In all, the Grayback sank more than a dozen Japanese ships.
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The Grayback was thought to have gone down in the open ocean 275 miles east-southeast of Okinawa.
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Private explorers found the U.S.S. Grayback beneath 1,400 feet of water after realizing that a mistranslated Japanese war record had pointed searchers in the wrong direction.
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Private explorers discovered the U.S.S. Grayback beneath 1,400 feet of water after realizing that a mistranslated Japanese war record had pointed searchers in the wrong direction.
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A 75-year-old mystery has been solved, and the families of 80 American sailors lost at sea will now have closure: the U.S.S. Grayback has finally been found.
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But the Navy had unknowingly relied on a flawed translation of Japanese war records that got one digit wrong in the latitude and longitude of the spot where the Grayback had probably met its end.
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In a matter of hours, Mr. Taylor was looking at the hull of the Grayback and, lying about 400 feet away, was the submarine's deck gun, which had been blown off when the bomb exploded.
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Mr. Bihn, who was born three years after the Grayback went down, remembers him as a constant presence in his maternal grandparents' home, where a black-and-white photo of the submarine hung in the living room near a black frame holding Mr. King's Purple Heart medal and citation.
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Grayback received eight battle stars for World War II service.
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Graybacks first war patrol from 15 February to 10 April 1942 took her along the coast of Saipan and Guam. There she had a four-day encounter with an enemy submarine; the enemy submarine fired two torpedoes at Grayback on the morning of 22 February, then continued to trail her across the Pacific. Grayback spotted the enemy conning tower a couple of times, and the Japanese ship broached once; but the Grayback could not get into position to attack. After four days, Grayback shook the other sub and continued on patrol.
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Grayback at sea in 1982 Grayback was originally commissioned in March 1958, the first submarine built to accommodate Regulus. She was used for testing of Regulus II in September 1958 before the project was cancelled. In February 1959 she was deployed to Pearl Harbor to form part of Squadron 1 and undertake strategic deterrent patrols, which continued until 1964, following which Grayback was decommissioned. In November 1967, a new conversion was undertaken to transform the boat into an amphibious transport submarine.
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The fifth war patrol began as Grayback sailed from Australia on 7 December 1942. Only a week out of port, Pharmacist's Mate Harry B. Roby was called upon to perform an emergency appendectomy, the second to be done on a patrolling submarine. With Grayback running a hundred feet beneath the surface, the untutored Roby successfully removed the infected appendix, and his patient was back standing watch by the end of the patrol. Then, on 25 December, Grayback surfaced to sink four landing barges with her deck guns.
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Grayback prior to launch Grayback preparing to launch a Regulus II missile Grayback represented a new class of SSG guided missile submarines, and was to be the first to carry the Regulus II sea-to-surface missile. In 1958, Grayback conducted tests and shakedown along the West Coast. While operating out of Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme, California, in September 1958 she conducted the first successful launching of a Regulus II missile from a submarine, whose predecessor, Regulus I, had led to the capability of navies to attack land bases since its deployment in 1957. Regulus II was cancelled in December 1958 except for test firing of missiles already built,"Vought SSM-N-9/RGM-15 Regulus II." Parsch, Andreas, Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, 2001. Retrieved: 6 January 2013.
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This was the last attempt during the Vietnam War to rescue American POWs held in North Vietnam. In January 1982 five U.S. Navy divers died when a vacuum was inadvertently drawn in a chamber on Grayback off the coast of Subic Bay, P.I. The diving accident led to changes in how the Navy designed, built, maintained and operated complex submarine based diving systems. Grayback was decommissioned for the second time on 15 January 1984 at Subic Bay Naval Station in the Republic of the Philippines. After decommissioning, Grayback was sunk as a target on 13 April 1986 in the South China Sea.
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The seventh patrol was more successful. Departing Brisbane on 25 April, Grayback intercepted a convoy whose position had been radioed to her by on 11 May. In a night surface attack Grayback fired a spread of six torpedoes at the seven freighters and their three escorts. The three escorts charged and she had to go deep to elude the attacking enemy.
