USS Henry L. Stimson (SSBN-655)

The USS Henry L. Stimson (SSBN-655) was a Benjamin Franklin-class fleet ballistic missile submarine commissioned by the United States Navy on August 20, 1966. Named after Henry L. Stimson, a former U.S. Secretary of War, the submarine played a crucial role in the strategic deterrence mission during the Cold War. Homeported in both the Atlantic and later the Pacific, the Stimson completed numerous deterrent patrols armed with Polaris and later Poseidon ballistic missiles. After nearly three decades of service, the USS Henry L. Stimson was decommissioned on May 5, 1993, and subsequently scrapped under the Nuclear-Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program.