USS George Washington ( SSBN - 598 ) USS " George Washington " ( SSBN - 598 ) , the lead ship of her class of nuclear ballistic missile submarine s , was the third United States Navy ship of the name , in honor of George Washington ( 1732 – 1799 ) , first President of the United States , and the first of that name to be purpose - built as a warship . Construction and launching . " George Washington " ' s keel was laid down at Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics , Groton , Connecticut on 1 November 1957 . The first of her class , she was launched on 9 June 1959 sponsored by Mrs . Robert B . Anderson , and commissioned on 30 December 1959 as SSBN - 598 with Commander James B . Osborn in command of the Blue crew and Commander John L . From , Jr . in command of the Gold crew . " George Washington " was originally laid down as the attack submarine . During construction , she was lengthened by the insertion of a - long ballistic missile section and renamed George Washington ; another submarine under construction at the time received the original name and hull number . Inside " George Washington " ' s forward escape hatch , a plaque remained bearing her original name . Because the ballistic missile compartment design of " George Washington " would be reused in later ship classes , the section inserted into " George Washington " was designed with a deeper test depth rating than the rest of the submarine . Initial operations . " George Washington " left Groton on 28 June 1960 for Cape Canaveral , Florida , where she loaded two Polaris missile s . Standing out into the Atlantic Missile Test Range with Rear Admiral William Raborn , head of the Polaris submarine development program , on board as an observer , she successfully conducted the first Polaris missile launch from a submerged submarine on 20 July 1960 . At 12 : 39 , " George Washington " ' s commanding officer sent President Dwight Eisenhower the message : POLARIS - FROM OUT OF THE DEEP TO TARGET . PERFECT . Less than two hours later a second missile from the submarine also struck the impact area downrange . " George Washington " then embarked her Gold crew , and on 30 July 1960 she launched two more missiles while submerged . Shakedown for the Gold crew ended at Groton on 30 August and the boat got underway from that port on 28 October for Naval Weapons Station Charleston , to load her full complement of 16 Polaris missiles . There she was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation , after which her Blue crew took over and embarked on her first deterrent patrol . The submarine completed her first patrol after 66 days of submerged running on 21 January 1961 , and put in at Naval Submarine Base New London at New London , Connecticut . The Gold crew took over and departed on her next patrol on 14 February 1961 . After the patrol , she entered Holy Loch , Scotland , on 25 April 1961 . In 1964 , four years after her initial departure from Groton , " George Washington " put in to refuel , having cruised some . " George Washington " shifted to the United States Pacific Fleet and a new home port at Pearl Harbor , Hawaii . Collision with " Nissho Maru " . On 9 April 1981 , " George Washington " surfaced underneath the Japan ese commercial cargo ship " Nissho Maru " in the East China Sea about south - southwest of Sasebo , Japan . " Nissho Maru " sank in about 15 minutes . Two Japanese crewmen were lost ; 13 were rescued . The submarine suffered minor damage to her sail . The accident strained U . S . - Japanese relations a month before a meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki and President of the United States Ronald Reagan . Japan criticized the U . S . for taking more than 24 hours to notify Japanese authorities , and demanded to know what the boat was doing surfacing only about outside Japan ' s territorial waters . Neither the submarine nor an American Lockheed P - 3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft circling overhead made any attempt to rescue the Japanese crew . The U . S . Navy initially stated that " George Washington " executed a crash dive during the collision , and then immediately surfaced , but could not see the Japanese ship due to fog and rain . A preliminary report released a few days later stated the submarine and aircraft crews both had detected " Nissho Maru " nearby , but neither the submarine nor the aircraft realized " Nissho Maru " was in distress . On 11 April , President Reagan and other U . S . officials formally expressed regret over the accident , made offers of compensation , and reassured the Japanese there was no cause for worry about radioactive contamination . As is its standard policy , the U . S . Government refused to reveal what the submarine was doing close to Japan , or whether she was armed with nuclear missiles . ( The standard response all modern American submariners are taught is neither to confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons aboard . ) The Navy accepted responsibility for the incident , and relieved and reprimanded the " George Washington " ' s commanding officer and officer of the deck . On 31 August , the U . S . Navy released its final report , concluding the accident resulted from a set of coincidences , compounded by errors on the part of some members of the submarine crew . Final patrol as ballistic missile submarine . In 1982 , " George Washington " returned to Pearl Harbor from her last missile patrol . In 1983 , her missiles were unloaded at Bangor , Washington to comply with the SALT I treaty . " George Washington " made 55 deterrent patrols in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in her 25 - year career . Service as an attack submarine . " George Washington " continued service as an attack submarine ( SSN ) , returning briefly to Pearl Harbor . In 1983 , she departed Pearl Harbor for the last time and transited the Panama Canal back to the Atlantic and to New London . Decommissioning . " George Washington " was decommissioned on 24 January 1985 , stricken from the Naval Vessel Registry on 30 April 1986 , and scheduled for disposal through the Ship - Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard . Recycling of the ship was completed on 30 September 1998 . Commemoration . " George Washington " ' s sail was removed prior to disposal and now resides at the Submarine Force Library and Museum at New London , Connecticut .