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One seaman failed to evacuate the compartment and was overcome by smoke and fumes. Main propulsion was lost for a short time, was restored, and Grayback returned to Pearl Harbor under her own power. Repairs took two weeks. According to the documentary "Regulus: The First Nuclear Missile Submarines" the primary target for Grayback in the event of a nuclear exchange would be to eliminate the Soviet naval base at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
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The USS Grayback (SS-208) memorial on the grounds of the Heslar Naval Armory. Graybacks tenth patrol, her most successful in terms of tonnage sunk, was also to be her last. She sailed from Pearl Harbor on 28 January 1944, for the East China Sea. On 24 February Grayback radioed that she had sunk two cargo ships 19 February and had damaged two others (Taikei Maru and Toshin Maru sunk).
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Grayback sent ashore two men, then submerged at dawn to avoid enemy aircraft. The submariners located the downed aviators, three of whom were injured, and hid out with them in the jungle. As night fell, Grayback surfaced offshore and by coded light signals directed the small boat "home safe" with the rescued aviators. For this action skipper Edward C. Stephan received the Navy Cross, as well as a Silver Star from the United States Army.
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Grayback continued on patrol, torpedoing and damaging several Japanese ships. On 17 January she attacked a destroyer escorting a large maru, hoping to disable the escort and then sink the freighter with her deck guns. However, the destroyer evaded the torpedoes and dropped 19 depth charges on Grayback. One blew a gasket on a manhole cover, and the submarine, leaking seriously, was ordered back to Brisbane, Australia, where she arrived 23 January.
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Two nights later, 20 to 21 December, she spotted another convoy of six ships, and after an end-around run she fired a spread of nine torpedoes into the heart of the Japanese formation. This first attack sunk one freighter and damaged another before Grayback dived to elude depth charges. Three hours later she surfaced and sank a second freighter. After an unsuccessful attack the following night had exhausted her torpedo supply, Grayback headed home.
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On 10 November 2019, a private research group, Lost 52 Project, announced it had found the wreck of Grayback 50 miles south of Okinawa, in June 2019.Fieldstadt, Elisha, "WWII submarine USS Grayback, missing 75 years, discovered off coast of Japan", NBC News, 11 November 2019. The discovery was officially verified by the United States Navy and the families of the deceased crew members were notified. The submarine sits upright on the bottom in 1,400 feet (430 m) of water.
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In company with Grayback, Grampus departed Brisbane on 11 February 1943 for her sixth war patrol, from which she failed to return; the manner of her loss still remains a mystery. Japanese seaplanes reported sinking a submarine on 18 February in Grampus' patrol area, but Grayback reported seeing Grampus in that same area 4 March. On 19 February the Grampus is believed to have damaged the "Keiyo Maru" [6442 GRT]Uboat. Forum and 27 February 1943 also damaged the IJN Minesweeper W.22U boat Forum.
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Four days later she was again fired on by an enemy submarine but maneuvered to avoid the torpedoes. On 3 January 1943 Grayback sank I-18, one of 25 Japanese submarines destroyed by western submarines during the war. On 5 January Grayback served as beacon ship for the bombardment of Munda Bay in the Solomon Islands and also engaged in rescue work. Lying off Munda early in the morning of 5 January, she received word that six survivors of a crashed Martin B-26 Marauder bomber were holed up on the island.
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She was used as a transport for SEALs and divers on special operations during and after the Vietnam War, before finally being decommissioned in January 1984. Grayback was expended as a target in the South China Sea in April 1986.
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Arriving at Pearl Harbor on 12 September 1943, Grayback prepared for her eighth war patrol, now under the command of John Anderson Moore. Sailing 26 September with , she rendezvoused with at Midway Island to form the first of the Submarine Force's highly successful wolfpacks. The three submarines under Captain Charles B. "Swede" Momsen in Cero cruised the China Sea and returned to base with claims of 38,000 tons sunk and 3,300 damaged. Grayback accounted for two ships: a passenger-cargo vessel torpedoed 14 October and a former light cruiser, Awata Maru, torpedoed after an end-around run on a fast convoy 22 October.
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With almost a quarter of her crew untested in battle Grayback departed Pearl Harbor for the East China Sea on 2 December for her ninth war patrol. Within five days of her first contact with Japanese ships, she had expended all her torpedoes in a series of attacks which netted four ships for a total of over 10,000 tons. On the night of 18 to 19 December Grayback attacked a convoy of four freighters and three escorts. She sent freighter Gyokurei Maru and escort Numakaze to the bottom and damaged several others in a surface attack.
