USS Nathan Hale (SSBN-623)

USS "Nathan Hale" (SSBN 623) was the sixth "Lafayette"-class nuclear powered fleet ballistic missile submarine produced. Named for Captain Nathan Hale (1755–1776) who served most famously as a spy during the American Revolutionary War.

The contract for her construction was awarded on February 3 1961. Construction began on October 2 1962 by the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics in Groton, Connecticut. She was launched January 12 1963, sponsored by the wife of Admiral George Whelan Anderson, Jr. and commissioned on November 23 1963 in a subdued ceremony due to the assassination of President Kennedy the day before.

She entered service on May 21 1964, homeported in Charleston, South Carolina and performing deterrent patrols as a member of the Atlantic Fleet. She was originally outfitted with Polaris Missile System and in the 1970's underwent conversion to the Poseidon Missile System. By April, 1986, she had completed 69 Strategic Deterrent Patrols in the Atlantic.

In order to comply with the SALT II Treaty,President Reagan ordered her deactivated in May 1986. She was decommissioned on November 3 1986 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on January 31 1987. She entered the Navy's Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Bremerton, Washington on October 2 1991, being classed as scrapped on April 5 1994.

The hull number which would later be given USS "Nathan Hale", "623", was used as the hull number of the submarine which appeared in the 1959 film, "On the Beach". However, that submarine was diesel-electric (the operational dialog clearly indicated so despite a reference to "an American nuclear submarine") and bore no other connection to the "Nathan Hale".