Glenard P. Lipscomb-class (SSN-685)

USS Glenard P. Lipscomb (SSN-685) was a nuclear-powered attack submarine of the United States Navy. Named for a representative from California, the vessel was awarded to General Dynamics Electric Boat in 1968. Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird spoke at the keel-laying ceremony in 1971, and the vessel was commissioned on 21 December 1974.

The submarine was developed under project SCB 302.68 and was the second U.S. Navy design to utilize a turbo-electric transmission. This propulsion system was intended to evaluate the viability of electric drive for quieter operations and to provide instantaneous reverse thrust by reversing the electric polarity of the direct-current motor. To accommodate this system, the propulsion plant used in the earlier USS Tullibee was scaled up by a factor of six. This resulted in a vessel with greater displacement and a larger hull than contemporary attack submarines with conventional drive trains, which contributed to lower speeds. The turbo-electric drive system proved unreliable due to the configuration of its direct-current main motor. Although utilized as a platform to test these systems, the vessel was combat-capable and shared design characteristics with the Sturgeon class.

Service history included deployments to the North Atlantic in 1976 and 1978, and the Mediterranean Sea in 1977 and 1979. During this period, the vessel earned the Meritorious Unit Commendation and several awards for battle efficiency and engineering excellence. In 1987, the submarine collided with a tugboat in the Cooper River. The submarine sustained damage to its propeller and towed array housing, and the tugboat sank.

USS Glenard P. Lipscomb was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 11 July 1990. It was processed through the Ship-Submarine Recycling Program in 1997. The active service career of less than 16 years was one of the shortest for a nuclear submarine in the United States Navy.