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On 25 February she transmitted her second and final report. That morning she had sunk tanker Nanho Maru and severely damaged Asama Maru. With only two torpedoes remaining, she was ordered home from patrol. Due to reach Midway on 7 March, Grayback did not arrive.
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As the war progressed, the currency underwent the depreciation and soaring prices characteristic of inflation. For example, when news of the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg reached the public, the Confederate currency depreciated 20%.Weidenmier, M. D. (2002). Turning Points in the U.S. Civil War: Views from the Grayback Market.
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On her sixth war patrol from 16 February to 4 April 1943, Grayback again had a run of bad luck and from the Bismarck Archipelago–Solomon Islands area without any military success. Her newly-installed SJ radar had failed to function; and although she had taken several shots at marus (merchant ships), none were sunk.
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After an hour, the crew was compelled to abort the mission. They were unable to locate Grayback and they were forced to scuttle their underpowered SDV after its battery power was exhausted. The next morning, the team was rescued a few miles off the coast. The four men were flown to the , Operation Thunderhead's command ship.
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Despite these hazards, she damaged several freighters and an enemy submarine. The presence of Grayback and her sister ships in these waters, and the threat they presented to shipping and the number of enemy escorts they tied up, were important factors in the successful conclusion of the Guadalcanal campaign, America's first offensive campaign in the Pacific war.
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The term "APSS", for Auxiliary Personnel Submarine, appeared on the construction plans and documents during the conversion design and construction period (per Structural Naval Architect, Mare Island, 1966-1968). Crew memoirs indicated that they were never aware of it. Presumably, while this classification was "official," it may have lasted only days.) Grayback painted orange for sinking The conversion heightened her sail by ten feet, added two auxiliary tanks to the forward end of the engine room (increasing the length of the boat by 12 feet), and converted the missile chambers to carry 67 embarked troops and SEAL Swimmer Delivery Vehicles (SDVs), including a decompression chamber in the starboard hangar. In June 1972, the Grayback carried a team of Navy SEALs into the coastal waters of North Vietnam as part of Operation Thunderhead.
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He served on R and S class submarines, before assuming command of the submarine on its last three patrols during 1943–1944. Under the overall command of innovator Charles "Swede" Momsen, Grayback, and launched the U.S. Navy's first attack against enemy shipping using "wolfpack" tactics.Clay Blair, Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan (Naval Institute Press, reprint ed. 2001), , pp.541-542.
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On her nine patrols she spent more than 20 months at sea and logged over 130,000 miles (209,000 km) on deterrent missile strike missions. That schedule took its toll. On 27 August 1963, while snorkeling to recharge batteries, Grayback was buffeted by particularly strong seas. The buffeting caused the After Main Battery breaker to short, starting a fire in the berthing compartment.
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The policy of keeping four missiles at sea at all times meant that Grayback, Growler and Halibut could undertake Western Pacific cruises alone, while Tunny and Barbero, both only capable of accommodating a pair of missiles, had to be at sea simultaneously. The system was found to have significant limitations, not just concerning those inherent in the Regulus missile itself.
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Although intended to undergo a similar conversion to Grayback to serve as an amphibious transport, this was subsequently cancelled.Silverstone, p. 24 The boat was scheduled to be expended as a target, but in 1988 she was donated to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City. Today Growler is on display to the public alongside the aircraft carrier .
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The California Inland Empire Council (CIEC) was formed in 1973 through the merger of the Arrowhead Area (#048) and Riverside Area Councils (#045). In 1974 Grayback Council (#024) also merged into the new council. In 2006, the council acquired the San Bernardino County portions of Old Baldy Council (#043). The council territory includes all of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.
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So that no target would be left uncovered, four Regulus missiles had to be at sea at any given time. Thus, Barbero and Tunny, each of which carried two Regulus missiles, patrolled simultaneously. Growler and Grayback, with four missiles, or Halibut, with five, could patrol alone. These five submarines made 40 Regulus strategic deterrent patrols between October 1959 and July 1964.
