USS James K. Polk (SSBN-645)

James K. Polk (SSB(N)-645) was launched 22 May 1965 by the Electric Boat Div., General Dynamics Corp., Groton, Conn.; sponsored by Mrs. Horacio Rivero, Jr., wife of Admiral Rivero, the Vice Chief of Naval Operations; and commissioned 16 April 1966, Comdr. R. M. Douglass (blue crew) and Comdr. F. D. McMullen, Jr. (gold crew), in command.

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Jan. 1971 Blue Nose - Arctic Circle, Sea water injection temperature, under the North Pole 27 degrees F.

GLASGOW, Scotland, Nov. 29, 1970 A Navy spokesman said tonight that two of the three men who died in a fire this morning aboard the U.S.S. Canopus AS-34 in the Holy Loch near here had been prisoners detained in the ship's cells.

Special to The New York Times Nov. 30, 1970

He said that the two had been released by their guard, Boatswain's Mate Glen O. Wilfong Jr., 21, of Mount Sydney, Va. All three had been overcome by heat and smoke before they could flee aboard the Polaris submarine tender.

Two nuclear submarines, the James K. Polk, and the Francis Scott Key, were moored alongside the 22,000‐ton Canopus before the fire. The Key was moved.

I was an EM2(SS) on board the Polk undergoing a pre-deployment refit. My wife told me the "phone tree" informed the wives, the Polk sailors, were OK.

July 1971: Under the command of CDR Jerry E. Jones, the Polk sails to Newport News shipyard for conversion from Polaris to Poseidon C-3 ballistic missile system weapons system and undergoes a refueling of the reactor plant.

Sept. 1972; The shipyard was painting the engineering spaces. We had to maintain the shutdown reactor watch. I and others would arrive home pale and my breath smelled of paint fumes. My wife and six other “Wives of Nuclear Power Plant Personnel” as they were called, expressed their concerns up the chain of command.  Their efforts were unrequited. My wife then instituted a congressional investigation with Senator James L. Buckley. He was the older brother of William F. Buckley. The inquiry was complete 19 July 1972. The maneuvering area was sealed with polyethylene and supplied with outside ventilation. Respirators were issued. The problem was solved.  

 She completed her conversion in late 1972.

Reminiscence by Ken Beck EM2 (SS)