View source for USS Gurnard (SSN-662)

{{short description|Submarine of the United States}}
{{Other ships|USS Gurnard}}

{{Use American English|date=July 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image= [[File:USS Gurnard (SSN-662) underway off San Diego on 1 February 1991 (6467986).jpg|300px|USS ''Gurnard'' (SSN-662)]]
|Ship caption=USS ''Gurnard'' (SSN-662) departing [[San Diego, California|San Diego]], [[California]], on 1 February 1991.
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag= {{USN flag|1992}}
|Ship name= USS ''Gurnard'' (SSN-662)
|Ship namesake=The gurnard, a food fish of the [[genus]] ''[[Trigla]]'', a part of the [[sea robin]] [[Family (biology)|family]]
|Ship ordered= 24 October 1963
|Ship awarded=
|Ship builder= [[Mare Island Naval Shipyard]], [[Vallejo, California|Vallejo]], [[California]]
|Ship original cost=
|Ship yard number=
|Ship way number=
|Ship laid down= 22 December 1964
|Ship launched= 20 May 1967
|Ship sponsor= Mrs. George P. Miller
|Ship christened=
|Ship completed=
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned= 6 December 1968
|Ship decommissioned= 28 April 1995
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck= 28 April 1995
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship homeport=
|Ship motto=*''De Profundis''
*("From The Depths")
|Ship nickname=
|Ship honours=
|Ship fate= Scrapping via [[Ship and Submarine Recycling Program]] completed 15 October 1997
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class= [[Sturgeon class submarine|''Sturgeon''-class]] [[attack submarine]]
|Ship displacement=*{{convert|4010|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} light
*{{convert|4309|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} full
*{{convert|299|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} dead
|Ship length={{convert|292|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam= {{convert|32|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship height=
|Ship draft= {{convert|29|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship depth=
|Ship hold depth=
|Ship decks=
|Ship deck clearance=
|Ship power=15,000 [[shaft horsepower]] (11.2 [[megawatt]]s)
|Ship propulsion= One [[S5W reactor|S5W]] [[nuclear reactor]], two [[steam turbine]]s, one [[Propeller|screw]]
|Ship speed= Over {{convert|20|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range=
|Ship endurance=
|Ship test depth={{convert|1,300|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}}
|Ship complement=109 (14 [[Commissioned officer|officers]], 95 [[Enlisted man|enlisted men]])
|Ship time to activate=
|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=4 × {{convert|21|in|mm|0|adj=on}} [[torpedo tube]]s
|Ship armor=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
'''USS ''Gurnard'' (SSN-662)''', a {{sclass|Sturgeon|submarine}}, was the second ship of the [[United States Navy]] to be named for the gurnard, a food fish of the [[genus]] ''[[Trigla]]'' and part of the [[sea robin]] [[Family (biology)|family]].

==Construction and commissioning==
The contract to build ''Gurnard'' was awarded to [[Mare Island Naval Shipyard]] at [[Vallejo, California|Vallejo]], [[California]], on 24 October 1963, and her [[keel]] was laid down there on 22 December 1964. She was [[Ship naming and launching|launched]] on 20 May 1967, sponsored by Mrs. George P. Miller, and [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] on 6 December 1968.

==Service history==
On 8 July 1972, {{USS|Barb|SSN-596}} lay in [[Apra Harbor]] completing repairs prior to a patrol in the Mariana Islands. [[Typhoon Rita (1972)|Typhoon Rita]] was approaching [[Guam]], and ''Barb'' intended to be at sea and submerged before the storm arrived. Shortly after 04:00 hours, "Cobalt 2", a [[B-52 Stratofortress]] of the [[Strategic Air Command]] commanded by [[United States Air Force]] Captain Leroy Johnson, took off from [[Andersen Air Force Base]], intending to fly over the storm. Soon after takeoff, however, the aircraft became uncontrollable, and the crew bailed out. By 05:25, the six-man crew were in the ocean. A [[C-97 Stratofreighter]] spotted the survivors, and Barb was ordered to proceed at best speed and effect rescue. At about 23:00, ''Barb'' surfaced about {{convert|12|mi|km}} from the reported location. The heavy weather had already forced surface ships to turn back, and caused the round-hulled submarine to roll and corkscrew violently. It was 01:15 hours the next morning before the boat's crew spotted the survivors' lights. They made numerous attempts to rescue the airmen through the night, but did not succeed.

