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FIGHTING SHIPS OF THE WORLD
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
SUBMARINES
HALIBUT nuclear powered missile submarine (1960)


Photo



Halibut with DSRV, 1970

Ships


No Name Yard No Builder Laid down Launched Comm Fate
SSGN587, 8.1965- SSN587 Halibut   Mare Island N Yd, Vallejo 11.4.1957 9.1.1959 4.1.1960 attack nuclear-powered submarine 8.1965, stricken 4.1986


Technical data


Displacement standard, t 
Displacement normal, t

3846 / 4895

Length, m

106.7

Breadth, m

9.00

Draught, m

6.30

No of shafts

2

Machinery

2 sets geared steam turbines, 1 Westinghouse S3W nuclear reactor

Power, h. p.

6600

Max speed, kts

15 / 14

Fuel, t

nuclear

Endurance, nm(kts)

practically unlimited

Armament

1 x 1 Regulus I CruM (5 SSM-N-8(RGM-6)), 6 - 533 TT (4 Mk 61 bow, 2 Mk 62 stern, 12)

Electronic equipment

BPS-12 radar, BQS-4, BQR-2 sonars, WLR-1 ECM suite

Complement

111

Diving depth operational, m

210



Standard scale images


<i>Halibut </i>1960
Halibut 1960
<i>Halibut </i>1963
Halibut 1963


Graphics


<i>Halibut</i> with<i> </i>DSRV, 1970
Halibut with DSRV, 1970


Project history

Halibut was the sole US nuclear-powered cruise-missile submarine, originally conceived as a near-sister to the Graybacks. She was completed with nuclear power and with enlarged missile hangars, for a total of two Regulus II or five Regulus I cruise missiles. The engineering plant was reportedly similar to that of the Skate class (S3W reactor), with two shafts. The FY58 programme originally included three larger Regulus II submarines, SSGN594-596, with another (SSGN607) planned for FY59; all completed as Permit class attack submarines. This SCB-166A submarine would have carried four Regulus II (or eight Regulus I) in four separate missile hangars forward of the sail. Halibut's hangars were removed after the end of the Regulus programme in 1965 (reclassified to SSN)- She was employed in research from then until 1976, with a ducted bow thruster forward and facilities for a deep submergence vehicle (DSRV) aft; all that was left of her missile equipment was a bulged structure on her foredeck.

Modernizations

1965: - 1 x 1 Regulus I CruM (5 RGM-6); + ability to carry DSRV

Naval service

No significant events.