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The Riverside Area Council (#045) was founded in 1919 as the Riverside Council. In 1927, the Hemet-San Jacinto Valley Council (#028) merged into the merged into Riverside Area Council (#045). In 1944, the council changed its name to Riverside County and Redlands, and in 1945 back to Riverside County. The Grayback Council (#024) was founded in 1945 as the Redlands Area Council.
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27 These were an improved design over Halibut, with hangar space for up to four Regulus II missiles, with two in the bow, and another two amidships either side of the sail - having the missiles hangared along the length of the boat reduced the potential flooding risk that the design of both the Grayback-class and Halibut, with their large missile hangars on the bow, presented.Polmar, Moore, p. 95 However, three months after the successful first launch of a Regulus II missile from the deck of Grayback, it was decided to cancel the nuclear cruise missile development to focus solely on Polaris, which was seen as a superior strategic weapon system, while the potential use of Regulus II as a tactical nuclear or conventional weapon was discounted thanks to the US Navy's large fleet of aircraft carriers.Polmar, Moore, p.
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Aft view of USS Growler (SSG-577) Growler was laid down on 15 February 1955 by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard of Kittery, Maine. She was launched on 5 April 1958 sponsored by Mrs. Robert K. Byerts, widow of Commander Thomas B. Oakley, Jr. Growler commissioned at Portsmouth on 30 August 1958 with Lieutenant Commander Charles Priest, Jr., in command. Grayback (SSG-574) with Regulus 2 missile.
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She was credited with the sinking of cargo ship Yodogawa Maru. On 16 May she torpedoed and seriously damaged a destroyer. The following day Grayback intercepted four marus with one escort and sank freighter England Maru and damaged two others before she was forced to dive. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 30 May, then proceeded to San Francisco, California, for a much needed overhaul and modernization.
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The California Inland Empire Council (CIEC) of the Boy Scouts of America was formed in 1973 through the merger of the Arrowhead Area (#048) and Riverside Area Councils (#045). In 1974 Grayback Council (#024) also merged into the new council. In 2006, the council acquired the San Bernardino County portions of Old Baldy Council (#043). The council territory includes all of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.
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On 12 June, the remaining team members were transferred back to Grayback. With the likelihood of a successful prisoner escape by sea lessened by the recent U.S. mining of North Vietnam's ports and rivers, Operation Thunderhead was soon terminated. Because the mission was classified, the Navy did not acknowledge Dry's death as a combat loss until February 2008, when he was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star for Valor.
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Finally, the builder's plate remains attached to the intact bridge. The wreck was discovered about 100 miles (160 km) from the coordinates established by the U.S. Navy in 1946 because of an error in their translation of the original Imperial Japanese Navy combat action reports. Records from Japan indicated that the USS Grayback was hit by an aerial bomb from a Nakajima B5N while on the surface and further damaged by depth charges.
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The biggest employer in Canyon City as of 2002 was the county government, which had employees in the courthouse, the jail, and the road and health departments. The second biggest employer was Grant School District, in the district office and in Humboldt Elementary School. The next three biggest were Grayback Forestry, a reforestation and fire-suppression company; Jackson Oil, a gas station, mini-mart, and office; and an Oregon Department of Transportation maintenance shop.
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After a series of exercises there, she cruised to Dutch Harbor, Umak Island, Sequam Island, and Kodiak, Alaska, for further missile exercises from 3-31 July. This was followed by the first of her nine deterrent missile strike missions, from 21 September to 12 November. Graybacks first patrol terminated at Yokosuka, Japan, as did two others. She returned to Pearl Harbor 8 December. On 22 February 1960, Grayback modified her missile launching system and simplified her complex electrical circuits.
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On 30 March ComSubPac listed her as missing and presumed lost with all hands. From captured Japanese records the submarine's last few days can be pieced together. Heading home through the East China Sea after attacking convoy Hi-40 on 24 February, Grayback used her last two torpedoes to sink the freighter Ceylon Maru on 27 February. That same day, a Japanese carrier-based plane spotted a submarine on the surface in the East China Sea and attacked.
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Tachopteryx thoreyi, commonly known as the gray petaltail and Thorey's grayback, is a species of dragonfly. It is native to the East Coast of the United States as far north as New York, as far south as Florida, and as far west as Texas. This species is the only member of the monotypic genus Tachopteryx. The gray petaltail lives in highlands, woodlands, and deciduous forests with permanent seeps, often indicated by the presence of skunk cabbage and ferns.
