Once again, her port was New London where she continued her mission to train on and test her prototype systems. She continued system analysis testing in the Caribbean waters up until mid-1970. USS Tullibee then departed New London and sailed for the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean - her first fleet assignment - and during this time, she was no longer a test platform but a full-fledged attack submarine.
SSN-597 took part in Sixth Fleet exercises that included NATO forces and made port visits with the fleet to Spain, Italy, and Greece. In early December she was reassigned to New London. Before her return, she had covered some 20,000 nautical miles (30,000 kilometers) in 135 days while averaging a speed of 6 nautical miles per hour. For fulfilling her mission requirements covering September 9th, to October 31st,1970 in the Mediterranean Sea, Tullibee received the Meritorious Unit Commendation.
In early 1971, Tulliee returned to training exercises once more and worked on furthering hunter-killer tactics. She participated in another NATO exercise that year until December and was awarded the Arleigh Burke Fleet Trophy for high improvement in the ship's battle efficiency readiness status. This efficiency trophy required the crew to dive and go to full-ready battle stations within a specified period of time. Additionally, reports on sonar readiness played an important role in achieving the award.
She continued to patrol in the Caribbean Sea until the Spring of 1975 to which she then departed New London for her second deployment with the Sixth Fleet. Tulliee continued to conduct ASW operations until the fall of 1976. The mission was interrupted when a propulsion problem required a two-month dock repair at Rota, Spain. When the reactor issue had been resolved, Tullibee returned to New London and operated out of her home port into 1979. In July of 1979, she once again needed an overhaul that turned out to be of longer duration than initially anticipated, totaling some 39 months. Her crew was reassigned while their boat was in the yard.
Upon completion of the refit she was re-crewed and training for the new personnel ensued for the remainder of 1982. Another setback occurred with the propulsion system in 1983 and forced the boat to return once more to the New London yard. In 1985, she was deployed for the last time and joined the Sixth Fleet to take part in additional ASW exercises. This was her new crews first deployment and the mission assigned to the Tullibee was completed with no issue. For outstanding mission compliance, the Tullibee was awarded the Navy Expeditionary Medal along with her first Navy Unit Commendation.
Essentially, the SSN-597 was designed as a test ship and helped to further USN development of ultra-quite reactor systems while helping to develop the all-important long-reaching sonar for today's ASW boats. She was a credit to the United States Navy as were her crews.
The ship was assigned to pier side in New London in September of 1987. USS Tullibee (SSN-597) was then towed to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to begin a ten month inactivation and decommissioning period. The Tullibee was officially stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on June 25th, 1988, and entered the Navy's Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program in January 1995. The submarine's reactor was removed and recycled along with as many useful parts as possible.
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