USS Plunger SSN-595 Submarine Model Sail again with the crew of the USS Plunger SSN-595 in this handcrafted wooden Submarine Model. Each piece is carved from wood and handpainted to provide a piece youll love. The contract to build her as a guided-missile submarine (SSGN) was ...USS Plunger SSN-595 Submarine Model Sail again with the crew of the USS Plunger SSN-595 in this handcrafted wooden Submarine Model.
Each piece is carved from wood and handpainted to provide a piece youll love. The contract to build her as a guided-missile submarine (SSGN) was awarded to Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 23 March 1959, but by the time her keel was laid down on 2 March 1960 she had been redesigned as an attack submarine (SSN). She was launched on 9 December 1961 (sponsored by Mrs.
Clinton P. Anderson), and commissioned on 21 November 1962, with Commander William M. Adams, Jr., in command.
Service history Following a trip to Puget Sound on 27 November to test torpedo tubes and sound gear, Plunger departed Mare Island on 5 January 1963 for shakedown to Pearl Harbor. Plunger next was homeported at Mare Island and operated to test the performance of sonar and the fire control system. In April she changed homeport to Pearl Harbor, where she became flagship of ComSubDiv 71, on 1 April.
Continuing in a testing capacity, Plunger evaluated the most advanced class of nuclear attack submarines. Operating off the U.S. West Coast during the spring and summer, she proceeded to Wake Island on 15 September 1964 for SubRon Operational Evaluation missile firing.
At Pearl Harbor again in January 1965, Plunger was selected to demonstrate the capability of the Navys latest ASW weapon system to Dr. Donald Hornig, Special Assistant to the President for Science and Technology. At Wake Island in May, Plunger participated in C/S-17, the SubRon Operational Training Test.
In September, she prepared for WestPac deployment, which continued into mid 1966. During this deployment, Plunger conducted evaluation exercises of the AN/BQQ-1 sonar systems and traveled as far east as Okinawa and Subic Bay. She also conducted ASW exercises and executed oceanographic and port surveys.
At Pearl Harbor with SubRon 7 in 1967, Plunger operated to improve the ASW readiness of the Pacific fleet; from 6 March to 22 March, she participated in ASW exercises and later continued in advanced type-training work. During inport periods at Pearl Harbor, Plunger provided services to Fleet Training Program Pearl Harbor. Homeporting at Puget Sound the last six months of 1967, Plunger returned to Pearl Harbor on 1 February 1968.
Many Japanese protested the arrival of the submarine due to the power plant and fear of nuclear contamination of their waters. In January 1969, a two-month special operations patrol was conducted, and again in mid 1969 a Pearl to Pearl special operations patrol completed. Nils Thunman.
While on the 1968-1970 WestPac deployment ports of call were made at Yokosuka, Japan (twice); Guam, USA; Sasebo, Japan; Okinawa, Japan; Subic Bay, Philippines; Pusan, South Korea; and Hong Kong. Plunger was also the successful test bed for a new torpedo tube launched rocket called the SubRoc which was used in anti-submarine operations at a distance of up to twenty-five miles. Commander A.
L. Wilderman, commanding officer, was washed overboard from the bridge in a storm near San Francisco on 2 December 1973. The officer of the deck and lookout were not lost.[ 1] From 1970 to 1973 she was deployed to WestPac and Vietnam.
In the fall of 1973 she was conducting sea trials of the coast of California.[ 1] Subsequent to those trials