USS Casimir Pulaski (SSBN-633), a ballistic missile submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Casimir Pulaski (1745–1779), a Polish general who served in the American Revolutionary War. Construction and commissioning The contract to build Casimir Pulaski was awarded to the Electric Boat Division (EB) of the General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut, on 20 July 1961 and her keel was laid down there on 12 January 1963. She was launched on 1 February 1964, sponsored by Mary Louise (Metz) Gronouski, wife of United States Postmaster General and first Polish-American cabinet officer John A. Gronouski Jr., and commissioned on 14 August 1964, with Captain Robert L. J. Long in command of the Blue Crew and Commander Thomas B. Brittain Jr. in command of the Gold Crew. Service history Casimir Pulaski's first dive was on 28 June 1964. After she was commissioned on 14 August 1964, Casimir Pulaski stood out of Electric Boat for a three-month shakedown cruise with both crews to the waters off Cape Kennedy where she test-fired multiple UGM-27 Polaris ballistic missiles. Blue Crew's first missile firing was on 31 October and Gold Crew's was on 13 November 1964. She completed her shakedown on 5 December 1964, and proceeded back to Groton. From Groton, the boat went to the Polaris Missile Facility Atlantic at Naval Weapons Station Charleston, South Carolina for her final weapons load out. Assigned to Submarine Squadron (Subron) 16, she proceeded to Naval Station Rota, Spain, in March 1965. The Pulaski's Blue Crew set sail on the boat's first deterrent patrol on 13 April 1965. After completing 20 deterrent patrols, Casimir Pulaski returned to EB in Groton, Connecticut on 5 January 1970 for refueling and overhaul where the S5W reactor was replaced with an S3G core 3 and the boat became the seventh SSBN refitted to carry UGM-73 Poseidon ballistic missiles. After the overhaul, she was reassigned to Submarine Squadron (SubRon) 14 and departed for Holy Loch, Scotland on 30 April 1971. In June 1971, while in Holy Loch, Casimir Pulaski was the first boat to have the Integrated Data Acquisition System (IDAS) M-35 set installed. On 2 July, the Blue Crew successfully completed the Pulaski's first Poseidon missile launch during her Demonstration and Shakedown Operations (DASO) — testing of missile systems that allowed the collection of flight data and examinations of submarine launch platforms. The Gold Crew followed