The USS Robert E. Lee was the third nuclear-powered fleet ballistic missile submarine to join the fleet. She started life as a Fast Attack and 26 years later, she ended her service by once more becoming a Fast Attack (click here to see her final days page). Her keel was laid on Shipway 5 Aug. 25, 1958, less than a month after her contract was signed on July 30. She was to become the USS Shark (SSN-591), Newport News Shipyard Hull No 545, as one of the boats in the modified Skipjack class (SSN-585) design. Although the contract for Shark had been awarded almost 18 months earlier than that of Robert E. Lee, the Polaris program had priority, so the Lee was completed first. Robert E. Lee and her four sisters in the George Washington Class (SSBN-598) that were built at other shipyards all started as a modified Skipjack-class design with a 130-foot missile section containing 16 Polaris tubes added amidships. Like the others in the 598 Class, the Lee's construction was expedited and she was launched on Dec. 18, 1959.
The Lee is the first U.S. Navy ship to bear the name of the famous confederate general and the first nuclear submarine to have been built in the South. She was the first nuclear ship to be built at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. The christening ceremony for Robert E. Lee was a festive one in tradition of the Old South, and Gen. Lee’s granddaughter Mrs. Hanson E. Ely, JR., served as sponsor. Robert E. Lee fired a water salvo from her missile tubes during the launching of Enterprise (CVAN-65) and completed highly successful sea trials before being commissioned at the shipyard. Another descendent of General Lee, Vice Admiral Fitzhugh Lee, USN, was the principal speaker when the ship was commissioned on September 16, 1960.
