USS Richard B. Russell (SSN-687)

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Career
Awarded:	25 July 1969
Laid down:	19 October 1971
Launched:	12 January 1974
Commissioned:	16 August 1975
Fate:	recycled
Stricken:	24 June 1994
General Characteristics
Displacement:	4364 tons
Length:	90.8 meters (298 feet)
Beam:	31 feet 8 inches
Draft:	26 feet
Speed:	20+ knots
Complement:	14 officers, 112 men
Armament:	four 21-inch torpedo tubes, SUBROC

USS Richard B. Russell (SSN-687), a Sturgeon-class submarine, was the only submarine of the United States Navy to be named for Senator Richard B. Russell. Her keel was laid down 19 October 1971 by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company at Newport News, Virginia authenticated by Mrs. Ina Russell Stacey, sister and official hostess for Senator Russell. She was launched at Newport News 12 January 1974 sponsored by Mrs. Herman E. Talmadge, wife of Senator Herman E. Talmadge, and commissioned on 16 August 1975.

In August 1977, Russell was fitted with a large housing attached to the hull just aft of the sail, containing a tethered antenna buoy that was under development. (Later submarine classes would have such housing built into the hull fairing.) The housing gave the boat a unique profile and became known as the "Russell Bustle."

19 years of operational history go here.

Richard B. Russell was placed in reserve, while still in commission, on 1 July 1993. She was both decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 24 June 1994, and stored in Bremerton, Washington, until 1 October 2001, when she entered the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program. On 19 September 2002, she ceased to exist.

References

This article includes information collected from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.