Bruce Bates

The USS Lewis & Clark (SSBN-644) was a Benjamin Franklin-class fleet ballistic missile submarine commissioned by the United States Navy in 1965. Named after famed American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, she played a critical role in the nation’s strategic nuclear deterrence during the Cold War. Equipped with Polaris and later Poseidon ballistic missiles, the USS Lewis & Clark conducted numerous deterrent patrols as part of the Navy’s “41 for Freedom” submarine force. After over two decades of service, she was decommissioned in 1992 and subsequently scrapped through the Navy’s Ship-Submarine Recycling Program.