USS Growler (SSG-577)

Regulus I missile aboard USS Growler at Pier 86 in New York, its museum ship home.
History
United States
Name	Growler
Namesake	Growler
Ordered	31 July 1954
Builder	Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
Laid down	15 February 1955
Launched	5 April 1958
Sponsored by	Mrs. Robert K. Byerts, widow of Commander Thomas B. Oakley, Jr.
Commissioned	30 August 1958
Decommissioned	25 May 1964
Stricken	1 August 1980
Homeport	Pearl Harbor, HI
Status	Museum ship at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
Badge
General characteristics USS Growler SSG-577
Class and type	Grayback class submarine
Displacement	2,110 tons light, 3,550 tons full, 1,440 tons dead
Length	96.69 m (317' 3" ft) overall, 96.3 m (316 ft) waterline
Beam	8.2 m (27 ft) extreme, 7.9 m (26 ft) waterline
Draught	5.7 m (19 ft)
Propulsion	3 Fairbanks-Morse Diesel engines, 2 Elliott electric motors
Speed	17 kn (20 mph; 31 km/h) surfaced, 12 kn (14 mph; 22 km/h) submerged
Test depth	712
Complement	9 officers, 11 chief petty officers, 68 enlisted men
Armament	2 × Regulus missile hangars (4 x Regulus I or 2 x Regulus II missiles) 6 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (4 bow, 2 stern) 16 x torpedoes (12 bow, 4 stern) Stern torpedoes anti-submarine only

USS Growler (SSG-577) was an early attempt by the U.S. Navy to field a cruise missile submarine that would provide a nuclear deterrent using its second series of cruise missiles. Built to deliver the Regulus I cruise missile, Growler was the second and final submarine of the Grayback class, fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named after the growler. Since Regulus I and Regulus II programs had problems, Growler and Grayback were the only two submarines built in this class as instead, the U.S. Navy veered its nuclear deterrence efforts into submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs)—the Polaris missile program.

What makes Growler and her sister unusual was her nuclear armament, deployed on a conventional diesel-electric submarine. Her mission was to provide nuclear deterrent capability off the Pacific coast of the Soviet Union during peak years of the Cold War, from 1958 to 1964. Additionally, special forces missions were deployed from its torpedo tubes and nuclear hangar.