The Last Conventionally Powered Combat Submarine of the United States Navy

USS Blueback (SS-581) is a Barbel-class submarine that served in the United States Navy from 1959 to 1990. She was the second Navy submarine to bear the name. Laid down by Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation of Pascagoula, Mississippi, on 15 April 1957, she was launched on 16 May 1959 and commissioned on 15 October 1959 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Robert H. Gautier.

Blueback holds a significant place in naval history as the last non-nuclear submarine to join the United States Navy. She was also the final conventionally powered combat capable submarine to be decommissioned, leaving the United States Navy with a fully nuclear submarine fleet, with the exception of the research submarine USS Dolphin which served until 2007. Her name's origin is debated: some sources say it honors a form of rainbow or steelhead trout found in Lake Crescent on the Olympic Peninsula, while others say it refers to the blueback salmon, a numerous west coast species.

During her service, Blueback participated in numerous fleet exercises and deployments. She visited ports such as San Francisco, Seattle, Pearl Harbor, and Yokosuka, and spent time in the Vietnam war zone. In 1978, she sailed for Portland, Oregon, where she represented the Submarine Force at the city's Rose Festival. Today, the vessel is preserved as an exhibit at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry on Southeast Water Avenue, where it remains available for the public to see.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons