Talk:USS George Washington (SSBN-598)

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Plastic Model[edit]

After the GW was launched a plastic model came out (and I got dad to buy me one). The model had a removable side hull so you could see the compartments including the missile launch tubes. This caused outcry in congress. Saltysailor (talk) 06:03, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I was just thinking about this...

As I recall the story, some high ranking naval officer, probably a captain or admiral, when to a store to buy such a model for his grandson. When he looked at the picture on the box, he was shocked at what he saw, so he bought it, openned the box, and looked at the assembly drawings. And sure enough, it showed, and labeled, some areas of the ship that was supposed to be classified.

He had this investigated, and it turned out that the Navy gave the modeling company the wrong set of plans, that is, a farily detailed layout of the sub which did not have the sensitive areas purged out. Supposedly the company was required to have the model removed from toy shelves and destroyed, while a "revised" model was created and introduced...

Or at least that is the way I remember it...Normfromga (talk) 20:47, 1 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I heard that there were statements made in Congress about it Saltysailor (talk) 00:16, 2 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I received orders to the Georgefish in 1981. Before joining the boat in Pearl Harbor, I toured the Smithsonian's American History and Industry Museum. There I saw a model of the 598, made entirely of Lucite. I've never seen it again. I don't know how accurate its depiction of ship's spaces were, but since it represented my next destination it formed a stronger memory than other exhibits I visited that day. 1st cheezewiz (talk) 04:17, 26 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Espionage[edit]

I understand there are rumors that the Soviets acquired secret details of the design of the "George Washington" and used them as the basis for some of their own submarine designs. Was this ever substantiated? Drutt (talk) 10:41, 17 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

All you need to do is to look at the photos of the Soviet "Yankee"-class submarines of a very similar design, including the 16 missile tubes.47.215.180.7 (talk) 04:20, 1 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The Royal Navy's five Polaris submarines were allowed to have a very similar design, but they were made in the U.K., and they had British nuclear reactors. Furthermore, they had Polaris missiles made by Lockheed, but hydrogen warheads made in the U.K.47.215.180.7 (talk) 04:20, 1 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The French Navy has used an independent design with 15 missiles, with seven on one side, and eight on the other, and staggered, to make the beam of the ship narrower.04:20, 1 March 2018 (UTC)

The Royal Navy's four Trident submarines have 16 missiles apiece, instead of the 24 missiles of the American ones.47.215.180.7 (talk) 04:20, 1 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Test launch of Polaris missile with a live nuclear warhead.[edit]

Test launch of Polaris missile with a live nuclear warhead.
Someone really needs to include information about this test firing. Back in 1961 or '62, the "George Washington" test fired an armed Polaris missile in the South Pacific. Its target was the British-owned Christmas Atoll on which both the British and the Americans carried out nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere (just like at Bikini Atoll). The Polaris missile carried a nuclear warhead that was detonated in an airburst, but that warhead was less powerful that the usual H-bomb on a Polaris A-1 missile. The test explosion had a yield of less than 10 kilotons, and it might not have been thermonuclear.47.215.180.7 (talk) 04:26, 1 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Piping Tabs[edit]

There were two publications specific to the Georgefish (and probably for every boat). They had a unique format. As I recall, the size may have been 3" x 9" x 2"? One provided a graphic and functional description of the submarine's electrical system. Its short name was the "Electrical Tab". The other pub, called "The Piping Tab", illustrated the boat's hydraulic systems. I think that included potable, sanitary, and ballast water; breathable, pressurized and ballast air and oil hydraulics.

These were the "Bibles" that informed and guided ship's crew for system and ship qualification, and system troubleshooting.

Just month's before decommissioning, fifty or more newly printed Piping Tabs appeared dumped on an officer's stateroom bunk. I'm sure most sailors passed that open door, as I did, knowing the boat's future, and shrugging at the waste.

But I sorely wish I had snagged one of those now. 1st cheezewiz (talk) 04:04, 26 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]