COLD WAR BOATS Fleet SITREP: 28 JUN 2024

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HIGHLIGHTS!!

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The USS GUITARRO (SSN 665) pierside at North Island, San Diego, CA, with the USS MISSOURI (BB 63).

The USS GUITARRO (SSN 665) website at coldwarboats.org has been launched, and already has a few photos, a Commissioning Booklet from 1972, and a couple of interesting postal covers in the Ship’s Post Office. 

The site is ready for fitting out - all it needs is your submissions of photos, stories, and artifacts. It can be found here: https://coldwarboats.org/the-boat-665/uss-guitarro-ssn-665/quarterdeck-665

Guitarro was a Sturgeon-class submarine, and boasted an impressive service career during the Cold War. She played a major role in developing tactics for prototype combat systems deployed to the Pacific submarine fleet, in particular the Submarine Towed Array Sensor System (STASS) along with its BQR-20 series digital sonar displays. In the mid-1970s, Guitarro also installed the first digital submarine combat system (BQQ-5 sonar and Mk-117 fire control system) and participated in the development of submarine-launched Harpoon and Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Despite her accolades, she is remembered for her pre-commissioning sinking at the pier during fitting out at Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 15 May 1969. Lack of oversight and communication between civilian construction testing groups resulted in a complete flooding of the boat, a rapid unrecoverable sinking, leaving her resting on the bottom showing nothing but sail.

The USS ARCHERFISH (SS/AGSS 311) idles on the surface.

The USS ARCHERFISH (SS/AGSS 311) website at coldwarboats.org has been launched, and is ready for fitting out with your submissions of photos, stories, and artifacts. It can be found here: https://coldwarboats.org/the-boat-311/uss-archerfish-ss-311/quarterdeck-311

Archerfish was a Balao-class submarine. She was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the archerfish. 

Completing seven war patrols between December 1943 and September 1945, Archerfish is best known for sinking the Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano in November 1944, the largest warship ever sunk by a submarine. She was decommissioned at the in JUN 1946 and placed in the Pacific Reserve Group at MINSY.

Her Cold War service began during the Korean War in 1952 and continued through OCT 1955 when she was again decommissioned and placed in reserve.

After a short respite, Archerfish was reactivated as an auxiliary submarine (AGSS) in JUL 1957 and performed oceanographic work, specifically Operation Sea Scan, gathering data on maritime weather, water composition, ocean depths and temperature ranges. She would pursue various other research in support of Cold War submarine operations until 1968. Declared unfit for further naval service, she was sunk off the coast of San Diego by the USS SNOOK (SSN 592) on 19 OCT 1968.