THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 28, 1996 TAG: 9608280419
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 84 lines
The Navy today and Thursday retires two of its Sturgeon-class submarines, which together steamed more than a million miles through Cold War threats, beneath carrier battle groups and into hostile waters.
The Sunfish will be deactivated in a 10 a.m. ceremony today at Pier 23 of Norfolk Naval Station. Its sister ship, the Finback, will hold a similar ceremony at 10 a.m. Thursday at Pier 21.
Following the speeches and flag-strikings, only one of their class of submarines will be left in Norfolk - the L. Mendel Rivers.
Navy-wide, only a dozen remain of a class of 37 boats that entered service between 1967 and 1975 - the second-largest series of American nuclear-powered submarines ever built, behind the current Los Angeles class.
``Within the next couple of years they will all be gone,'' said Lt. Cmdr. Mark McCaffrey, a spokesman for the Atlantic Fleet Submarine Force.
Once the backbone of the Navy's attack sub force, the class's boats were speedy, could fire torpedoes and cruise missiles and carried a crew of about 107.
But the Sturgeon submarines have become a casualty of the nation's attempt to reduce military spending.
``It is a class that has been looked at in view of what resources we have to maintain in the submarine force,'' McCaffrey said. ``The Sturgeon class was basically given up to use the resources and assets we have for new construction.''
The Navy, which once hoped to have 100 fast-attack submarines in its arsenal, will instead operate with about 55, according to current budget-reduction plans. It also will operate about 15 strategic missiles submarines.
For the Sunfish, which was commissioned March 15, 1969, at the Quincy, Mass., yards of General Dynamics, its final resting place will be the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash., where the ship will be sent sometime next year.
Today's ceremony removes it from the Navy's active rolls so that it can be prepared for decommissioning. At that time, its nuclear reactor and other vital equipment will be removed.
Retired Rear Adm. Richard L. Thompson, the Sunfish's first commanding officer when it was based in Charleston, S.C., is scheduled to be the primary speaker at today's ceremony. Its current commanding officer is Cmdr. E. Jackson Roeske, a 1976 graduate of the Naval Academy.
The Finback, built at Newport News Shipbuilding and commissioned Feb. 4, 1970, was among the most active submarines in the Atlantic, completing seven Mediterranean Sea deployments and steaming more than 750,000 miles.
It was also a decorated vessel: For its 1995 work supporting Operation Sharp Guard in the Adriatic Sea, the Finback received the Navy Unit Commendation.
The ship may be best remembered, however, as the setting for a scandal that rocked the Navy 21 years ago: The Finback's captain drew national headlines when he allowed a go-go dancer nicknamed ``Cat Futch'' to dance bare-breasted on the submarine's deck as a crew morale-booster.
Word of the July 1975 performance, arranged by the crew but OK'd by the skipper, soon leaked from the ``silent service'' - stirring admirals from Norfolk to the Pentagon and costing the captain his job.
Today commanded by Cmdr. Vernon Hutton III, the Finback is the second submarine to bear the name. The first was a diesel-powered boat that conducted 12 Pacific patrols during World War II, including one during which it rescued future President George Bush after his Navy plane was shot down.
Finback is scheduled to leave Norfolk Sept. 5 for Puget Sound, where it will be decommissioned.
Its first commanding officer, retired Adm. Robert Austin, will be the principal speaker during Thursday's ceremony.
Asked if the commanding officer during the ``Cat Futch'' incident would be at the ceremony, too, McCaffrey said he ``wouldn't be too surprised.
``If he's still around, I bet he will be there.'' MEMO: THE CEREMONIES
The Sunfish will be deactivated in a 10 a.m. ceremony today at Pier 23
of Norfolk Naval Station.
The Finback will hold a similar ceremony at 10 a.m. Thursday at Pier 21. by CNB