Micro Mir AMP MM350-042 SSBN-608 Ethan Allen 1:350

USS Ethan Allen (SSBN-608), lead ship of her class, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for American Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen.

Ethan Allen's keel was laid down by the Electric Boat Corporation of Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 22 November 1960, sponsored by Mrs. Robert H. Hopkins, great-great-great-granddaughter of Ethan Allen. The ship was commissioned on 8 August 1961, with Captain Paul L. Lacy, Jr., commanding Blue Crew and Commander W. W. Behrens, Jr., commanding the Gold Crew.

Ethan Allen (Navy hull design SCB 180) was the first submarine designed as a ballistic missile launch platform. (The earlier George Washington class were converted attack submarines.) She was constructed from HY80 steel (high yield, 80,000 psi (550,000 kPa) yield strength), and was fitted with the Mark 2 Mod 3 Ships Inertial Navigation System (SINS). At launch, she was outfitted with Polaris A-2 (UGM-27B) submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and Mark 16 Mod 6 torpedoes; the torpedo fire control system was the Mark 112 Mod 2. The A-2s would be replaced with Polaris A-3s and but maintained the high pressure air ejection launch gear throughout the rest of her career as a FBM. The fire control system was upgraded to the Mark 80 fire control systems during 1965, while in the 1970s these would be replaced with Polaris A-3Ts.