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The hangar for the supersonic Regulus II cruise missile being installed aboard , a Landing Ship, Tank (LST) converted to an experimental guided-missile testing ship, on 5 April 1957. is doing the lifting. Forty-eight test-flights of Regulus II prototypes were carried out, 30 of which were successful, 14 partially successful and only four failures. A production contract was signed in January 1958 and the only submarine launch was carried out from USS Grayback in September 1958.
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By mid-November 1942, the Japanese had decided to organize a system of submarine supply runs to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, where Japanese forces had been fighting in the Guadalcanal campaign since August 1942. With her overhaul complete, I-18 got underway from Kure on 17 December 1942 and, after a stop at Truk, proceeded to Shortland Island in the Shortland Islands to begin her supply runs. Early on the morning of 3 January 1943, the submarine sighted I-18 on the surface in the Solomon Sea southwest of Rendova at and launched a torpedo attack. Grayback′s torpedoes detonated, and Grayback′s commanding officer believed she had sunk I-18, but the torpedoes apparently exploded prematurely, because I-18 submerged and escaped unscathed. I-18 made three supply runs to Guadalcanal, in each case dropping her cargo off at Cape Esperance on the island's northwest coast. She delivered 15 tons of cargo in supply drums on 5 January 1943 and 25 tons in supply drums on 11 January 1943.
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At 2300 hours on 5 June, the men were to be transported back to Grayback by helicopter. The team would perform a night water drop next to the submarine. During briefings with the pilots, Lt. Dry and Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) Martin emphasized the maximum limits for the drop were 20/20-- 20 feet of altitude at an airspeed of 20 knots, or an equivalent combination. When the helicopter arrived near Grayback's expected position, they could not locate the submarine.
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Several hours earlier, Grayback launched its second SDV but the team abandoned their mission when their air ran out; subsequently, they made an emergency free ascent to the surface. After seeing a strobe light and hearing voices, the two teams rendezvoused. At about 0100, they found Lt. Dry's lifeless body, inflated his life vest, and held him in tow as they swam seaward to be rescued. An HC-7 helicopter rescued the men at dawn and returned them to the Long Beach.
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Green Light Team member Billy Waugh recalled being launched subsurface from the U.S. nuclear attack submarine U.S.S. Grayback while carrying an actual atomic weapon, a W54 SADM.Annie Jacobsen, "Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins," (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2019), p. 102 Green Light Teams wore fatigues without military markings or insignia.Annie Jacobsen, "Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins," (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2019), p.
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She narrowly escaped four torpedoes fired at her by on 10 March off of Takao (now Kaohsiung), but was alerted in time by her hydrophone operator and was able to take evasive action. On 23 February 1944, she was slightly damaged in an attack by in the South China Sea 20 miles east of Taiwan. The oiler Nanpo Maru was sunk by Grayback in the same attack. In October 1944, Asama Maru was one of the ships in a major convoy transporting elements of the Imperial Japanese Army’s 1st Division from China to the Philippines.
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In April 1972, SEAL Team One left Subic Bay in the amphibious-transport submarine . The plan was to launch the team at night from the submerged submarine in a Swimmer Delivery Vehicle (SDV) piloted by two UDT-11 operators and head for a small island off the mouth of the Red River. On 3 June 1972, Lieutenant Dry decided to conduct a clandestine reconnaissance mission that night. Shortly after midnight the team launched from Grayback but a combination of navigation errors and strong current took them off course.
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Momsen drilled his captains and their executive officers in tactics, planning to have three boats act in company, one boat making the first attack on a convoy then acting as "trailer", while the other two attacked alternatively on either flank afterward.Blair, p.542. He also developed a simple code for use on Talk Between Ships (TBS). The pack consisted of Edgar McGregor's Shad, experienced skipper Dave White's new Cero, and Grayback, fresh from refit in Mare Island (and with one of the Submarine Force's first deck gun), under newcomer John Moore.
