was a ''Thresher/Permit''-class

nuclear submarine A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor, but not necessarily nuclear-armed. Nuclear submarines have considerable performance advantages over "conventional" (typically diesel-electric) submarines. Nuclear propulsion ...

known as the "Goal Keeper" or the "Black Cat." She was the second

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

ship named after the gato, a species of small

catshark Catshark may refer to: * Scyliorhinidae, a family of ground sharks, many species of which are commonly referred to as "catshark". * Pentanchidae, a family of ground sharks with the overall name deepwater catsharks, but many species are referred ...

found in waters along the west coast of

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

The contract to build her was awarded to the

Electric Boat An electric boat is a powered watercraft driven by electric motors, which are powered by either on-board battery packs, solar panels or generators. While a significant majority of water vessels are powered by diesel engines, with sail power ...

Division of

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales and fifth largest in the Unit ...

Corporation on 9 July 1960 and her keel was laid down on 15 December 1961 at

Groton, Connecticut Groton ( ) is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States, located on the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River. It is the home of General Dynamics Electric Boat, which is the major contractor for submarine work for the United St ...

. She was launched 14 May 1964 sponsored by Mrs. Lawson P. Ramage, and was commissioned 25 January 1968 under the command of CDR

Albert Baciocco Albert Joseph Baciocco, Jr. (March 4, 1931 – May 22, 2015) was a vice admiral in the United States Navy. He was a 1953 graduate of the United States Naval Academy. He served as Chief of Naval Research from 1978 to 1981 and Director of Research, ...

. On 15 November 1969, ''Gato'' collided with the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

submarine ''K-19'' in the

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; , ; ) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territorial waters.World Wildlife Fund, 2008. It was known earlier among Russi ...

at a depth of some . The impact completely destroyed the ''K-19''s bow

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

systems and mangled the covers of its forward torpedo tubes. ''K-19'' returned to port for repair but the ''Gato'' was relatively undamaged and continued her patrol. She was the first nuclear-powered submarine to completely circumnavigate South America, and the first nuclear-powered submarine to navigate the

Strait of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and the Tierra del Fuego archipelago to the south. Considered the most important natura ...

during its 1976 Unitas run under the command of CDR Robert Partlow. It was on this voyage that it became the first nuclear submarine to travel through the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

. ''Gato'' was decommissioned and stricken on 25 April 1996 and disposed of by

submarine recycling The Ship-Submarine Recycling Program (SRP) is the process that the United States Navy uses to dispose of decommissioned nuclear vessels. SRP takes place only at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS) in Bremerton, Washington, but the preparations ...

References

External links

history.navy.mil: USS ''Gato''Gato Web site: USS ''Gato''
Permit-class submarines Cold War submarines of the United States Nuclear submarines of the United States Navy Barents Sea Maritime incidents in 1969 Ships built in Groton, Connecticut 1964 ships {{US-submarine-stub