Welcome Aboard Your Ship

The Honorable Henry M. Jackson

(1912-1983)

The officers and crew of USS HENRY M. JACKSON (SSBN 730), take great pride in extending to you the hospitality of the United States Submarine Force.  It is indeed a pleasure to have you on board as our guest.  USS HENRY M. JACKSON  is--your ship--and we are simply the caretakers.

We have compiled some general information on this website which we hope will be of interest to you.  You will find that our crew members are proud of their ship and are eager to show it off.  Any suggestions or recommendations you may have as to how we can better serve you are welcome. 

As your hosts, we want your visit on board to be informative, interesting, and enjoyable!  Have fun browsing. . .

Henry M. Jackson served on Capitol Hill for 42 years, the last 31 of which he spent in the Senate. As a dominant member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, he led an important faction within the Democratic party in his support of a more aggressive role in world affairs. Senator Jackson was a strong proponent of the TRIDENT submarine program, a watchdog over U.S.-U.S.S.R. relations, and a critic of SALT. Held in the ship's library and dating back to 1955 is a set of point papers, newspaper articles, and speeches which give clear testimony to his firm commitment to rapid development of nuclear submarines and the POLARIS program (vessels which he often called "underwater satellites"); a greatly expanded attack submarine program to counter a rapidly growing Soviet fleet; emphasis upon arctic operations; and most recently, the TRIDENT program. In 1959, after riding the USS SKIPJACK (SSN 585) at sea with (then) VADM Rickover, Senator Jackson called for the establishment of a Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Undersea Warfare because he believed submarines were "lost in a welter of naval bureaucracy."

  

   Senator Jackson was lauded as a true "Defender of Freedom" in a speech given on the Senate floor shortly after his death. These words are now, appropriately, found in the ship's insignia

     In a September 1973 Senate speech, Senator Jackson stated  the following:

     "If we choose the prudent course - to proceed without delay with the TRIDENT program - we can at least be certain that we will have done what we can do to support the effort of our negotiators to obtain an equitable SALT agreement if we can - and to protect our national security if we cannot. "

     This submarine bearing his name is a fitting tribute to the man who so labored to keep America strong and free.

Statistics

Commanding Officers

Keel Laid

19 January 1981

Launched

15 October 1983

Commissioned

6 October 1984

Sponsored by

Ms. Anna Marie Jackson Laurence

Length

560 Feet

Displacement

Surfaced:

16,764 Tons

Submerged:

18,750 Tons

Hull Diameter

42 Feet

Draft

36 Feet

Missile Tubes

24

Complement

Officers

17

Chief Petty Officers

15

E-6 and Below

122

Total

154

The information contained here is a from the official Navy site at www.henry-jackson.navy.mil/ I have attepted to make it easier to view, and retrieve. Coments and questions concerning this information should be directed to there.