NAVYPEDIA

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

Graphics

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.