USS Andrew Jackson

{{Infobox ship image

|Ship image=USS Andrew Jackson SSBN-619.jpg

|Ship caption=USS Andrew Jackson (SSBN-619)

}}

{{Infobox ship career

|Hide header=

|Ship country=United States

|Ship flag={{USN flag|1989}}

|Ship name=USS Andrew Jackson

|Ship namesake=Andrew Jackson (1767–1845), seventh President of the United States (1829–1837)

|Ship ordered=23 July 1960

|Ship awarded=

|Ship builder=Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California

|Ship original cost=

|Ship laid down=26 April 1961

|Ship launched=15 September 1962

|Ship sponsor=Mrs. Estes Kefauver

|Ship christened=

|Ship completed=

|Ship acquired=

|Ship commissioned=3 July 1963

|Ship recommissioned=

|Ship decommissioned=31 August 1989

|Ship in service=

|Ship out of service=

|Ship refit=

|Ship struck=31 August 1989

|Ship reinstated=

|Ship homeport=

|Ship identification=

|Ship motto=One man with courage is a majority

|Ship nickname=

|Ship honors=

|Ship captured=

|Ship fate=Scrapping via Ship-Submarine Recycling Program completed 30 August 1999

|Ship notes=

|Ship badge=

}}

{{Infobox ship characteristics

|Hide header=

|Header caption=

|Ship class={{Sclass|Lafayette|submarine}}

|Ship type=Ballistic missile submarine (hull design SCB-216)

{{ Citation

| last1=Adcock

| first1=Al.

| title=U.S. Ballistic Missile Submarines

| publisher=Squadron Signal

| place=Carrolltown, Texas

| year=1993

| page=22

}}

|Ship displacement=*{{convert|7250|LT|t|lk=in|abbr=on}} surfaced

{{convert|8250|LT|t|abbr=on}} submerged

|Ship length= {{convert|425|ft|m|abbr=on}}

|Ship beam= {{convert|33|ft|m|abbr=on}}

|Ship draft= {{convert|31|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}}

|Ship propulsion=*1 × S5W reactor

2 × General Electric geared turbines={{convert|15000|shp|kW|abbr=on}}

|Ship speed=*{{convert|20|kn|km/h}} surfaced

{{convert|25|kn|km/h}} submerged

|Ship range=

|Ship endurance=

|Ship test depth=

|Ship complement=Two crews (Blue and Gold), 13 officers and 130 enlisted men each

|Ship sensors=BQS-4 sonar

|Ship EW=

|Ship armament=*4 × {{convert|21|in|mm|abbr=on}} Mark 65 torpedo tubes with Mark 113 firecontrol system, for Mark 48 torpedoes

16 × vertical tubes for Polaris or Poseidon ballistic missiles

|Ship notes=

}}

USS Andrew Jackson (SSBN-619) was a {{sclass|Lafayette|submarine|0}} nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine. She was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Andrew Jackson (1767–1845), the seventh President of the United States (1829–1837).

Construction and commissioning

The contract to build Andrew Jackson was awarded to Mare Island Naval Shipyard at Vallejo, California on 23 July 1960 and her keel was laid down on 26 April 1961. She was launched on 15 September 1962 sponsored by Nancy Patterson Pigott,{{cite web |title=Andrew Jackson (SSBN-619) |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/andrew-jackson-ii.html |website=Naval History and Heritage Command |publisher=U.S. Navy |access-date=8 November 2022 |quote="Mrs. Estes Kefauver, the wife of Senator Kefauver of Tennessee"}} wife of Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver, and commissioned on 3 July 1963, with Commander Alfred J. Whittle, Jr. in command of the Blue Crew and Commander James B. Wilson in command of the Gold Crew.{{cite web|title=USS ANDREW JACKSON (SSBN-619) Deployments & History|url=http://www.hullnumber.com/SSBN-619|website=hullnumber.com|access-date=9 March 2017}}

She was {{convert|425|ft}} long, {{convert|33|ft}} wide, and had a draft of {{convert|32|ft}}. She displaced {{convert|7250|t}} when surfaced, and {{convert|8250|t}} when submerged. Her top speed was above {{convert|20|kn|lk=in}}, and she had a maximum depth of {{convert|1300|ft}}. She had a complement of around 120 men, and was armed with 16 Polaris missiles and four {{convert|21|in|adj=on|0}} torpedo tubes. She was propelled by a S5W Pressurized Water Nuclear Reactor powering two turbines which generated {{convert|15000|shp|lk=in}}, driving one propeller.{{cite web|title=Submarine Photo Index|url=http://www.navsource.net/archives/08/08619.htm|website=NavSource|access-date=9 March 2017}}

