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USS SARGO continued the Refueling Overhaul at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. During this overhaul, the USS SARGO also received the capability to carry the MK 48 Torpedo. In April the USS SARGO received the new Reactor Core during refueling. On 7 June USS SARGO undocked from Dry Dock #2 and in July completed Steam Testing on the Secondary Plant. In September USS SARGO completed the Reactor Plant Fill and the remainder of the year was spent in preparing for the Pre-Critical Reactor Safeguards Examination and in meeting the prerequisites for Initial Criticality. CAPT Peter Graef (1971 – 1975) passed along the following story about a Monkey in the Maneuvering Room … “It was a Saturday morning in 1974 in paradise, a.k.a. Hawaii. "As good nukes, we were all at 'work'. After all, our ship, USS SARGO (SSN583) was in the middle of a refueling overhaul in Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. Saturdays were part of the "normal" work week. "Sometime mid-morning, the Skipper received a most unusual phone call from SUBPAC Headquarters. Apparently Admiral Rickover called the Force Commander (2-Star Admiral) and chewed him out about one of his Submarines having a monkey in the Maneuvering Room. This had been reported by a local Naval Reactors Representative. "The Skipper jokingly relayed this info to us during lunch. We all laughed. THEN, I suddenly realized we had a Brass Monkey hanging from a bracket high in the Maneuvering Room overhead. "Background: "We had been on two back-to-back WESTPAC deployments in 1971 – 1972. We spent a lot of time in the Philippines, and we had visits to Hong Kong (at that time a British Crown Colony) and Kaoshung, Taiwan (still a Democratic Chinese Republic). Somewhere along the line, many crew members purchased brass hanging monkeys. They had 2-inch bodies and 5-inch arms with hands turned so one could be hung from the next and so on. The string could be endless, limited only by the height of the top monkey. One of these fellows ended up hanging from the High Accuracy Pressure Instrument (called HAPI) bracket in the overhead of Maneuvering. It had been there so long, we had forgotten about it. It witnessed TWO ORSEs from its lofty perch! "Back to 1974: "Realizing our Brass Monkey was the perpetrator; I sheepishly retrieved it and showed it to the Skipper. I apologized for the embarrassment of having to come clean to the Admiral and told him he would never see it again. "I have no idea what he said to the Admiral. I’m sure he had to explain it. But, true to his nature, nothing ever trickled down on us. "As Paul Harvey says: 'And now for the rest of the story:' "I lied. The Skipper would see it again. But it has been 33 years. The SARGO has been laid to rest. HAPIs don’t exist any more. But, THE MONKEY LIVES. And here he is (all polished up):

Courtesy Charles Johnson	Courtesy Charles Johnson
Pete Graef presenting the Brass Monkey to former Commanding Officer Michael McBride at the 2007 USS SARGO (SSN 583) Association Reunion in Lake Tahoe.	CAPT Michael McBride, former Commanding Officer (1972 - 1975) with the Brass Monkey.

In 1974 the following awards and commendations were presented: For service on USS SARGO LCDR Robert G. Partlow and LCDR John J. Hyland, III received the Navy Commendation Medal, LTJG Russell D. Freeman and LTGJ R. L. Merring received the Navy Achievement Medal. For service at former commands SKC R. D. McGowan was awarded the Navy Achievement Medal and Vietnam Staff Service Medal Second Class and TM1(SS) Monty L. Hadley was awarded the Joint Services Commendation Medal. For service on USS SARGO WO1 S. Altenhein was awarded a COMTHIRDFLT Commendation, CSC(SS) Denver T. Maxfield, MMC(SS) John. M. Ball, and RM2(SS) Jimmie J. Gruver were awarded COMSUBPAC Commendations, SDSN(SS) Wayne E. Dwight, QMC(SS) Samuel W. Jones, MM1(SS) Kenneth H. Hartung, and QM3(SU) Steven R. Von Hitritz were awarded COMSUBRON ONE Commendations. Numerous individuals received Commanding Officer Letters of Commendation for superior performance during Overhaul.

Courtesy John Ball

A Farewell to MMC(SS) John Ball from the Commanding Officer CDR Michael McBride.

Courtesy John Ball	Courtesy John Ball
PLAN OF THE DAY - 26 Sep 1974 (Page 1)	PLAN OF THE DAY - 26 Sep 1974 (Page 2)

USS SARGO (SSN 583) in the Auxiliary Repare Dock San Onofre (ARD 30)

Courtesy Frank Snyder