USS Triton (SSRN-586)

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USS Triton (SSRN/SSN-586), the only member of her class, was a nuclear-powered radar picket submarine in the United States Navy. She was the only Western submarine powered by two nuclear reactors. Triton was the second submarine and the fourth vessel of the United States Navy (USN) to be named for the Greek god Triton. This naming convention was unusual at the time; USN submarines were usually named for various species of fish. At the time of her commissioning in 1959, Triton was the largest, most powerful, and most expensive submarine ever built at $109 million (equivalent to $1.2 billion in 2025) excluding the cost of nuclear fuel and reactors. Triton's shakedown cruise in early 1960 saw her become the first vessel to execute a submerged circumnavigation of the Earth in Operation Sandblast. The voyage was made under the command of Captain Edward L. "Ned" Beach Jr. Triton's mission as a radar picket submarine was made obsolete after two years by the introduction of the carrier-based Grumman...

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