USS William H. Bates, a Sturgeon-class attack submarine, was planned to be the second U.S. Navy ship to be named USS Redfish—for the redfish, a variety of salmon also called blueback, sawqui, red salmon, and nerka—when the contract to build her was awarded to Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on 25 June 1968. However, upon the 22 June 1969 death of William H. Bates, the U.S. Representative from Massachusetts's 6th Congressional District known for his staunch support of nuclear propulsion in the U.S. Navy, she was renamed William H. Bates and was laid down on 4 August 1969 as the only ship of the U.S. Navy to have borne the name. The reason for her naming by then-Secretary of the Navy John Chafee, breaking with a long-standing Navy tradition of naming U.S. Navy attack submarines for sea creatures, was best summed up by Admiral Hyman Rickover, the then-director of the Navy's nuclear reactors program, with the pithy comment that, "Fish don't vote!"
Construction and commissioning
The contract to build Redfish was awarded on 25 June 1968, and she had been renamed William H. Bates by the time her keel was laid on 4 August 1969 by Ingalls Shipbuilding. She was launched on 11 December 1971, sponsored by Mrs. Andrew R. Grainger, and commissioned on 5 May 1973 with Commander Glenn N. Arthur, Jr., in command.
Service history
1973–1979
After shakedown, William H. Bates arrived at her home port, New London, Connecticut. She was deployed to the eastern Atlantic Ocean between July and October 1974 and conducted her first patrol mission before visiting Holy Loch, Scotland, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, on her way home. However, her respite was brief, for she was again underway on patrol by the latter part of December 1974 and into January 1975. After voyage repairs at Holy Loch, she called at Faslane, Scotland, for a port visit. Departing Faslane for home in late January 1974, William H. Bates underwent a refit at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, before conducting local operations off Fort Lauderdale, Florida, into the summer of 1975. She was deployed to European waters again soon thereafter, taking part in antisubmarine warfare exercises. In November 1975, she took part in North Atlantic Treaty Organization exercises "Moby Dick" and "Ocean Safari '75," before she returned to New London in December 1975. William H. Bates conducted her first deployment to the Mediterranean Sea in 1976, departing New London on 5 May 1976. During this tour, she honed her skills in exercises with other ships of the U.S. Navy and NATO naval units of foreign countries. During the deployment, she visited Bizerte, Tunisia; Augusta Bay, Sicily; and La Spezia and Naples, Italy. After departing the Mediterranean Sea on 6 September 1976, she took part in exercise "Ocean Safari '76" in mid-month. On 14 October 1976, she returned to New London. William H. Bates underwent voyage repairs and later prepared for another overseas deployment. She departed New London during the summer of 1977 and completed her assigned mission on 3 October 1977, mooring alongside the submarine tender that day. She subsequently transited the North Sea for a port visit to Bremerhaven, West Germany, where she spent five days. She then took part in exercise "Ocean Safari '77" with NATO units while returning from European waters to New London. William H. Bates operated in the Atlantic into early 1978 until moving to a new home port, San Diego, California, in May 1978 for service in the United States Pacific Fleet.
In 1991, after completion of the refueling overhaul, William H. Bates home port was changed to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, from which she completed several Western Pacific deployments and operations during the 1990s.
