USS Skipjack became the first U.S. Navy submarine to combine a fully integrated teardrop hull with nuclear propulsion. Commissioned in 1959, she was the lead ship of the Skipjack class and represented a major shift toward submarines optimized for underwater performance.
The hull form drew on the experimental work of USS Albacore, whose streamlined shape had demonstrated the advantages of reducing drag underwater. Skipjack applied those lessons to an operational nuclear-powered attack submarine. Her compact, rounded body and high-output reactor gave the class notable speed and agility.
The design also introduced a single-shaft arrangement and a distinctive control layout that influenced later American submarines. Skipjack-class boats served during the Cold War as fast attack submarines intended to track and counter opposing naval forces.
USS Albacore and USS Skipjack are sometimes conflated. Albacore tested the hydrodynamic concept as a diesel-electric research submarine; Skipjack carried it into the nuclear-powered fleet.