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As the Japanese ships withdrew through the Kula Gulf after landing their cargo, they encountered Task Force 68 (TF 68), consisting of three light cruisers (, , and ) and three destroyers (, , and ) commanded by Rear Admiral Aaron S. Merrill. This force was en route to commence bombarding Japanese positions at Vila. Two submarines, Grayback and Grampus, had been assigned to support Merrill's force, and were stationed along likely Japanese withdrawal routes out of the Kula Gulf. Merrill's attack on Vila was timed to coincide with another attack on Munda by four destroyers under Captain Robert Briscoe.
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A production contract was signed in January 1958 and the only submarine launch was carried out from Grayback in September 1958. Due to the high cost of the Regulus II (approximately one million dollars each), budgetary pressure, and the emergence of the UGM-27 Polaris SLBM (submarine- launched ballistic missile), the Regulus II program was canceled on 18 December 1958. At the time of cancellation Vought had completed 20 Regulus II missiles with 27 more on the production line. Production of Regulus I missiles continued until January 1959 with delivery of the 514th missile, and it was withdrawn from service in August 1964.
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On 17 March she sank her first ship, the 3291-ton cargo ship Ishikari Maru off Port Lloyd, Chichijima, Bonin Islands. Graybacks second war patrol met with a dearth of targets although she even took the unusual and risky measure of patrolling surfaced during the day. On 22 June she arrived at Fremantle, Western Australia, which was to remain her home base for most of the war. On her third and fourth war patrols, in the South China Sea and St. George's Passage, Grayback was hampered by bright moonlight, shallow and treacherous water, and enemy patrol craft.
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For further information on nuclear powered submarines, see Nuclear submarine. The first launch of a cruise missile (SSM-N-8 Regulus) from a submarine occurred in July 1953 from the deck of USS Tunny (SSG-282), a World War II fleet boat modified to carry this missile with a nuclear warhead. Tunny and her sister boat USS Barbero (SSG-317) were the United States's first nuclear deterrent patrol submarines. They were joined in 1958 by two purpose- built Regulus submarines, USS Grayback (SSG-574), USS Growler (SSG-577), and, later, by the nuclear-powered USS Halibut (SSGN-587).
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Saunders was born on October 25, 1904 in Escanaba, Michigan and graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland in summer 1927. He participated in the Nicaraguan campaign and Yangtze Patrol and later trained as submariner. At the beginning of the World War II, Saunders commanded newly commissioned submarine USS Grayback until mid-September 1942 and received the Navy Cross for patrol along the coast of Saipan and Guam deep in enemy territory. He was then appointed commander of another new submarine USS Muskallunge and took part in the attacks on enemy supply convoys.
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According to Japanese reports the submarine "exploded and sank immediately", but antisubmarine craft were called in to depth-charge the area, clearly marked by a trail of air bubbles, until at last a heavy oil slick swelled to the surface. Grayback's commanding officer John Anderson Moore was posthumously awarded his third Navy Cross after this mission.Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 336, March 1945 Grayback ranked 20th among all submarines in total tonnage sunk with 63,835 tons and 24th in number of ships sunk with 14. The submarine and crew had received two Navy Unit Commendations for their seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth war patrols.
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Halibut was originally designed as a diesel-electric boat, but during the design stage, this was changed to a nuclear propulsion system. Designed from the start to operate cruise missiles, Halibut had a refined hangar design compared to that of the Grayback-class. Halibut was also planned as a platform for the Regulus II, but this was cancelled just over two weeks prior to the boat entering service. When Halibut eventually entered service, she was capable of carrying up to five Regulus missiles, and undertook the first launch of a guided missile from a nuclear submarine during her initial shakedown cruise in March 1960.
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Among the oldest rocks in Oregon, some of the formations in these terranes date to the Triassic, nearly 250 million years ago. Between 165 and 170 million years ago, in the Jurassic, faulting consolidated the Klamath terranes offshore during what geologists call the Siskiyou orogeny. This three- to five-million-year episode of intense tectonic activity pushed sedimentary rocks deep enough into the mantle to melt them and then forced them to the surface as granitic plutons. Belts of plutons, which contain gold and other precious metals, run through the Klamaths and include the Ashland pluton, the Grayback batholith east of Oregon Caves National Monument, the Grants Pass pluton, the Gold Hill pluton, the Jacksonville pluton, and others.
