1. It should be noted that even though a ship name is assigned, generally on keel laying, there are occasions where the name is changed during building. The name used on launching (christening) is the name the ship carries throughout her life. There are, however, exceptions.

2. The submarine launched missile program generated some interesting ship designations until things got formalized. The first was the SSG(N) (FBM) which generally was used to describe the concepts associated with the Jupiter missile projects although it carried over to the early Polaris designs. The next was SSG(N) which was used throughout 1957 and into 1958. This was changed to SSB(N) in 1959. The George Washington was launched as (SSBN-598). The use of parenthesis around the N was not always used, especially in signs.

3. What follows is general run of events that led to the USS George Washington and a general accounting of all the Skipjacks and the first 5 FBMs.

An SSGN,was similar in concept to the Halibut, but with the improved S5W reactor plant the basic Thresher class hull was in the works. SSGN 600 was to be one of these. It was to have four hangers each carrying one or more missiles. At the same time, a separate path of missile design was ongoing. This path was to use a modified Jupiter missile in a configuration which had four missile tubes in an enlarged sail. A Jupiter equipped SSBN was included in the FY 1959 budget. This plan was scrapped when in 1956, the Jupiter equipped submarine program was scrapped and work turned to using a solid fueled missile (to become the Polaris). The Secretary of Defense required the Navy to make a definitive choice in the programs. It should be remembered that this was at the time that there was a real battle between the Navy and the Air Force about control of strategic forces. The Navy scrapped the Regulus development program, stopped Regulus I production and cut Regulus II production and ended the Triton development program. All the efforts were to be used in development of the Polaris.

The Polaris program accelerated and the plan of putting 16 missile tubes in two rows of eight on a Skipjack or Thresher class hull and have it ready by 1963. By year's end the Special Projects Office (SPO) had a way to get everything put together (lightweight warhead, submarine, navigation system, and missile) by late 1960. To do this a submarine had to be designed. Rather than use the Thresher design for the first five of the new SSBN's, the Skipjack design was far enough along to allow it to be used with significant modifications. It was also decided to spread the work load around to get faster results. EB had a hull on the ways which was to become the USS Scorpion and the USS Skipjack was nearly ready for launch. 

The Scorpion hull was selected as the first conversion. At the same time, Mare Island which was getting ready to build the boat which was to become the USS Scamp, and Newport News which had parts and sections for the boat which was to be the USS Shark got orders to build SSBNs, one each. Neither had laid the keels for the Skipjack class boats (which were actually to be a separate (SSN 588) class. Portsmouth had no Skipjacks being built, but with available space, got orders to built two of the Polaris boats as soon as the design was finalized.

The conversion from Scorpion to George Washington was not as simple as slicing the hull forward of the reactor compartment and inserting a missile compartment. The control planes had to be enlarged, the hydraulics plant beefed up, the air systems enlarged and so on. Berthing and stowage spaces had to be redesigned.

Many of the long lead time items could be used for both types (Skipjack and George Washington) and orders went out to double the orders for these. For example, there were 6 torpedo tubes in the bow of a Skipjack class. Given that 5 boats were on order, there were five shipsets of tubes on order. This was doubled to ten shipsets to have enough for the five new Polaris boats also. When a shipset was ready to deliver, it might have been originally assigned to a Skipjack class boat at one shipyard, but may have been actually diverted to one of the Polaris boats at another yard. Some of these long lead time items had already been delivered or were being fabricated at the building yards. What boat they went into depended on which boat needed them first.

At EB, the Scorpion was cut apart and used to construct the George Washington. The Patrick Henry was laid down in the ways vacated by the launch of the Skipjack, within 18 hours of the launching. At Mare Island, the Roosevelt was laid down on empty ways vacated by the launch of Triton. Scamp (588) was laid down in the building ways vacated by the launch of Halibut. The R. E. Lee (Newport News hull number 546) at Newport News was also laid down in an empty building way.

The Shark was under construction, at Newport News, (Newport News hull number 545) having been laid started the previous February. She was launched three months after the R.E. Lee. Undoubtedly some parts originally destined for Shark went into Lee to speed Lee's construction, but the Shark remained intact. Ingals had the contracts to build two Skipjacks, Sculpin and Snook. Portsmouth got the contracts for one Polaris boat, the Abraham Lincoln.

This accounts for the all the Skipjacks and all the George Washington class FBMs.

V/R Jim