Operational history

File:Firing of Polaris missile by the USS Andrew Jackson (SSBN-619).jpg

Following commissioning, Andrew Jackson sailed via the Panama Canal to the United States East Coast. On 1 October and 11 October 1963, during shakedown training out of Cape Canaveral, Florida, she successfully launched Polaris A-2 ballistic missiles. On 26 October 1963, she sent Polaris A-3X missiles into space in the first submerged launching of its type; she repeated the feat on 11 November 1963. On 16 November 1963, six days before his assassination, President John F. Kennedy—embarked in the missile range instrumentation ship {{USS|Observation Island|EAG-154|6}}—observed Andrew Jackson launch another Polaris A-2 ballistic missile from a point off Cape Canaveral and congratulated Commander Wilson and his crew for "impressive teamwork."

=USS ''Liberty'' incident=

There is speculation amongst survivors of the 1967 Israeli attack on USS Liberty and their supporters that a U.S. Navy submarine observed and filmed the attack through their periscope.{{cite web |url=https://www.wrmea.org/1997-june-july/anniversary-of-a-30-year-investigation-uss-liberty-periscope-photography-may-finally-reveal-truth.html |title=USS Liberty: Periscope Photography May Finally Reveal Truth |work=Washington Report on Middle Eastern Affairs |last=Ennes |first=James M. Jr. |date=26 June 1997 |pp=19–20 |access-date=27 August 2024}} The working theory is that the submarine was either the Andrew Jackson or {{USS|Amberjack|SS-522|6}}. The Andrew Jackson was assigned to Submarine Squadron 16, Submarine Force, Atlantic Fleet from 1964 to 1973, where she conducted patrols out of the American naval base at Rota, Spain.{{Cite web |title=Andrew Jackson II (SSBN-619) |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/andrew-jackson-ii.html |access-date=2023-09-07 |website=NHHC |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=USS Andrew Jackson (SSBN-619) Deployments & History |url=https://www.hullnumber.com/SSBN-619 |access-date=2023-09-07 |website=hullnumber.com}} This would mean she could, in theory, have been in the vicinity of the attack when it occurred. There is no confirmation of this theory and it remains speculative.

In 1988, the LBJ Presidential Library declassified and released a document from the Liberty archive with the “Top Secret—Eyes Only” security caveat (Document #12C sanitized and released 21DEC88 under review case 86–199). This "Memorandum for the Record" dated 10 April 1967 reported a briefing of the "303 Committee" by General Ralph D. Steakley. According to the memo, General Steakley "briefed the committee on a sensitive DOD project known as FRONTLET 615," which is identified in a handwritten note on the original memorandum as "submarine within U.A.R. waters." Further Freedom of Information Act requests returned no information on any project called “FRONTLET 615.” This has lent credence to the theory that a U.S. Navy submarine was present during the attack.

The 1981 book Weapons by Russell Warren Howe says that Liberty was accompanied by the Andrew Jackson, which filmed the entire episode through its periscope but was unable to provide assistance.{{Cite book |last=Howe |first=Russell Warren |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Yi2AAAAIAAJ |title=Weapons, the International Game of Arms, Money, and Diplomacy |date=1980 |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=978-0-385-12809-4}}

Decommissioning and disposal

Andrew Jackson was decommissioned on 31 August 1989 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on the same day. Ex-Andrew Jackson entered the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program in Bremerton, Washington. Recycling of Ex-Andrew Jackson was completed 30 August 1999.{{cite web|title=Andrew Jackson II (SSBN-619)|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/andrew-jackson-ii.html|website=history.navy.mil|access-date=9 March 2017}}

Notes

References

{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/andrew-jackson-ii.html}}
{{Naval Vessel Register|{{Naval Vessel Register URL|id=SSBN619}}}}
{{Citation

|url=http://www.navsource.net/archives/08/08619a.htm

|title=NavSource Online Submarine Photo Archive: Andrew Jackson (SSBN-619) Keel Laying – Launching

|access-date=24 September 2011

}}