In the dark depths of the Cold War, one submarine carried the name of a Founding Father who believed peace could be preserved only through strength. USS John Adams, SSBN-620, was a Lafayette-class ballistic missile submarine built to ensure that no enemy would dare start a war it could not finish. From her launch in 1963 to her recycling in 1996, she patrolled the oceans unseen, part of the silent shield that kept the balance of deterrence intact.
This episode tells her story, from her keel laying at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to her long patrols from Holy Loch and Rota, Spain. It is a tribute to the men who lived and served in the quiet tension of the nuclear age, and to the enduring legacy of the name John Adams, a symbol of vigilance, principle, and devotion to the cause of liberty beneath the waves.
