first production-model nuclear-powered attack submarine of the U.S. Navy. Launched and commissioned in 1957, it was similar to the first nuclear-powered submarine, the Nautilus, but smaller, displacing only 2,360 tons. Like the Nautilus, the Skate and the three other boats in its class incorporated nuclear propulsion into a streamlined “Guppy”-style hull that had been adapted from advanced German designs of World War II. This combination allowed them to maintain underwater speeds in excess of 20 knots indefinitely. The Skate was the first submarine to make a completely submerged transatlantic crossing (1958) and the first to surface at the North Pole (1959). It was armed with torpedoes for attacking surface ships.

By the early 1960s the Skate class was removed from frontline service in favour of the faster Skipjack class, which was based on a tapered “teardrop” hull developed in the early 1950s. The Skate was decommissioned in 1986.