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U.S.S. WOODROW WILSON
(SSBN-624)WOODY WOO
Click to view crew list
USS WOODROW WILSON (SSBN-624) - a Lafayette-class submarine
In Commission 1963 to 1994SSBN-624 Deployments - Major Events
| Add a SSBN-624 Shellback Initiation | Add a SSBN-624 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
| Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEP | 1961 | - | Keel Date: 13 SEP 1961 at Mare Island Naval Shipyard Vallejo CA | ||
| JAN | 1963 | - | MAR | 1963 | Blue Nose - Arctic Circle |
| FEB | 1963 | - | Launch Date: 22 FEB 1963 | ||
| DEC | 1963 | - | Commissioned: 27 DEC 1963 | ||
| JAN | 1967 | - | JAN | 1968 | North Atlantic |
| MAR | 1967 | - | MAR | 1967 | Mediterranean |
| JAN | 1968 | - | JAN | 1969 | North Atlantic |
| OCT | 1969 | - | OCT | 1969 | Panama Canal |
| AUG | 1971 | - | Shellback Initiation - 20 AUG 1971 - Pacific Ocean | ||
| FEB | 1972 | - | Shellback Initiation - 17 FEB 1972 - Pacific Ocean | ||
| JAN | 1977 | - | AUG | 1983 | North Atlantic-Med-Indian Ocean |
| JAN | 1978 | - | JAN | 1978 | Blue Nose - Arctic Circle |
| OCT | 1992 | - | MAR | 1993 | Mediterranean |
| SEP | 1994 | - | Decommissioned: 1 SEP 1994 | ||
SSBN-624 General Specifications
Class: Lafayette-class submarine
Named for: Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924)
Complement: 13 Officers and 130 Enlisted
Displacement: 7250 tons
Length: 425 feet
Beam: 33 feet
Flank Speed: 20 knots
Final Disposition: Entered Ship-Submarine Recycling Program 26 September 1997; recycling completed 27 October 1998
USS WOODROW WILSON (SSBN-624)
Woodrow
Wilson (SSBN-624) was laid down on 16 September
1961 at Vallejo, Calif., by the Mare Island Naval Shipyard; launched on 22 February 1963;
sponsored by Miss Eleanor A. Sayre, the granddaughter of President Wilson; and commissioned on 27 December 1963, Comdr. C. N. Mitchell and Comdr. W. N.
Dietzen in command of the Blue and
Gold crews, respectively.
Woodrow
Wilson departed Vallejo, Calif., on 9 January
1964, bound for the east coast on a route which would take her through
the Panama Canal. After stopping briefly at San Diego, the submarine proceeded on to Panama, arriving on 19 January at the west coast end of the canal. Violent anti-American
demonstrations and riots over a recent
flag-displaying incident had resulted
in an extremely tense atmosphere. As a
result, the submarine transited the canal in a record seven hours and ten minutes while combat-ready marines and soldiers guarded the locks.
Making port at
Charleston, S.C., on 5 February, the Woodrow Wilson conducted shakedown off the lower eastern seaboard into March and underwent her
post-shakedown availability into
April. She put to sea at the end of
May upon the conclusion of these repairs and alterations and commenced
her first deterrent patrol out of Charleston
in June.
Woodrow Wilson subsequently operated in the
Atlantic until the autumn of 1969 conducting
her patrols from forward bases at
Rota, Spain, and Holy Loch, Scotland.
She was then transferred to the Pacific and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 19 November, via Charleston and the Panama Canal. The fleet ballistic
missile submarine continued toward
the western Pacific to be based at
Guam. She conducted deterrent patrols from Apra Harbor through 1972. In that year, she shifted back to the Atlantic and served with the Atlantic
Fleet into 1978. Between 1964 and
1977, the ship performed 37 deterrent patrols
[Note: The above USS WOODROW WILSON (SSBN-624) history may, or may not, contain text provided by crew members of the USS WOODROW WILSON (SSBN-624), or by other non-crew members, and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]