1971 “Blast” (not) Onboard USS Daniel Boone (SSBN-629)
“Canaveral Sub Hit by Blast?”
(From the 15 December 1971 Orlando Sentinel)
“PORT CANAVERAL - White smoke billowed from the conning tower of the nuclear powered Polaris submarine SS[sic] Daniel Boone late Friday night after reports of an explosion at the port.
“The docked sumbarine was reported venting heavy white smoke and several emergency vehicles were at the scene.
“Men were seen on the deck of the submarine and large spotlights on the dock and the USS Observation Island lit the area.
“Reports of an explosion were made to the City of Cape Canaveral Police Department about 11 p.m.
“The City of Cape Canaveral Fire Department called the Cape and was told there had been a transformer explosion and fire. Fire department officials said Cape sources refused to say any more.
“It was not known if the power failures report in the port area and the smoke from the submarine were connected.
“Navy and port officials could not be reached for comment early today.
“A Patrick Air Force Base spokesman said the base had unconfirmed reports early today of a large power failure on the Cape, affecting launch complexes 17, 31, and 32. The spokesman said he had no word at all involving a submarine.
“A spokesman for the Florida Power and Light Corp., which supplies the bulk of the electricity for the Cape, said he had reports of three 13,000-volt lines being ‘on the ground’ somewhere on the Cape. He had no other details.
“The spokesman said there was no trouble with lines taking power into the Cape.
“Jon Perry, Cocoa Beach, said he was at Cape Canaveral Pier, about two miles south of the port, when he saw three bright flashes of light leap into the sky. He said the light was a bluish-green. He said he heard no noise either before or after the light flashes.
“When he arrived in the port area, heavy smoke was pouring from the submarine, Perry said.”
This newspaper article courtesy of James Horrigan.
Said James about the article: “I was on the Gold Crew and we were at Cape Canaveral for missile ops. We had just come out of the yards in Newport News. There were threats of terrorist attacks on the Cape to protest a rocket launch by the ‘Weathermen’ It was a 60’s radical group. The base went on alert.
“People were fighting to get on the topside watch bill. They were letting us stand watch with .30 caliber rifles and Thompson sub machine guns (not loaded of course). Every one wanted to shoot a radical hippie.
“Anyway nothing really happened, the rocket was launched on schedule but in the middle of the night a power transformer blew up somewhere on base and we lost power to the boat. Luckily no drunks were on there way back from the Greenhouse or they would have been shot on sight. The diesel was lit off and, as you know, smoke was billowing from the sail. That’s what prompted the article BULLETIN ‘Canaveral Sub Hit By Blast’.” 