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In September 1958, six months after commissioning, Grayback conducted the first successful launch of a Regulus II from a submarine. Halibut launching a Regulus in 1960; the aircraft carrier alongside is However, in spite of the success of the Regulus II test program, the disadvantages of cruise missiles were becoming evident, particularly as the project to develop a submarine launched ballistic missile, which had begun in the mid 1950s, was achieving success with the Polaris missile. As a consequence, the US Navy elected to end the development of nuclear armed cruise missiles for use on submarines, and cancelled Regulus II at the end of 1958. A further submarine designed to accommodate Regulus, , was laid down in 1957.
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In 1956, while the test program was still under way, the US Navy instituted a policy of keeping one of its then existing cruise missile submarines in each ocean. Tunny was deployed to the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, while Barbero was sent to the Atlantic Fleet home-ported at Norfolk.Whitman, p. 32 As part of the testing phase, both boats undertook the first submarine based nuclear deterrent patrols. Subsequently, with the ramping up of the nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union that came following both superpowers successfully launching SLBMs, in 1958 Barbero was moved back to the Pacific to join Tunny, and the newly commissioned Grayback and Growler, to form Submarine Squadron One.
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A second generation supersonic Vought SSM-N-9 Regulus II cruise missile with a range of and a speed of Mach 2 was developed and successfully tested, including a test launch from Grayback, but the program was canceled in favor of the UGM-27 Polaris nuclear ballistic missile.Regulus: The First Nuclear Missile Submarines documentary, Spark, 2002 The Regulus II missile was a completely new design with improved guidance and double the range, and was intended to replace the Regulus I missile. Regulus II-equipped submarines and ships would have been fitted with the Ships Inertial Navigation System (SINS), allowing the missiles to be aligned accurately before take-off. Forty-eight test flights of Regulus II prototypes were carried out, 30 of which were successful, 14 partially successful and four failures.
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Michael D. Doubler, John W. Listman, Jr., The National Guard: An Illustrated History of America's Citizen Soldiers, 2007, page 40 On several occasions, local militia became involved in larger battles, such as the Pennsylvania, New York and Rhode Island militia responding during the Gettysburg Campaign, and the militia of several southern states during Sherman's March to the Sea.Doubler and Listman, Jr., page 41Greenwood Press, The Greenwood Library of American War Reporting: The Civil War, North and South, 2005, page 244 The Confederate States Army also frequently enlisted militia unit members as a group, and many individuals who joined the CSA were militia veterans.Harlan H. Hinkle, Grayback Mountaineers: The Confederate Face Of Western Virginia, 2003, page 46 The Confederate states also used their militias for local duty in much the same way as the Union.
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Evaluation and training missiles with retractable undercarriage were produced as the YTSSM-N-9a and TSSM-N-9a respectively. After land-based testing, trials including test missile firings were carried out on board the , which had been modified with the replica of a submarine missile hangar and launching system. The SSM-N-9 Regulus II missile was intended to be launched from the deck of an SSG (guided missile submarine), and the missile most likely would have been deployed on the two Grayback-class submarines and the , which were designed for the missile, and possibly eventually on four heavy cruisers that had deployed with Regulus I and 23 other submarines potentially available for conversion. Carrying two Regulus II missiles in a hangar integral with the hull (more on surface ships), submarines and ships equipped with the Regulus II would have been equipped with the SINS (Ship's Inertial Navigation System), allowing the control systems of the missiles to be aligned accurately before launching.
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A Regulus II missile being prepared for launch from Grayback In addition to their being built to accommodate an increased number of missiles over Tunny and Barbero, the boats were also designed to be able to test what was intended as the second generation cruise missile, which was being developed under the name Regulus II. The rationale for the development of a new missile came from the limitations of the original Regulus - subsonic speed, low range, and the remote control guidance system, which meant that the missile had to stay within range either of its launch vessel, or a platform containing the remote control installation. So, the US Navy ordered the development of a new missile system that eliminated these issues. Regulus II had a range of , could fly at Mach 2, and was equipped with its own inertial navigation system that required no input either from the vessel that had launched it, or any other vessels or aircraft en route to its target. The size of the missile meant that the new submarines could only carry a pair of Regulus II missiles each, as opposed to four of the original Regulus airframes.
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