USS Skipjack (SSN-585) USS Skipjack (SSN-585) USS "Skipjack" (SSN-585), the lead ship of her class of nuclear-powered attack submarine, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named after the Skipjack tuna. Her keel was laid down on 29 May 1956 by the Electric Boat Division of the General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 26 May 1958, sponsored by Helen Mahon, wife of Representative George H. Mahon from the 19th District of Texas, and commissioned on 15 April 1959 with Commander W. W. Behrens, Jr., in command. On the "Skipjack", there were many design changes that
USS Skipjack (SSN-585) and appendage drag can be combined via algebra to show that the vessel should have reached 31 knots submerged. This speed was some 9 knots faster than the "Nautilus" made using the same basic reactor, and only 2 knots shy of the "Albacore"'s best theoretical submerged speed (33 kn). "Skipjack"'s maneuver capabilities, furthermore, added a whole different dimension to ASW problems as she could reverse direction in the distance of her own length, and were referred to as "flying", as "Skipjack" and her sister ships climbed, dove, and banked like an airplane. The antisubmarine warfare (ASW) problems created by such