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

(1969) Vol. 4, pp.12, 13, 14





LAFAYETTE



	Marie Joseph du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, was born 

at Chateau Chavaniac, Auvergne, France, 6 September 1757.  

He entered the French Army at the age of 14 and 6 years 

later left France to assist the American colonists in their 

fight for freedom.  His brilliant military contributions to 

the victory of the Americans were climaxed by the final 

campaign in which his skillful maneuvering played a major 

part in the defeat of the British at Yorktown.



	Taking the gratitude of the American people with him, 

he returned to France in 1781 and later aided his own 

people in the disturbed days of the French Revolution.  As 

commander of France’s eastern Army, Lafayette was captured 

by the Austrians in August 1792.  He was imprisoned for 5 

years, and released after Napoleon’s rise to power.  For 

the rest of his life he actively participated in movements 

for liberty and freedom in France and the world.  He died 

in Paris 20 May 1834.





SSBN-616



Displacement:

	Surfaced:  7,250 t.

	Submerged:  8,250 t.

Length:  425’

Beam:  33’

Speed:  20+ k.

Complement:  138

Armament:  16  Polaris missiles

Class:  LAFAYETTE



	The second LAFAYETTE (SSBN-616) was laid down 

17 January 1961 by Electric Boat Co., Division of General 

Dynamics, Groton, Conn.; launched 8 May 1962; sponsored by 

Mrs. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr., wife of the 35th 

President of the United States; and commissioned 23 April 

1963 at Groton, Conn., Comdr. P. J. Hannifin in command of 

the Blue Crew and Comdr. James T. Strong in command of the 

Gold Crew.



	After a Caribbean shakedown, LAFAYETTE loaded missiles 

at Charleston and during June sailed to Cape Canaveral for 

ballistic missile maneuvers.  Four missiles were fired, two 

by each crew, after which the nuclear submarine steamed to 

Groton, arriving there 2 August.  For the rest of the year 

her two crews alternately took her through a series of 

exercises before she took her place in the Navy’s expanding 

“Polaris Fleet.”



	LAFAYETTE departed Charleston 4 January 1964 for her 

first deterrent patrol in the Atlantic.  During the next 4 

years, LAFAYETTE, as part of America’s most effective weapon 

system, made 16 deterrent patrols out of Rota, Spain and 

played an important role in the maintenance of peace and 

freedom throughout the world.  Her 15th patrol, the 400th of 

the Polaris submarine fleet, won LAFAYETTE special 

commendation from Secretary of the Navy Paul Nitze.  She 

returned to Charleston from her 16th patrol 23 August 

1967.  A week later, she arrived Newport News for a major 

overhaul by Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. to 

prepare for future service.  On 28 December 1968, 

LAFAYETTE’s overhaul officially ended and in January 1969, 

she once again took up her vital position with the fleet.



	[Deactivated while still in commission on 1 March 1991, 

LAFAYETTE was decommissioned on the following 12 August and 

stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 25 February 1992.  

She began the Navy’s Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine 

Recycling Program at Bremerton, Washington the day she was 

deactivated and finished it the day she was stricken.  On 

the latter date, the ship no longer existed as an entity and 

was classed as scrapped.



Internet web site:

	United States Naval & Shipbuilding Museum

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





Transcribed by Michael Hansen

mhansen2@home.com