USS Triton (SSRN 586) was designed as a nuclear radar picket sub to accompany and protect carrier battle groups, providing warning of air attack ahead of the carrier and escorts. To carry a large radar required a big sub.
Triton will be remembered for her round-the-world voyage that retraced the course of Ferdinand Magellan, who would have been the first person to completely circle the globe had he not met his untimely end at Mactan Island in the Philippines.
At 448 feet long and 7,780 tons displacement submerged, she was considerably larger than other U.S. Navy subs, and would remain the largest American sub until the Ohio-class ballistic missile boats. By comparison, the Los Angeles-class attack boat is 361 feet long and about 6,000 tons. Triton had two S4G reactors, the only U.S. sub with a twin reactor plant, and the last U.S. Navy submarine to be built with twin screws. She was also the most expensive submarine ever built up to that time, costing more than $100 million.
USS Triton (SSRN 586)
This undated bow view of the nuclear-powered radar picket submarine USS Triton (SSRN 586) shows the immense size of the submarine, which was largest U.S. Navy submarine until the Ohio-class ballistic missile boats. U.S. Navy photo
Several other diesel submarines had been modified to carry air search radar for picket duty. Triton was built as an SSRN, with the “N” standing for nuclear, but the radar picket submarine mission was abandoned just about the time that Triton was entering service. Carrier-capable airborne early warning aircraft like the Grumman E-1 Tracer were capable of carrying out the function of radar picket for a fraction of the cost of a submarine. Triton became the only boat of her class to be built.