By 07:40 hours, visibility had improved and the typhoon had moved from the immediate area, and the boat approached a group of three rafts. Several attempts to shoot a line to the survivors failed, so Chief Torpedoman Jon Hentz volunteered to swim to them, towing a line. At about 08:15, the rafts holding Major Ronald Dvorak, the [[Electronic Warfare Officer]], Lieutenant William Neely III, the copilot, and Lieutenant Kent Dodson, the navigator, were secured to the submarine. Over the next hour, they were brought aboard, a task made more challenging by the {{convert|40|ft|m|adj=on}} waves that often exposed the submarine's screw and the ballast tank flood grates at the bottom of the boat. At about 10:00 hours, orbiting aircraft vectored ''Barb'' to the next survivor, Airman Daniel Johansen, the aircraft's gunner, who caught a line shot to him and was pulled aboard in less than a quarter-hour.

Meanwhile, ''Gurnard'' arrived on the scene, found Captain Leroy Johnson, the aircraft commander, and brought him aboard. Lieutenant Colonel J.L. Vaughn, the radar navigator, had not survived the night. Aircraft sighted his body floating face down, still tied to his raft.

The survivors were carried back to Guam, where each boat was presented the [[Meritorious Unit Commendation]], and ten submariners who played perilous topside roles received individual commendations. Torpedoman Hentz received the [[Navy and Marine Corps Medal]].

''Gurnard'' operated in the [[Arctic Ocean]] under the [[polar ice cap]] from September to November 1984 in company with one of her [[sister ship]]s, the attack submarine {{USS|Pintado|SSN-672}}. On 12 November 1984 ''Gurnard'' and ''Pintado'' became the third pair of submarines to surface together at the [[North Pole]]. In March 1990, ''Gurnard'' deployed to the Arctic region during exercise Ice Ex '90 and completed only the fourth winter submerged transit of the Bering Sea. ''Gurnard'' surfaced at the [[North Pole]] on 18 April, in the company of the {{USS|Seahorse|SSN-669}}.

==Decommissioning and disposal==
''Gurnard'' was [[Ship decommissioning|decommissioned]] on 28 April 1995 and stricken from the [[Naval Vessel Register]] the same day. Her scrapping via the Nuclear-Powered [[Ship and Submarine Recycling Program]] at [[Puget Sound Naval Shipyard]] in [[Bremerton, Washington|Bremerton]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]], was completed on 15 October 1997. One diving plane from the Gurnard was saved and used in a sculpture in Magnuson Park in Seattle, WA in 1998. It is entitled "The Fin Project: From Swords into Plowshares"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://ssl.c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I00007gVKKRPA.tI/s/750/750/Seattle-Magnuson-Park-The-Fin-Project-sculpture-2715.jpg&imgrefurl=https://joelrogers.photoshelter.com/image/I00007gVKKRPA.tI&docid=wxXM9T4AWKpoSM&tbnid=OOU-JZZV8C9huM:&vet=1&w=750&h=500&source=sh/x/im|title=Google Image Result|website=google.com|access-date=2019-12-27}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
*{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/g/gurnard-ii.html}}
*{{Naval Vessel Register|{{Naval Vessel Register URL|id=SSN662}}}}
*[http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08662a.htm NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive Gurnard (SSN-662) Keel Laying - Launching]
*[http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08662b.htm NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive Gurnard (SSN-662) Sea Trials & Commissioning]
*[http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08662c.htm NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive Gurnard (SSN-662) Active Service]

{{Sturgeon class submarine}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gurnard (Ssn-662)}}
[[Category:Sturgeon-class submarines]]
[[Category:Cold War submarines of the United States]]
[[Category:Nuclear submarines of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:Ships built in Vallejo, California]]
[[Category:1967 ships]]