USS Lewis and Clark Submarine

U.S. Navy

The U.S. Navy commemorated the captains of the Corps of Discovery in 1965 with the Benjamin Franklin-class, nuclear-powered, ballistic missile submarine, the USS Lewis and Clark.

Constructed at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Virginia in 1962, the keel was laid on July 29, 1963, and she was launched on November 21, 1964. Commissioning took place on December 22, 1965.

She had a length of 425 feet, a beam of 33 feet and a draft of 31.5 feet. Powered by one S5W nuclear reactor, the submarine could travel at 22-25 knots when submerged. Her crew consisted of 13 officers and 130 enlisted personnel.

Creative Commons

The Lewis and Clark was decommissioned on June 27, 1992 and removed from the Naval Vessel Register on August 1, 1992. Her scrapping was completed on September 23, 1996. However, the USS Lewis and Clark’s sail, sail planes and rudder were saved and are now part of the Cold War Memorial at Patriots Point, Mount Pleasant, SC.