>From the “Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships,” 

(1976) Vol. 6, pp.411-412.





SEADRAGON



		Seadragon:  A small fish commonly called the 

dragonet.





SSN-584



Displacement:  

	Surfaced:  2,580 t.

	Submerged:  2,861 t.

Length:  268’

Beam:  25’

Draft:  22’5”

Speed:  20+ k.

Complement:  95

Armament:  8 21” torpedo tubes

Class:  SKATE



	The second SEADRAGON (SSN-584) was laid down on 20 June 

1956 at the Portsmouth (N.H.) Naval Shipyard; launched on 16 

August 1958; sponsored by Mrs. Robert L. Dennison; and 

commissioned on 5 December 1959, Lt. Comdr. George P. Steele 

in command.



	Following a Caribbean shakedown cruise, SEADRAGON 

returned to Portsmouth, whence, on 1 August 1960, she sailed 

for the Pacific.  Ordered to proceed via the Northwest 

Passage, she moved north to Parry Channel reached Lancaster 

Sound, the eastern end of the channel, at mid-month, and 

continued westward with Edward Parry's journal written in 

1819, as a guide.



	Collecting oceanographic and hydrographic data en 

route, SEADRAGON transited Barrow Strait, Viscount Melville 

Sound, and McClure Strait.  On 21 August, she completed the 

first submarine transit of the Northwest Passage, entered 

the Beaufort Sea, and headed for the North demographic Pole, 

which she reached on the 25th.  From there, SEADRAGON turned 

south, and, after conducting experiments in cooperation with 

scientists on ice island T-3, headed for the Chukchi Sea and 

Bering Strait.  On 5 September, she reached Nome, and, nine 

days later, she arrived at her home port, Pearl Harbor.  She 

was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation for her transit of 

the Northwest Passage via Parry Channel.



	For the next nine months, SEADRAGON was employed in 

local operations.  In June 1961, she headed west for her 

first tour in the western Pacific, during which she 

participated in 7th Fleet exercises--primarily antisubmarine 

warfare training exercises--and completed a submerged 

endurance cruise of 58 days.  In October, she returned to 

Pearl Harbor and local operations.



	On 12 July 1962, SEADRAGON departed Pearl Harbor for 

her second Arctic cruise.  Transiting Bering Strait and the 

Chukchi Sea, she contacted T-3, then moved further north to 

rendezvous with sister ship SKATE (SSN-578), then en route 

from New London.  On 31 July, the two submarines 

rendezvoused under the ice and continued on to the North 

Pole, arriving on 2 August.  Sonar and weapons evaluation 

tests, for which the submarines were joined by the ice 

breaker BURTON ISLAND (AGB-1), followed; and, in late 

August, the submarines got underway for their home ports.  

En route, SEADRAGON, scheduled to call at Seattle, also 

rescued 12 survivors from a downed seaplane and delivered 

them to Port Angeles, Wash.  On 14 September, she arrived 

back at Pearl Harbor.



	During the first half of 1963, the Arctic veteran 

participated in local operations and conducted her second 

WestPac cruise.  On 8 July, she entered the Pearl Harbor 

Naval Shipyard for her first refueling and overhaul; and, in 

late May 1964, she resumed operations in the Hawaiian area.  

Torpedo evaluation tests off the Washington coast followed; 

and, on 10 August 1964, SEADRAGON sailed west in response to 

the Gulf of Tonkin crisis.  During September and October, 

she operated out of Subic Bay; then, after a call at Hong 

Kong continued on to Okinawa and Japan to conduct public 

relations cruises and participate in further 7th Fleet 

exercises.  On 4 March 1965, she returned to Pearl Harbor.



	For the next four years, SEADRAGON continued to rotate 

between local operations in the Hawaiian area, training and 

evaluation exercises off the west coast, and regular 

deployments to the 7th Fleet in the western Pacific.  In 

July 1968, however, she interrupted that schedule for a 

34-month overhaul and refueling period at the Pearl Harbor 

Naval Shipyard; and, in March 1971, she resumed her previous 

employment schedule, which she has continued into 1975.



	[Decommissioned on 12 June 1983 and stricken from the 

Navy Register on 30 April 1986, former SEADRAGON entered the 

Navy’s nuclear ship recycling program on 1 October 1994 and 

completed it on 18 September 1995.  Upon completion of the 

program, she ceased to exist as a complete ship.



Internet web site:  United States Naval & Shipbuilding 

Museum

	www.uss-salem.org/worldnav/usa/decom.htm





Transcribed by Michael Hansen

mhansen2@home.com