CFN SS-590 James Gilian - Old Silent Warrior
Columbian Federal Navy SSBN James Gilian as painted in 1984.
The Columbian Federal Navy was a late adopter of the SSBN concept largely due to political mingling by the "carrier mafia". The Navy had invested fortunes into their newest supercarrier and aircraft designs to act as the nuclear deterrent of the Federation after the success carriers had seen as land strike assets in the Great War, and many a political career was under threat should submarines prove to be a more ideal delivery platform.
Regardless, in spite of hurdles and delays, in 1964, the Michael Crowning class of ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs or "Boomers") were commissioned, following a single experimental boat to validate the concept in practice. Initially, six boats were planned, but an additional four were ordered and would be completed to a slightly altered design to fit newer, larger SLBMs with MRV capability - something that the Crownings lacked. They possessed six bow tubes for self-defence and to act as raiders in a post-nuclear environment. As designed, they fired a sub-caliber anti-sub torpedo and the straight running, Great War vintage Mark X, but by these were soon replaced by newer, more potent weapons. They fielded a towed array - the first SSBN class in the world to do so - as well as a chin-mounted cylindrical device and a side-scanning passive unit. Sixteen SLBMs were carried - these were first generation weapons, the SLGM-N 1 Anubis missiles, delivering a singular 400 kiloton warhead. They could be fired while submerged at periscope depth, though the workload on the helmsmen to maintain depth and attitude was intense until newer systems improved automation.
The practice of naming submarines was still rather new at this point, and thus, the boats' names were comprised of a hull number and a personality's name (usually a submariner distinguished through heroic actions or exemplary benefit to the service), rather than the surface ship approach of having a name and separate hull number. The practice would last a considerable time in parts of the fleet: While subs operating in the east coast area would lose their hull number name hybrid designations in the late 70s, in the west coast subs the practice remained until the 1990s.
As it is considered to be bad fortune to rename a vessel while she is in the water, renaming took place during drydock stints. The often forward-deployed western seabed based subs sometimes spent years away from stateside, and thus, opportunities for name changes were rare.
Depicted is the third boat of her class, SS-590 James Gilian, named after the commanding Admiral of the CFN submarine force during the Columbian-Alantian War of 1910, as she appeared early in 1984. The vessel carries an eye-catching "shark mouth" paintjob. This curious detail had not been approved by Adm. Crusher, COMSUBOR, however, and quite who signed off on it was never found out, and so, James Gilian showed up to her renaming ceremony in NAVSTA Secena, surprising many with her vicious appearance.
A minor stir was caused, some harsh words were spoken behind closed doors, but ultimately, no career was ended. Only the mouth had to go during the ship's stay in drydock, which, apart from the name change, also saw the aging boat's final refit, granting her a new towed array and upgrading her missile launch authentication systems to modern standards, plus some more modern equipment mostly focused on quality of life improvements such as a new galley.
The next year, in 1985, it was decided to not refuel the six Crownings again, in spite of rising tensions. CFN James Gilian would pull into her homeport for the last time in 1987, being broken up in 1990, with her reactor section being handed over to the NNRA, who slowly deconstructed it. In November 2009, NNRA reported that the dismantling of the reactor section had been completed.