USS George C. Marshall (SSBN-654), a ballistic missile submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for General of the Army George C. Marshall (1880-1959), who served as U.S. Secretary of State from 1947 to 1949 and as U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1950 to 1951. Construction and commissioning The contract to build George C. Marshall was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia, on 29 July 1963 and her keel was laid down there on 2 March 1964. She was launched on 21 May 1965, sponsored by Katherine Tupper Marshall, widow of General Marshal. At the launching ceremony, former U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson (1893–1971) eloquently described George C. Marshalls strategic deterrent role in the Cold War in this way: "... the waves set up by this launching will go to the furthest reaches of our foreign relations. The very existence of this ship, her power, her mission, her orders, her competence to execute them, will affect more computations, more decisions, than we can readily imagine. Far beyond the Pentagon, the State Department, and the White House, she will add a new factor, a new magnitude, to the correlation of forces by which the communists determine their decisions." George C. Marshall was commissioned on 29 April 1966, with Commander Warren Richardson Cobean, Jr. in command of the Blue Crew and Commander Willard Edward Johnson in command of the Gold Crew. Service history History needed for 1973-1981. September 1969, the Blue crew went aboard in Holy Loch, Scotland, and departed in October on patrol #7 under the command of Capt Hay. In December the ship returned to Holy Loch and the Gold crew took over. This sequence was repeated in March 1970 with the Blue crew returning on board in Holy Loch. It tied up alongside the submarine tender USS Canopus. 1970 and 1971, the Gold and Blue crews repeated the sequence except that the Gold crew returned to Charleston, SC in March 1971. The Blue crew was under the command of Capt Paul for patrols #11 and #13 returning to Holy Loch before transit to overhaul via the Panama Canal. Overhaul 1971-1973 April 1973 successfully performed DASO ballistic missile launch November 1975 visited Faslane Submarine Base in Scotland Operated out of Rota Naval Station, Rota, Spain mid-1970s Late in 1970s "George C. Marshall" was caught in a