USS Tautog (SSN-639)

USS Tautog (SSN-639), a attack submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the tautog (Tautoga onitis), a wrasse commonly found along the Northern Atlantic coast. The submarine was in service from 17 August 1968 to 31 March 1997.

Construction and commissioning

thumb|left|Tautog commissioning

The contract to build Tautog was awarded to Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on 30 November 1961 and her keel was laid down there on 27 January 1964. She was commissioned on 15 March 1967, sponsored by Pauline Lafon Gore, wife of United States Senator Albert Gore, Sr. (1907–1998) of Tennessee. Tautog received a Navy Unit Commendation for service on or about 1 June 1969. Tautog suffered damage to her sail. As Tautog proceeded away from the site of the incident, her crew heard what they believed was K-108 breaking up and sinking. When Tautog arrived in Pearl Harbor, a large portion of one of K-108s screws was found embedded in her sail. Over 20 years later, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, K-108 was revealed to have actually been able to return to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The former captain of K-108, Boris Bogdasaryan, was able to provide a concise narrative of the collision, which resulted in no casualties aboard either submarine.

thumb|left|Tautog sailing into San Francisco

Though the occurrence of this event was adamantly denied by the United States and the Soviet Union, Tautogs sail was permanently bent at a 2° angle, which made dry-docking problematic.

In 1991, the Chicago Tribune broke the story about the collision. The Discovery Channel mentioned it in their TV program Sharks of Steel, and the full details were finally made public in 1999 in the book Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story Of American Submarine Espionage.

1970–1977

On 9 October 1970, Tautog departed Pearl Harbor for her first East Asian deployment. She arrived on station at Buckner Bay, Okinawa, on 23 October 1970 and joined the United States Seventh Fleet. During her tour of duty in the Western Pacific, she was completely engaged in antisubmarine warfare training, usually with units of the Seventh Fleet, but on one occasion, in a joint operation with the British Royal Navy frigate HMS Aurora (F10). She spent time in port for liberty and repairs at such places as U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay in the Philippines; Hong Kong; Yokosuka, Japan; and the South Korean port of Pusan. She concluded her first tour of duty in the Western Pacific on 28 March 1971, when she departed Yokosuka bound for Hawaii. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 5 April 1971 and resumed her routine of upkeep in port alternated with periods at sea engaged in antisubmarine warfare training for the remainder of 1971 and during the first three months of 1972. Tautog made a liberty visit to Hong Kong before returning via Guam to Pearl Harbor, where she arrived on 31 August 1972. She conducted operations in the Hawaiian Islands for the remainder of 1972.

Uganda crisis, 1977

Tautog departed Mombasa on 24 February 1977 and started east toward Pearl Harbor. On the way, however, President of Uganda Idi Amin had precipitated a crisis by rounding up all Americans resident in Uganda in response to President of the United States Jimmy Carter's condemnation of the murders of two of Amin's Ugandan political opponents, and Tautog received orders to join a hastily organized task force built around the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and return to the East African coast. While the United States waited for Amin to make his mind up about whether or not to release the American hostages, Tautog cruised the coast of Kenya, which stands between landlocked Uganda and the Indian Ocean, with the Enterprise task force both as a show of American resolve to protect U.S. citizens in Uganda and as a scratch force to try for a hostage rescue if one became necessary. Tautog received a Meritorious Unit Commendation for service 1 November 1976 to 5 July 1977. She operated beneath the ice pack for two months and conducted a dual surfacing maneuver at the North Pole with USS Aspro. It was reportedly the second rendezvous by two U.S. submarines at the pole and the first during winter.

During summer 1983, Tautog once again found herself operating under the Arctic ice pack. To celebrate her arrival at the Pole, the crew had a picnic, a tug-of-war, and dog-sled races "around the world".

