As a nuclear-powered vessel, George Washington was outfitted with a single Westinghouse S5W (Submarine, 5th Generation, Westinghouse) Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) and showcased 2 x geared turbines outputting at 15,000 horsepower while driving 1 x seven-bladed propeller unit aft. Maximum speed along the surface was 20 knots but it was in submerged travel where the vessel shined - able to made headway at over 25 knots. The nuclear nature of the power supply allowed for an essentially unlimited range for the boat - limited only by crew fatigue and available onboard food stores. She could also dive down to depths over 900 feet - a far cry from World War 2-era diesel-powered attack boats used by the U.S. Navy which dove several hundred feet.
During July of 1960, George Washington successfully test-launched a Polaris missile while submerged. In October she took on her full load of Polaris missiles and began her first patrol in November, this taking her into January of the following year. She completed 100,000 nautical miles of travel in 1964 and, from there, she shifted operations from Atlantic waters to the Pacific when joining the Pacific Fleet out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. She continued undertaking deterrence patrols from then on. In April of 1981, she collided with Nissho Maru, a merchant vessel from Japan, in East China Sea waters. The merchant took on water and was sunk with the loss of two crew while George Washington held only light damage along her sail. Thirteen Japanese crewmembers were rescued but criticism fell onto the U.S. Navy for their lack of response to a concerted rescue action and a lack of notification to Japanese authorities - the American boat was well within Japanese territorial waters where the collision occurred.
After some fifty-five patrols spanning a quarter of a century, USS George Washington completed her last sortie in 1982 and was stripped of her dangerous missile fit the year following. While devoid of her missiles, George Washington was retained for a brief period in U.S. Navy service as a basic attack submarine (SSN designation) before being sailed back to the American East Coast where she was formally decommissioned on January 24th, 1985. The boat's name was stricken from the Naval Register on April 30th, 1986 and her hulk was scrapped in September of 1998 (after having her dangerous reactor properly removed and disposed of). Her sail managed to be saved and is on permanent display at the Submarine Force Library and Museum of Groton, Connecticut.
For her time at sea, USS George Washington was a critical component of the U.S. Navy's nuclear deterrent force and headed a group of equally powerful vessels. At the same time, she proved a revolutionary attack submarine design capable of delivering lethal payloads anywhere in the world.
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