USS Finback ( SSN - 670 ) USS " Finback " ( SSN - 670 ) , a " Sturgeon " - class attack submarine , was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the finback , the common whale of the Atlantic coast of the United States . Construction and commissioning . The contract to build " Finback " was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News , Virginia , on 9 March 1965 and her keel was laid down there on 26 June 1967 . She was launched on 7 December 1968 , sponsored by Mrs . Charles F . Baird , wife of the Under Secretary of the Navy , and commissioned on 4 February 1970 with Commander Robert C . Austin in command . The Go Go Dance . On 10 July 1975 , the captain of the " Finback " permitted a topless farewell dance to be performed on the diving plane of the sail by a local go - go dancer known as Cat Futch ( Cathy Susan Futch ) as the vessel departed Port Canaveral , Florida . On 1 August 1975 , when the Navy brass learned of the incident , the submarine was ordered back to port and the captain was relieved of his command , " pending the investigation of an incident of a non - operational nature . " The captain , Cdr . Connelly D . Stevenson , 41 , gave permission for the act as a reward for performance by his crew during a major overhaul at the Naval shipyard in Portsmouth , Virginia , the preceding year which cut two months off of a scheduled 12 - month overhaul at considerable savings to the government . Stevenson was seeking to be reinstated in his command and said that he did not know how the incident had leaked to the media . " I ' m in the middle of Navy proceedings in my behalf and I ' m already concerned that the press just has not done my cause any good and it ' s certainly my intention not to continue the press activity , " he stated in a 9 September 1975 " Washington Post " report that publicly broke the incident . Ultimately , Admiral James L . Holloway III , Chief of Naval Operations , on 2 October 1975 , found the former commander of " Finback " " guilty of permitting an action , which could have distracted the attention of those responsible for the safe navigation of the nuclear - powered submarine maneuvering in restricted waters . " Holloway agreed with subordinates that Stevenson had failed to exercise good judgement and did not follow regulations governing civilian visitors to naval vessels . Stevenson ' s next assignment was to the Naval Research Laboratory in London , and although technically still eligible for the promotion list such consideration was unlikely under the circumstances and he subsequently left active duty . An article in the February 2010 issue of " Naval History " , published by the United States Naval Institute , Annapolis , Maryland , categorizes this episode as " one of the most notorious incidents in the history of the Navy ' s nuclear - powered submarine force . " In 1986 , " Finback " won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the United States Atlantic Fleet . Decommissioning and disposal . " Finback " was decommissioned on 28 March 1997 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register the same day . Her scrapping via the Nuclear - Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton , Washington , was completed on 30 October 1997 .