USS Tullibee

USS Tullibee (SS 284) was lost on March 26, 1944 with 79 men lost. C.W. Kuykendall, GM2c, was the only survivor.

USS Tullibee (SSN-597) was the result of "Project Nobska," a study ordered in 1956 by Admiral Arleigh Burke, then CNO, from the Committee on Undersea Warfare of the National Academy of Sciences. That report emphasized the need for deeper-diving, ultraquiet submarine designs using long-range sonar. Tullibee incorporated three design changes based on Project Nobska. First, it incorporated the first bow-mounted spherical sonar array. This required the second innovation: amidships, angled torpedo tubes. Thirdly, Tullibee was propelled by a very quiet turboelectric power plant based on the S2C reactor[?].

The contract to build Tullibee was awarded to the Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Connecticut on November 15, 1957. Construction began May 26, 1958, she was launched on April 27, 1960, and commissioned on November 9, 1960. She was decommissioned and stricken on June 18, 1988.

General Characteristics

• Displacement: 2316 tons surfaced, 2607 tons submerged
• Length: 273 feet
• Beam: 23.4 feet
• Speed 13 knots surfaced, 14.8 knots submerged
• Test Depth: 700 feet
• Armament: 4 21-inch torpedo tubes
• Complement: 6 officers, 60 enlisted