Named in honor of the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and the first president of the United States, USS George Washington (SSBN-598) was commissioned on December 30, 1959, in Groton, Connecticut, as the first nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine of its class. On June 28, 1960, George Washington sailed to Cape Canaveral, Florida, where she loaded two fueled Polaris missiles. While at the Atlantic Missile Test Range on July 20, 1960—with the head of the Polaris program, Rear Admi

U.S. sub hits object in South China sea