USS Patrick Henry (SSBN-599), named after the American Revolutionary War figure and Founding Father Patrick Henry (1736–1799), was a nuclear-powered fleet ballistic missile submarine of the United States Navy. She was later converted into an attack submarine and redesignated SSN-599. History Commissioned Patrick Henrys keel was laid down by the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation, in Groton, Connecticut, on 26 May 1958. She was launched on 22 September 1959, sponsored by Mrs. Betty Arends (née Tychon), wife of Congressman Leslie C. Arends and was commissioned on 9 April 1960, with Commander Harold E. Shear in command of the Blue crew and Commander Robert L. J. Long commanding the Gold crew. Manned alternately by two crews, Blue and Gold, like all US Navy ballistic missile submarines, to maximize her submerged operations, Patrick Henry underwent shakedown with the Blue crew until 16 September 1960, when the Gold crew took over. The second fleet ballistic missile (FBM) submarine, she commenced her first deterrent patrol in December 1960 with her Blue Crew on board. When she surfaced off Holy Loch, Scotland, on 8 March 1961, she had set a record for her type, cruising submerged 66 days and 22 hours. Patrick Henry was the first ballistic missile submarine to enter Holy Loch, and the first to go alongside the submarine tender for replenishment and routine repair. Patrick Henry conducted 17 deterrent patrols from Holy Loch until December 1964 when she returned to Electric Boat. For 18 months she received complete and extensive overhaul and repair operations, including refueling of the S5W reactor plant and modifications to permit the handling of the Polaris A-3 missiles. After shakedown in mid-1966 off Puerto Rico and Cape Canaveral, Florida, Patrick Henry departed Charleston, South Carolina, in December for her eighteenth patrol, equipped with A-3 Polaris missiles and assigned to Submarine Squadron 14. On 1 March 1968, Patrick Henry completed her 22nd patrol at Holy Loch. During the early 1970s, Patrick Henrys home port was Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In 1976, Patrick Henry moved to Mare Island Naval Shipyard at Vallejo, California, for refueling. Demonstration and shakedown operations, 1978 In the spring of 1978, the Patrick Henry underwent Demonstration and Shakedown Operations (DASO). The purpose of the DASO was to ensure that the submarine's crew could safely meet the stringent requirements for handling, maintaining and operating her strategic weapons system. It also confirmed that the submarine's crew was