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The following information has been gathered from former crew members and the “information dirt road”. Some of it may be pure speculation, also known as “Sea Stories”.

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1963

  • The construction of the USS James K. Polk SSBN 645 is authorized

  • Keel laid on November 23, 1963 at General Dynamics Electric Boat Division Groton, CT

  • Third ship of the United States fleet to be named in Honor of James K. Polk, and the 35th Polaris Submarine

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1965

May 22 : The USS James K. Polk is launched and is christened by Mrs. Horacio Rivera, Jr.

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1966

  • March 13: First Sea Trials begin

  • April 16: The Polk is commissioned

  • First Commanding Officer (Blue Crew) Commander Frank D. Mullen, Jr.

  • First Executive Officer (Blue Crew) Lieutenant Commander R.L. Thompson

  • First Engineer (Blue Crew) Lieutenant Keith P. Garland

  • First Commanding Officer (Gold Crew) Commander Robert M. Douglass

  • First Executive Officer (Gold Crew) Lieutenant Commander George Henson

  • September 1966: The Polk begins load-out of tactical missile (Polaris) at Charleston, S.C.

  • The Polk completes 19 patrols from September 1966 to May 1971

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1970

Around Thanksgiving, 1970: Fire breaks out in a baggage storeroom in the stern of the submarine tender USS Canopus (AS-34) while it is in the Holy Loch, Scotland. The Daily Telegraph reports that it was carrying nuclear-armed missiles and that two U.S.nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, the Francis Scott Key (SSBN-657) and James K. Polk (SSBN-645), were moored alongside. The Francis Scott Key cast off, but the Polk remained alongside. U.S. naval authorities in Holy Loch and London dismiss any suggestion that a nuclear explosion aboard the Canopus could have occurred or that “even a remote danger” from missiles or other materials existed.

“We have drills and precautions which rule out any danger whatsoever,” the London spokesman says. There are precautions against every eventuality in Holy Loch.” The fire was brought under control after four hours. Three men were killed and the cause of the fire was unknown.U.S. Navy documents record that “damage was extensive in the small area in which the fire was contained,” but “repairs were effected on site and Canopus was never ‘off the line'”.

Remarks from Ron Anstey about this fire: Ron states that the fire was either the night before Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving night 1970….he was called to the CO’s stateroom to be informed about his son’s birth on December 3…..and that was the Polk’s first night at sea on way to patrol station….so the Polk was not alongside the tender, therefore the fire must have been earlier….

Ron remembers: JKP topside watch called below decks on the 1MC to call Canopus Quarterdeck and report of smoke pouring off the main deck amidships. The fire was fought and suppressed by the Lewis & Clark on-coming crew. Canopus had a skeleton crew because of the Thanksgiving Holiday, none were apparently qualified for DC work. The CO of the Polk refused to allow tugs tie to her….

Ron was in Liberty section, but stayed aboard and took the midwatch to help. Ron was the JA in Maneuvering and heard the CO yelling obscenities in the background for the phonetalker to pass on through the Conn to the tug skipper…something about ‘get that “&#%*@!%” thing away from my boat !!’.

The fire burned up several decks and burned through the main power cable…..the Polk lost shore power just as Ron paralleled the diesel to the bus. JKP pumped seawater against the hotspot on the Canopus using the submersible pump from AMR2 to keep the fire from burning through.

The Engineer, on his way back from liberty, said he heard explosions and saw fires popping up in corridors on Canopus as he worked his way to the brow. A Canopus crewman fell down the brow to the JKP missile deck with OBA on but had no air (he had the canister in UPSIDEDOWN and TIGHTENED !).

JKP supplied power to a red devil blower on Canopus for a few days to remove smoke from below decks. The three deaths, he believes, were 2 Brig prisoners and the Marine guard. The JKP corpsman reported to Canopus Sick Bay to support the medical staff during the fire and recovery.

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1971

July: Under the command of Commander J.E. Jones, the Polk sails to Newport News shipyards for conversion from Polaris to Poseidon Weapons system and undergoes a refueling of the reactor plant

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1972

The Polk performs a flawless DASO after leaving the shipyards

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1973

May: The Polk resumes patrol operations in the Atlantic

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1979

On Patrol 38 or 40 (most likely 40) the Blue Crew under the command of Commander Frank M. Conway performed a 4 shot OT. One of the birds never lit off. It fell back into the water and broke up; however, the other three birds were on target. The launch was from somewhere off the west coast of Africa with the target being the Eastern Test Range in the Bahamas.

The purpose of that OT was to test the reliability of the Poseidon Missile after a flaw was discovered and a SPALT was performed to correct it. The SPALT performed was installation of the Digital Alarm Monitoring Panel (DAMP) and installation of second stage motor dome heaters on the missiles with second stage motor seals manufactured by a certain company. The results of the SPALT kept the rubber seals at a constant higher temperature (more flexible), so when the second stage lit off the seals would not break and the second stage motor would not burn through the motor dome with a resulting explosion (tragically similar to the cause of the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster) of the second stage motor and subsequent destruction of the equipment section and its payload of W68 warheads.

From the recollections of MT2(SS) Ricky Copeland: “I personally installed the heaters on six(?) missiles on the starboard side. We started all of this as soon as the Gold crew tied up alongside the Tender and the entire SPALT was completed during turnover. After upkeep we departed on patrol and after about two days received notification to return to the tender for prep for OT. This took about four days. We again departed on patrol and after about a month or so underway we received the command “Man Battle Stations Missile For Operational Test. Spin up Missiles 2?, 5?, 7?, and 10?” (I’m not sure exactly which four they were). The SPALT was a success. The Jimmy K was the second boat to undergo this SPALT. The first was a boat out of Holy Loch.”

February 19: Under the command of Commander Richard N. Johannes, on Patrol 41, the Polk performs the 36th successful OT (Operational Test) with a launch of 4 Poseidon Missiles. From shipmate Ken Thomas: “One of the birds initially never lit off. Repairs were made and it was launched 13 minutes later. All re-entry vehicles were later reported to have hit their targets.”

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1980

Awarded the Battle ‘E’ from Submarine Squadron 16

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1981

  • June 27: The USS James K. Polk completes the US Navy’s 2000th FBM patrol and the Polk’s 49th patrol

  • September 1981 – April 1983: The Polk undergoes an extensive overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, ME.

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1992

March 1992: The Polk is reclassified as an SSN, assigned to Submarine Squadron Six homeported in Norfolk, VA.

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1999

  • January 9, 1999: USS James K. Polk SSN 645 is deactivated at Norfolk, VA

  • July 8, 1999: USS James K. Polk SSN 645 (formerly SSBN 645) is decommissioned at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard

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