USS ''George C. Marshall'' (SSBN-654), a

ballistic missile A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are guided only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles stay within the ...

submarine, was the only ship of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

to be named for General of the Army

George C. Marshall George Catlett Marshall Jr. (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the US Army under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry ...

(1880-1959), who served as

U.S. Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...

from 1947 to 1949 and as U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1950 to 1951.

Construction and commissioning

The contract to build ''George C. Marshall'' was awarded to

Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the largest industrial employer in Virginia, and sole designer, builder and refueler of United States Navy aircraft carriers and one of two providers of U.S. Navy ...

Newport News Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, on 29 July 1963 and her

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

was laid down there on 2 March 1964. She was launched on 21 May 1965, sponsored by

Katherine Tupper Marshall Katherine Boyce Marshall ( ''née'' Tupper; October 8, 1882 – December 18, 1978) was an actress, writer, and wife of soldier and statesman George C. Marshall. Early life and education Katherine Boyce Tupper was born the youngest of three ch ...

, widow of General Marshal. At the launching ceremony, former U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson (1893–1971) eloquently described ''George C. Marshall''s strategic deterrent role in the Cold War in this way: "... the waves set up by this launching will go to the furthest reaches of our foreign relations. The very existence of this ship, her power, her mission, her orders, her competence to execute them, will affect more computations, more decisions, than we can readily imagine. Far beyond the Pentagon, the State Department, and the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

, she will add a new factor, a new magnitude, to the correlation of forces by which the

communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

determine their decisions." ''George C. Marshall'' was commissioned on 29 April 1966, with Commander Warren Richardson Cobean, Jr. in command of the Blue Crew and Commander Willard Edward Johnson in command of the Gold Crew.

Service history

:''History needed for 1973-1981.'' * September 1969, the Blue crew went aboard in Holy Loch, Scotland, and departed in October on patrol #7 under the command of Capt Hay. In December the ship returned to Holy Loch and the Gold crew took over. * This sequence was repeated in March 1970 with the Blue crew returning on board in Holy Loch. It tied up alongside the submarine tender USS Canopus. *1970 and 1971, the Gold and Blue crews repeated the sequence except that the Gold crew returned to Charleston, SC in March 1971. The Blue crew was under the command of Capt Paul for patrols #11 and #13 returning to Holy Loch before transit to overhaul via the Panama Canal. * Overhaul 1971-1973 * April 1973 successfully performed DASO ballistic missile launch * November 1975 visited Faslane Submarine Base in Scotland * Operated out of Rota Naval Station, Rota, Spain mid-1970s * Late in 1970s "George C. Marshall" was caught in a fishing trawler net during a transit from

Holy Loch The Holy Loch ( gd, An Loch Sianta/Seunta) is a sea loch, a part of the Cowal peninsula coast of the Firth of Clyde, in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The "Holy Loch" name is believed to date from the 6th century, when Saint Munn landed there afte ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, leaving a scar on her sail from the wire * In 1980 "George C. Marshall" went through an extensive overhaul in the floating dry dock USS Los Alamos (AFDB-7) in Holy Loch, Scotland * Leaving Holy Loch, Scotland, "George C. Marshall" made a port call in Weymouth, England for 2 days * Conducted midshipman ops out of Naval Submarine Base New London, CT * Moved to Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, GA for one patrol and test fired ballistic missiles prior to entering shipyard for overhaul * Moved to Naval Weapons Station Charleston, SC to unload weapons prior to entering overhaul at Newport News Shipyard. During an

overhaul Overhaul may refer to: *The process of overhauling, see ** Maintenance, repair, and overhaul **Refueling and overhaul (eg. nuclear-powered ships) **Time between overhaul * Overhaul (firefighting), the process of searching for hidden fire extensio ...

at Newport News Shipbuilding that lasted from 1981 to 1984, ''George C. Marshall'' underwent modifications that included the removal of her Mk 45 ASTOR (and the related 4FZ alarm system) and her

Mark 14 torpedo The Mark 14 torpedo was the United States Navy's standard submarine-launched anti-ship torpedo of World War II. This weapon was plagued with many problems which crippled its performance early in the war. It was supplemented by the Mark 18 elec ...

and

Mark 37 torpedo The Mark 37 torpedo is a torpedo with electrical propulsion, developed for the US Navy after World War II. It entered service with the US Navy in the early 1950s, with over 3,300 produced. It was phased out of service key with the US Navy during ...

capabilities and the installation of a Mobile Submarine Simulator (MOSS) decoy capability on tubes 3 and 4. :''History needed for 1984-1992.'' ''George C. Marshall'' conducted 78 strategic deterrent patrols during her career and was one of the last units to leave

, following the closing of that base in 1992. She conducted her last dive off

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, in 1992 on her way to

Bremerton Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington. The population was 37,729 at the 2010 census and an estimated 41,405 in 2019, making it the largest city on the Kitsap Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremer ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, for

decommissioning Decommissioning is a general term for a formal process to remove something from an active status, and may refer to: Infrastructure * Decommissioned offshore * Decommissioned highway * Greenfield status of former industrial sites * Nuclear decommi ...

Decommissioning and disposal

''George C. Marshall'' was decommissioned on 24 September 1992 and stricken from the

Naval Vessel Register The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...

the same day. Her scrapping via the Nuclear-Powered

Ship and Submarine Recycling Program The Ship-Submarine Recycling Program (SRP) is the process that the United States Navy uses to dispose of decommissioned nuclear vessels. SRP takes place only at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS) in Bremerton, Washington, but the preparations ...

at Bremerton was completed on 28 February 1994.

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:George C. Marshall (SSBN-654) Benjamin Franklin-class submarines Cold War submarines of the United States Nuclear submarines of the United States Navy 1965 ships Ships built in Newport News, Virginia