On 8 March 1961 - USS Patrick Henry (SSBN 599) returns from patrol to become the first ballistic missile submarine to use Holy Loch, Scotland, as a refit and upkeep anchorage.
The second fleet ballistic missile (FBM) submarine, she commenced her first deterrent patrol in December 1960 with her Blue Crew on board. When she surfaced off Holy Loch, Scotland, on 8 March 1961, she had set a record for her type, cruising submerged 66 days and 22 hours. Patrick Henry was the first ballistic missile submarine to enter Holy Loch, and the first to go alongside the submarine tender USS Proteus for replenishment and routine repair.
Patrick Henry conducted 17 deterrent patrols from Holy Loch until December 1964 when she returned to Electric Boat. For 18 months she received complete and extensive overhaul and repair operations, including refueling of the S5W reactor plant and modifications to permit the handling of the Polaris A-3 missiles. After shakedown in mid-1966 off Puerto Rico and Cape Canaveral, Florida, Patrick Henry departed Charleston, South Carolina, in December for her eighteenth patrol, equipped with A-3 Polaris missiles and assigned to Submarine Squadron 14. On 1 March 1968, Patrick Henry completed her 22nd patrol at Holy Loch.
USS Patrick Henry (SSBN-599), named after the American Revolutionary War figure Patrick Henry (1736–1799), was a George Washington class nuclear-powered fleet ballistic missile submarine of the United States Navy. She was later converted into an attack submarine and redesignated SSN-599.
YF -12 illustration by Roman Hugault .
Curtis LeMay a four-star general he built the foundation of SAC Wanted to order 100 of these interceptors from Lockheed in the early 1960s. The program was canceled. General LeMay wanted an interceptor that could stop the Russians before they got here. He did have some very good ideas. Linda Sheffield Miller
And the payload in a photo.
The first engagement of ironclad warships during the American Civil War began on March 8, 1862 at the Battle of Hampton Roads. Early in the war, U.S. forces had implemented a blockade along the southern coast to prohibit trade, especially that of cotton. Confederates were desperate to find a way to break through. The USS Merrimack was one of the warships scuttled by Federal forces at the Gosport Naval Yard in Portsmouth before their withdrawal from Virginia. Confederates lifted her out of the mud and transformed her into a heavily armed ironclad vessel. They rechristened her CSS Virginia. On March 8, the ironclad left Portsmouth bound for U.S. ships at anchor near Newport News Point.
The Virginia destroyed two ships, the Cumberland and the Congress, before being checked by the USS Monitor. The Monitor was an innovative steam-powered ironclad with a revolving gun turret which incorporated 40 patentable inventions. It was smaller than the Virginia, but also more agile. The two ships pounded one another for hours, but eventually the Virginia withdrew, short on ammunition, and headed back to Portsmouth. The battle ended in a draw, but it changed the future of naval warfare forever.
The U.S. navy suffered 261 killed and 108 wounded in the two-day battle. The Confederates lost only 24. March 8, 1862, remained the bloodiest day in American Naval history until December 7, 1941, when the Japanese navy struck the American fleet at Pearl Harbor.