USS Sand Lance (SSN-660)
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Sand Lance (SSN-660) |
| Ordered: | 24 October 1963 |
| Builder: | Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company |
| Laid down: | 15 January 1965 |
| Launched: | 11 November 1969 |
| Commissioned: | 25 September 1971 |
| Decommissioned: | 7 August 1998 |
| Struck: | 7 August 1998 |
| Fate: | Submarine recycling program |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Sturgeon-class submarine |
| Displacement: | 4,031 long tons (4,096 t) light 4,323 long tons (4,392 t) full 292 long tons (297 t) dead |
| Length: | 292 ft (89 m) |
| Beam: | 31 ft (9.4 m) |
| Draft: | 29 ft 10 in (9.09 m) |
| Propulsion: | 1 × S5W nuclear reactor |
| Complement: | 12 officers, 95 men |
| Armament: | 4 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes |
USS Sand Lance (SSN-660), a Sturgeon-class submarine, was the second ship and the second submarine of the United States Navy to be named for the sand lance, a member of the ammodytidae family.
The contract to build her was awarded to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine on 24 October 1963 and her keel was laid down on 15 January 1965. She was launched on 11 November 1969 sponsored by Mrs. Thomas J. McIntyre, and commissioned on 25 September 1971, with Commander William A. Kennington in command.
[edit] Service history
On the day of her commissioning, Sand Lance’s home port was changed from Portsmouth to Charleston, South Carolina; she spent the remainder of the year on shakedown. Sand Lance operated in the Charleston area for the whole of 1972, and, in February 1973, stood out of that port for special operations. She returned to Charleston on 21 April, remained in port until 11 June and departed again on special operations. She completed these operations in August and put in at Faslane Naval Base, Scotland, on 13 August. Sand Lance left Faslane on 20 August and arrived in Charleston on 5 September.
In 1994 Sand Lance, moored ahead of the Grayling in Charleston, almost sank next to the pier due to flooding in the engine room lower level (ERLL) when a main seawater hull valve was being removed for maintenance. The plates, called blanks, which are placed over the hull penetrations by divers, were placed over the wrong main seawater openings. The flooding was stopped, but not before most of the ERLL was flooded.
Sand Lance was decommissioned on 7 August 1998 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 7 August 1998. Ex-Sand Lance entered the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program in Bremerton, Washington, on 1 April 1998 and on 30 August 1999 ceased to exist.
[edit] References
This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
