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| USS Blueback (SS-581) in the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon | |
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Awarded: | 29 June 1956 |
| Laid down: | 15 April 1957 |
| Launched: | 16 May 1959 |
| Commissioned: | 15 October 1959 |
| Fate: | Donated to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry |
| Stricken: | 30 October 1990 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 1744 tons light, 2146 tons full, 402 tons dead |
| Length: | 66.7 meters (219 feet) overall, 66.4 meters (218 feet) waterline |
| Beam: | 8.8 meters (29 feet) |
| Draft: | 8.5 meters (28 feet) |
| Depth: | 712 feet operating, 1050 feet collapse |
| Speed: | 15 knots surfaced, 21 knots submerged |
| Endurance: | $frac12;hour at full speed, 102 hours at 3 knots |
| Complement: | 8 officers, 69 men |
| Armament: | six 21-inch bow torpedo tubes, 18 torpedoes |
USS Blueback (SS-581), a Barbel-class submarine, was the second submarine of the United States Navy to be named for a type of salmon. Her keel was laid down by Ingalls ShipbuildingIngalls Shipbuilding was a shipyard located in Pascagoula, Mississippi, originally established in 1938, and is now part of Northrop Grumman Ship Systems. It was a leading producer of ships for the US Navy, and at 10,900 employees, the largest private empl Corporation of Pascagoula, MississippiPascagoula is a city located in Jackson County, Mississippi. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 26,200. It is the county seat of Jackson County 6. Ingalls Shipbuilding constructs many US Navy ships here. The city is served by Mobile on 15 April 1957. She was launchedThe ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old. A Babylonian narrative dating from the 3rd millennium BC describes the completion of a ship: :Openings to the water I stopped; :I searched for crac on 16 May 1959 sponsored by Mrs. Kenmore McManes, wife of Rear Admiral McManes, and commissionedThe ceremonies involved in commissioning ships into a military force are based in traditions thousands of years old. Ship naming and launching are the inseparable elements which endow a ship hull with her identity. Yet, just as many developmental mileston on 15 October 1959, the last non-nuclear submarine to join the United States Navy.
Blueback was decommissioned on 1 October 1990 and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet in Bremerton, Washington. She was struck from the Naval Register on 30 October 1990. In February 1994 the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry towed her to Portland, Oregon, where she became part of the museum.
See USS Blueback for other ships of the same name.