Built as Scorpion, rechristened and stretched, the George Washington slides into the Thames at Groton

The Cold War had created a nuclear stalemate on land, and the United States needed a weapon that could survive a first strike and still hit back. On June 9, 1959, the submarine that would answer that problem slid into the water at Electric Boat Division in Groton, Connecticut — originally laid down as an attack submarine named Scorpion, then lengthened by 130 feet during construction and rechristened George Washington. Commissioned that December with Commander James B. Osborn leading her Blue crew, she carried 16 Polaris ballistic missiles and represented the first leg of what would become America's undersea nuclear deterrent. Eighteen months later, she completed her first deterrent patrol — 66 days submerged — and the logic of nuclear war had permanently shifted beneath the ocean…