Name USS Holland (AS-32) Awarded 31 August 1961 Acquired 30 August 1963 Weight 19,300 tons Construction started 5 March 1962 Displacement 17.24 million kg | Namesake John Philip Holland Laid down 5 March 1962 Commissioned 7 September 1963 Length 183 m Launched 19 January 1963 Builder Ingalls Shipbuilding | |
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USS Holland (AS-32) was a submarine tender launched by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Company in Pascagoula, Mississippi on 19 January 1963. The first ever built specifically to service Fleet Ballistic Missile submarines (SSBNs), she was sponsored by Mrs. John C. Stennis, wife of US Senator John C. Stennis and delivered to the Charleston Naval Shipyard, Charleston, South Carolina. Holland was commissioned on 7 September 1963, with Captain Charles W. "Gin" Styer, Jr. in command.
Holland departed Charleston on 14 October for shakedown training at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, returning to Charleston on 19 November. She commenced post-shakedown availability on 25 November.
While Holland was neither a submersible nor a combatant ship, she was a vital link in support of the United States first line of deterrence, the Navy's Polaris missile. She contained a complete machine shop and was capable of making any submarine repair other than major overhaul, including servicing and maintaining the nuclear power plants of Polaris-equipped submarines.
The opening of 1964 found Holland at Charleston, South Carolina, making preparations for deployment to the Polaris replenishment anchorage at Rota, Spain. She arrived in Rota 1 April and relieved Proteus (AS-19) as the fleet submarine tender shortly thereafter. Holland continued her service to the Polaris submarines until relieved 4 November 1966. Holland arrived at Charleston 22 November. There, she tended submarines of the Atlantic Fleet into 1969. In March of that year she returned to Rota for another tour of duty.
From November 1975 – January 1982 she served Submarine Squadron 14 at Holy Loch, Scotland. She was a key contributor along with Irish, British and other naval ships in the rescue of racing yachts caught in severe storm during the 1979 Fastnet Race.
Holland was decommissioned on 30 September 1996 and is currently (2009) in the Reserve Fleet in Suisun Bay near San Francisco, California.
July 10, 2013 moved into dry dock at Mare Island for cleaning before being towed to Texas for scrapping.