Special
Cover Inactivationing Ceremony 14 December 1989
Sources:
R. Saxe
Special
Cover Decomissioning Ceremony 11 July 1990
Sources:
R. Saxe
The
USS Glenard P. Lipscomb (SSN 685) was the US Navy’s second
prototype design using a turbo-electric power plant similar
to the Tullibee. The Glenard P. Lipscomb was generally
similar to the SSN-637 Sturgeon class, apart from the use of
submarine turbo-electric drive [TEDS] rather than the
standard geared drive. Intended to test the potential
advantages of this propulsion system for providing quieter
submarine operations, the substantially larger and heavier
machinery also resulted in slower speeds.
Those
disadvantages, along with reliability issues, led to the
decision not to utilize this design on the follow-on SSN-688
Los Angeles class of submarines. Although serving as a test
platform, the "Lipscomb Fish" was a fully
combat-capable attack submarine.
Specifications
Displacement
6,480 tons
submerged
Length
365 feet
Beam
32 feet
Speed
20-plus
knots
Power
Plant
One nuclear
reactor, turbine-
electric drive, one shaft