Tautog surfaced at North Pole|thumb|right

In 1984, following a two-month shipyard availability, Tautog entered an operational crew training period. In the spring of 1984, Tautog again journeyed west in support of Seventh Fleet operations. Tautog operated extensively in the Northern Pacific, making port visits to the Philippines, Thailand, and Japan. Again, she was awarded the Navy Expeditionary Medal. Tautog completed a Western Pacific deployment in November 1984 upon her return to Pearl Harbor. After completing a stand down and a post-deployment upkeep period, she hosted prospective commanding officer operations in February 1985 and spent a three-day liberty period at Lahaina, Hawaii, on Maui.

thumb|left|Tautog sailing in front of Diamond Head, Hawaii

In the summer of 1985, Tautog joined the attack submarine in hosting prospective commanding officer operations. In October 1985, Tautog left Pearl Harbor for a Western Pacific and Indian Ocean deployment, visiting Guam; Singapore (for Christmas); Diego Garcia twice; Perth, Australia; the Philippines; and Chinhae, South Korea. On her return to Pearl Harbor, she picked up an operational reactor safeguard examination team.

Once back in Pearl Harbor in April 1986, Tautog had a change of command ceremony in which Commander Walter P. Stuermann relieved Commander T. R. Kent as commanding officer. In October 1986, Tautog began a nonrefueling overhaul at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington. After extensive modifications and testing, she returned to her homeport of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 30 May 1989.

Tautog departed on her eighth Western Pacific deployment in May 1990, visiting Singapore, Hong Kong, Subic Bay (Philippines), and Yokosuka, Japan. The ship experienced a massive typhoon, which prevented her from entering Subic Bay for almost a week. Back in Pearl Harbor in November 1990, Tautog enjoyed the holidays and began preparing for her third Arctic deployment. In April 1991, Tautog once again joined her sister ship, Aspro, for three weeks of Arctic under-ice operations, ending in a liberty port in San Francisco. After the exercise, she performed an emergency main ballast tank blow from her test depth. In summer 1991, Tautog hosted the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) submarine Akishio on her mid-Pac cruise.

thumb|right|Torpedo explodes under Darter

In late January 1992, Tautog successfully fired a MK 48 Advanced Capability warshot torpedo and sank the target ship ex-Darter in the deep waters just south of Oahu. In summer 1992, Tautog set sail on a WESTPAC deployment, where she pulled back-to-back operations totaling about 150 days at sea of the roughly 180-day deployment.

In October 1993, Tautog was sent on an emergent WESTPAC with four days' notice. The ship and crew participated in a joint exercise with the JMSDF, then enjoyed a liberty port in Hong Kong. In February 1995, she departed Pearl Harbor for her 11th WESTPAC deployment, conducting joint operations with Japanese, Korean, and British naval forces. During this deployment, the crew was still able to enjoy such liberty ports as Guam, Hong Kong, Yokosuka (Japan), Sasebo (Japan), Okinawa (Japan), Chinhae (South Korea), and Subic Bay (Philippines). Tautog was awarded the Navy Expeditionary Medal for the highly completion of this successful cruise.

Misfortune arrived in February 1996 while the Tautog was conducting a personnel transfer in the mouth of Pearl Harbor. Unusual winds blowing from Maui caught the sail and Tautog drifted off course. While the officer of the deck was trying to reposition her, she ran into the west bank of the harbor. The damage was slight – cracking the sonar dome – but it was still a ship-grounding incident and a board of inquiry was launched to determine the root cause of the incident.

thumb|left|Tautog decommissioning

In July 1996, Tautog departed on her final deployment, this time to the eastern Pacific, supporting weapons testing and weeks of daily midshipman orientation cruises. Her liberty ports included San Diego and Esquimalt (British Columbia), with a repair stop in Bangor, Washington. Tautog made her 1,119th and last dive on 13 October 1996; her inactivation ceremony was held on 25 October 1996. After an inactivation period around 6 months, Tautog departed her lifelong homeport of Pearl Harbor for the final time, en route to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for final disposition.

Decommissioning and disposal

Tautog was decommissioned on 31 March 1997 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register the same day. Her scrapping via the U.S. Navy's Nuclear-Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton began on 15 March 2003 and was completed on 30 November 2004.

Commemoration

Tautogs sail was preserved and is now on display at Galveston Naval Museum, in Seawolf Park in Galveston, Texas. It suffered damage when Hurricane Ike struck the area in 2008.

File:639 Bremerton.jpg|Ex-Tautog awaiting recycling in Bremerton

File:Seawolf Park damage following Ike.jpg|Tautogs preserved sail has tipped over in this view of damage at Galveston Naval Museum, in Seawolf Park

File:639 sail in TX.jpg|Tautog sail awaits preparation for the memorial

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References

USS Tautog SSN-639 Decommissioning Brochure