.
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