USS Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600) - 1960s

1960s

On 18 February 1961, Theodore Roosevelt departed Mare Island, California, bound for the United States East Coast. On 7 March, she became the first FBM submarine to transit the Panama Canal. On 11 March 1961, she arrived at Cape Canaveral, Florida. After successfully firing her first Polaris A1 missile on 20 March 1961 and completing her shakedown training, she arrived in Groton, Connecticut, on 1 May for post-shakedown repairs at the Electric Boat Company shipyard. She completed those repairs on 24 June 1961 and departed Groton, bound for Charleston, South Carolina. Theodore Roosevelt stopped at Norfolk, Virginia, along the way and arrived at Charleston on 7 July 1961. Between 7 July and 19 July 1961, she loaded Polaris missiles at the Naval Ammunition Depot, Charleston, and made all other preparations for her first deployment. On 19 July 1961, she stood out of Charleston on her first deterrent patrol. She concluded that patrol on 23 September 1961 at the FBM submarine base at Holy Loch, Scotland.

Over the next three and one-half years, Theodore Roosevelt made 15 more deterrent patrols from the Holy Loch. Late in the spring of 1965, she departed Holy Loch on her 17th and final patrol of the deployment to Holy Loch. She concluded that patrol and the deployment when she arrived in Charleston on 15 June 1965. She unloaded her 16 Polaris missiles and then departed Charleston for New London, Connecticut, where she arrived on 26 June 1965.

At New London, Theodore Roosevelt entered the shipyard of the Electric Boat Division for an extensive overhaul. Between July 1965 and January 1967, her nuclear reactor was refueled and her Polaris weapon system was modified to accept the more advanced Polaris A3 missile. She completed overhaul on 14 January 1967 and began sea trials and refresher training, all of which culminated in the successful firing of a Polaris A3 missile at the Cape Canaveral missile range late in April 1967. At the end of the training period, she returned to Charleston to load missiles and to prepare for another series of deterrent patrols out of Holy Loch. She embarked upon her 18th patrol on 1 June 1967 and completed that cruise at the Holy Loch base.

Theodore Roosevelt's second tour of duty operating from the Scotland base proved to be very brief in comparison to her first. Between mid-June 1967 and February 1968, she completed her 18th through 21st patrols. On 20 March 1968 while returning to Holy Loch from her 21st patrol, she ran aground off the western coast of Scotland. After drydocking for temporary correction of the damage, she departed Holy Loch on 5 April 1968 to return to the United States for permanent repairs. Between 18 April and 20 April 1968 she unloaded her missiles at Charleston and headed north to New London. On 23 April 1968, she arrived in the shipyard of the Electric Boat Division and commenced an extended repair period. Labor disputes caused delays, and Theodore Roosevelt did not complete her repairs until mid-October 1968. She spent the latter part of that month in sea trials and then departed New London on 2 November 1968 on her post-repair shakedown cruise. She visited Norfolk, Virginia, Puerto Rico, and St. Croix in the United States Virgin Islands before concluding the cruise at Charleston on 27 November 1968. She conducted training operations out of Charleston before deploying to Holy Loch again early in 1969.