USS Theodore Roosevelt

USS Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600), a , was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for President Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919). Initially unnamed and assigned hull classification symbol SSGN-600 as a guided missile submarine, her keel was laid down on 20 May 1958 by the Mare Island Naval Shipyard using components initially assembled for the nuclear attack submarine . She was named Theodore Roosevelt and redesignated fleet ballistic missile submarine SSBN-600 on 6 November 1958, launched on 3 October 1959, sponsored by Alice Roosevelt Longworth, daughter of Theodore Roosevelt and widow of Nicholas Longworth III, and commissioned on 13 February 1961 with Commander William E. Sims commanding the Blue Crew and Commander Oliver H. Perry, Jr. commanding the Gold Crew. 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.