SSBN 733 Nevada
The fourth NEVADA (SSBN 733) is the eighth OHIO Class nuclear powered fleet ballistic missile submarine. Nevada was authorized in FY 1980; laid down by Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Co., Groton, CT 8 August 1983; launched 14 September 1985; sponsored by Mrs. Carol Laxalt; and commissioned 16 August 1986 with Capt F.W. Rhome (Blue); Capt William Stone (Gold) in command.
The First Nevada
The first NEVADA was a 335-foot, 3850-ton screw steamer built for the Navy in 1863. Because of inferior construction, she was never armed and was sold after nine years.
BM 8
The second USS NEVADA (BM 8) was a 252-foot, 3200-ton harbor defense monitor. She was built in 1898 and served in the Atlantic until 1906. At that time NEVADA and several of her sister ships were transferred from the fleet to duty at the Naval Academy. They were kept active during the summer months for the annual Midshipmen cruise. She was renamed TONOPAH in 1909 to allow Battleship Number 36 to be named NEVADA and was sold in 1922.
BB 36
The third NEVADA (BB 36), a 583-foot, 27,500-ton battleship, began her long and distinguished career in 1916. Her Commanding Officer was Captain William S. Sims, who later became Fleet Admiral. She entered World War I at Norfolk, VA as a training ship for the crews of "four-stacker" destroyers and as a gunnery training ship for men who would be the armed guards on merchant ships. In 1918, NEVADA joined OKLAHOMA (BB 37) and UTAH (BB 31) as part of a deterrent squadron to prevent German battle cruisers from breaking out of the North Sea and attacking North Atlantic convoys. The Germans never challenged her. The super dreadnought was a menace to the enemy without firing a shot. Between the wars, NEVADA conducted two diplomatic South American cruises and in 1922 became part of the Pacific Fleet.
December 7, 1941, found NEVADA moored at the east end of "battleship row" in Pearl Harbor. Perhaps because she was singly moored, NEVADA was the only battleship able to get underway during the Japanese attack. Severely damaged from multiple torpedo and bomb explosions, she was beached to prevent being sunk in the channel.
Refloated in 1942, NEVADA went on to provide fire support in the capture of Attu Island in the Aleutians. NEVADA then sailed south, through the Panama Canal to participate in the Allied invasion of France. For 12 days she roamed the coast of the Cherbourg Peninsula, building the legend of her incredibly accurate firepower by placing her huge 14-inch shells within 600 yards of the Allies' front lines. Once the Atlantic coast was secure, NEVADA proceeded through Gibraltar to support the invasion of France's Mediterranean coast, leaving nothing but rubble and twisted steel to identify the former Nazi shore batteries of Toulon.
Her duty in the Mediterranean completed, NEVADA sailed again for the Pacific and the closing engagements of the war. At Iwo Jima she moved in 600 yards from shore to provide maximum fire power allowing the U.S. Marine Corps to advance and capture the island. At Okinawa, though damaged by a Kamikaze (suicide plane) attack, NEVADA survived to fight again. She received seven battle stars for her distinguished World War II service.
The fourth NEVADA (SSBN 733) is the eighth OHIO Class nuclear powered fleet ballistic missile submarine.
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