USS Guitarro (SSN-665)

The USS Guitarro (SSN -665 ) was a nuclear submarine of the United States Navy and was part of the Sturgeon class. During construction of the shipyard was a serious mistake, which lowered the half-finished boat in about 10 feet deep water.

History

Construction

The Guitarro in 1964 commissioned and set December 1965 as Iceland Mare Naval Shipyard in Kiel. The boat ran in July 1968 of stack and should be put into service in January 1970. To this end, it did not come due to one of the most bizarre accidents in the history of the Navy, however.

Fall

On 15 May 1969, the equipment of the boat was still in full swing at the edge of the Napa River. Around 16:00 clock began a group of civil engineers to calibrate the instruments. And his men had ballast tanks behind the center of gravity of the boat with about five tons of seawater flooding. Only a short time later, a second group started regardless of auszutrimmen the ship. As the boat was about two degrees tail-heavy, the men to fill the front ballast tanks with water began. Until shortly before 20.00 the groups went without knowing about each other, about their work. The second group was twice warned that the waves in the river through a hatch in extremely low-lying front of the boat washed up water in the hull, but they ignored the warnings.

Against 19:45 clock the second group stopped their work in order to take a meal break. Five minutes later, the first group had finished the calibration and emptied the aft tanks again. Counter 20:30 versa, both groups returned to work and noticed a strong Buglastigkeit the boat. The hatches in the bow were held under water, massive flooding was the result. In the next 15 minutes trying workers to close the hatches, which was prevented by cables that were routed through the hatches into the interior. 20:55 Against the Guitarro sank in about 35 feet (10 m ) deep water.

On May 18, the boat could have been lifted, the damage was estimated at 15.2 to 21.85 million, the commissioning was delayed until September 9th, 1972.

Inserts

From the mid- 1970s, the Guitarro was a test boat for submerged use of the then new cruise missile type BGM -109 Tomahawk. 1982 sank the boat the decommissioned destroyer USS Agerholm (DD -826 ) with a tomahawk

Shortly before the end of her career took Giutarro part in the exercise Exercise Fallex '90 and was placed out of service in 1992. By 1994 the submarine in the Ship- Submarine Recycling Program was scrapped in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.