USS Seadragon ( SSN - 584 ) USS " Seadragon " ( SSN - 584 ) , a , was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the seadragon , a small fish commonly called the dragonet . The contract to build her was awarded to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery , Maine on 29 September 1955 and her keel was laid down on 20 June 1956 . She was launched on 16 August 1958 sponsored by Mrs . Robert L . Dennison , and commissioned on 5 December 1959 , with Lieutenant Commander George P . Steele in command . Operational history . Following a Caribbean shakedown cruise , " Seadragon " returned to Portsmouth , whence , on 1 August 1960 , she sailed for the Pacific . Ordered to proceed via the Northwest Passage , she moved north to Parry Channel , at mid - month reached Lancaster Sound , the eastern end of the channel , and continued westward with Edward Parry ' s 1819 journal as a guide . Collecting oceanographic and hydrographic data en route , " Seadragon " transited the Barrow Strait , Viscount Melville Sound , and McClure Strait . On 21 August , she completed the first submarine transit of the Northwest Passage , entered the Beaufort Sea , and headed for the North Pole , which she reached on 25 August . The ship surfaced through the thin ice becoming the third submarine to surface at the pole . Members of the crew laid out a softball diamond with the pitcher ' s box at the pole where the captain claimed he hit a fly ball at 4 : 00 pm on Wednesday and it wasn ' t caught until 4 : 00 am on Thursday . From the pole , " Seadragon " ( having no other choice ) turned south , and after conducting experiments in cooperation with scientists on ice island T - 3 , headed for the Chukchi Sea and Bering Strait . On 5 September , she reached Nome , Alaska , and , nine days later , she arrived at her home port , Pearl Harbor . She was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation for her transit of the Northwest Passage via Parry Channel . For the next nine months , " Seadragon " was employed in local operations . In June 1961 , she headed west for her first tour in the western Pacific ( WestPac ) , during which she participated in Seventh Fleet exercises – primarily antisubmarine warfare training exercises – and completed a submerged endurance cruise of 58 days . In October , she returned to Pearl Harbor and local operations . On 12 July 1962 , " Seadragon " departed Pearl Harbor for her second Arctic cruise . Transiting the Bering Strait and the Chukchi Sea , she contacted T - 3 , then moved further north to rendezvous with sister ship , , en route from New London , Connecticut . On 31 July , the two submarines rendezvoused under the ice and continued on to the North Pole , arriving on 2 August for sonar and weapons evaluations . The submarines were joined by the icebreaker . In late August , the submarines returned to their home ports . En route , " Seadragon " , which was scheduled to port at Seattle , Washington , rescued 12 survivors from a downed seaplane and delivered them to Port Angeles , Washington . On 14 September , " Seadragon " arrived back at Pearl Harbor . During the first half of 1963 , the Arctic veteran participated in local operations and conducted her second WestPac cruise . On 8 July , she entered the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for her first refueling and overhaul . In late May 1964 , she resumed operations in the Hawaiian area . Torpedo evaluations off the Washington coast followed ; and , on 10 August 1964 , " Seadragon " sailed west in response to the Gulf of Tonkin crisis . During September and October , she operated out of Subic Bay ; then , after a call at Hong Kong continued on to Okinawa and Japan to conduct public relations cruises and to participate in further Seventh Fleet exercises . On 4 March 1965 , she returned to Pearl Harbor . For the next four years , " Seadragon " continued to rotate between local operations in the Hawaiian area , training and evaluation exercises off the West Coast , and regular deployments to the Seventh Fleet in the western Pacific . In July 1968 , however , she interrupted that schedule for a 34 - month overhaul and refueling period at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard ; and , in March 1971 , she resumed her previous deployment schedule . Decommissioning . Decommissioned on 12 June 1984 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 30 April 1986 , ex - " Seadragon " entered the Navy ' s Nuclear - Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program on 1 October 1994 . On 18 September 1995 , " Seadragon " ceased to exist . Book . In 2004 , the former captain of the " Seadragon " , Dan Summitt , wrote a book about the exploits of boat and its crew . Summitt describes how his boat was the first nuclear sub to patrol the eastern Soviet coast for SIGINT and the third to reach the North Pole .