Halibut departed on her Shakedown cruise 11 March 1960. On 25 March, underway to Australia, she became the first nuclear-powered submarine to successfully launch a guided missile. She returned to Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 18 June 1960, and after short training cruises sailed 7 November for Pearl Harbor to join the Pacific Fleet. During her first deployment she successfully launched her seventh consecutive Regulus I missile during a major Southeast Asia Treaty Organization weapons demonstration. Returning to Pearl Harbor on 9 April 1961 Halibut began her second deployment 1 May. During subsequent cruises. she participated in several missile firing exercises and underwent training.

Halibut deployed for the third time to the Western Pacific in late 1961 , establishing a pattern of training and readiness operations followed through 1984. On 4 May 1964 Halibut departed Pearl Harbor for the last Regulus missile patrol to be made by a submarine in the Pacific. In total, between February 1961 and July 1964, Halibut undertook a total of seven deterrent patrols before being replaced in the Pacific by Polaris equipped submarines of the George Washington class. From September through December 1964, Halibut joined eight other submarines in testing and evaluating the attack capabilities of the Permit-class submarine.

In February 1965 Halibut entered Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for a major overhaul, and on 15 August was re-designated as an attack submarine and given the hull classification symbol SSN-587. She sailed from Pearl Harbor on 6 September for the West Coast, arriving at Keyport, Washington, on 20 September. On 5 October she departed Keyport for Pearl Harbor and, after an eight day stop over at Mare Island, California, arrived 21 October. Halibut then began ASW operations in the area, continuing until August 1968 when she transferred to Mare Island for overhaul and installation of: side thrusters; hangar section sea lock; anchoring winches with fore and aft mushroom anchors; saturation diving (mixed gas) habitat; long and short range side-look sonar; video and photographic equipment; mainframe computer; induction tapping and recording equipment; port and starboard , fore and aft seabed skids ("sneakers"); towed underwater search vehicle ("fish") and winch; and other specialized oceanographic equipment. She returned to Pearl Harbor in 1970 and operated with the Pacific Fleet and Submarine Development Group One (SubDevGruOne) out of San Diego with attachment offices at Mare Island until decommissioning in 1976.

This Limited Edition Blue Ridge Models kit is one of the first from the reborn line. This kit, CAD designed and 3D printed will appeal to the collector, casual builder and even the rivet counter. It is nicely packed in handsome packaging with all parts secured from any damage. 

This is kit # BRM35032- 1/350 Blue Ridge Models USS Halibut SSNG/SSN-587 2-in-1 Submarine Model Kit with a list price of $89.95. You can get yours from Freetime Hobbies. Stay tuned as more subs are coming in 1/350 scale from Blue Ridge Models.