Tenders - USS Simon Lake AS 33

United States Navy

Submarine Tenders

USS Simon Lake AS 33

USS Simon Lake AS 33

USS Simon Lake Patch

USS Simon Lake Crest

Displacement (tons Laden)	19,934	Built / Launched	1964
Length	643' 9"	Built By	Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash.
Beam	85' 0"	Class	Simon Lake
Draft	24' 6"	Commisioned	1964
Speed (rated)	18.0kts	Decommissioned	1999
Compliment	1,420

Simon Lake, born in Pleasantville, N.Y. on 1 September 1866, was a mechanical engineer and naval architect. He was the inventor of even-keel type submarines and built Argonaut, in 1897, which was the first submarine to operate successfully in the open sea. He also invented submarine apparatus for locating and recovering sunken vessels and their cargoes, and a heavy-oil internal combustion engine for marine use. Lake died on 23 June 1945.

Simon Lake (AS-33) was laid down on 7 January 1963 by the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash.; launched on 8 February 1964; sponsored by Mrs. Cecil Ford and Mrs. Herbert Diamond; and commissioned on 7 November 1964, Capt. James B. Osborn in command. Simon Lake sailed from Bremerton on 16 January 1965 for Pearl Harbor on her shakedown cruise and returned to Bremerton on 17 February for a six-week yard availability period.

The Polaris submarine tender stood out of Bremerton on 16 April and proceeded to Charleston, S.C., via the Panama Canal. Simon Lake arrived at Charleston on 1 May and tended submarines there until 11 July 1966. On that date, she sailed for Holy Loch, Scotland, where she relieved Hunley (AS-31) as tender for Submarine Squadron (SubRon) 14. She operated from there until 24 May 1970 when she got underway for Charleston.

In June, she sailed for Bremerton for her first overhaul since commissioning. The tender was in the yard from 6 July 1970 to March 1971 and, while there, was also converted to Poseidon missile capability. Simon Lake returned to Charleston on 3 April and tended submarines there until 19 November 1972 when she sailed for Rota, Spain, as the relief for Holland (AS-32).
History from the Dictionary of American Fighting Ships.

Simon Lake completed routine upkeep and service out of Holy Lock until relieved by USS Canopus (AS-34) in January 1977.

After off-loading munitions, Simon Lake underwent an extensive overhaul that lasted a year. Refresher training was conducted out of GITMO in early 1978.

Simon Lake then assumed the duty at Charleston, and began upkeep of SSBNs for the next year - through mid 1979.

In July 1979, Simon Lake changed her home port to Kings Bay, GA., and became the first tender at that new submarine base.

History from 1979 - 1986 missing.

The Simon Lake departed Kings Bay and started and overhaul at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi in the spring of 1986. In the winter of 1986 she completed the overhaul and underwent shakedown and refresher training out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Once the ship was ready in all respects - she got underway for Site I Holy Loch where she relieved the USS Hunley.
(history courtesy Dana Katbah)

History from 1987 - 1992 missing.
In 1992 Simon Lake weighed anchor from Holy Loch Scotland - at the same time closing that advanced site some 30 years after being established by Proteus (AS 19). She proceeded to La Maddalena, Itay, where she assumed the duties.

In June, 1999, the Lake was relieved by the Emory S. Land (AS 39), and she proceeded home to Norfolk - where in a ceremony conducted at Pier 20 at 1000hrs June 25th, 1999, she was inactivated, ending 34 years of service to the submarine community and her country.

USS Simon Lake (AS 33) being relieved by USS Emory S. Land (AS 39)
at La Maddalena, Italy, June 1999.
Picture courtesy Lake Crew Member Eric R. Oldham,
Opticalman Second Class, United States Navy

USS Simon Lake AS 33 in 1985

AS 34 USS Canopus

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