The contract to build Bluefish was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut, on 15 July 1966 and her keel was laid down there on 13 March 1968.

Each 19 feet (5.8 m), 3,434 pounds (1,558 kg) torpedo has a piston engine and pump jet capable of accelerating it past 28 knots (32 mph).

The torpedo is guided by passive/aggressive accusative homing or wire guidance to deliver its 650 pounds (290 kg) warhead to the target.

Unlike your average anti-submarine missile, the UUM-44A is designed to be fired out of the submarine into the air where it calculates its targets position and flies 55 kilometers to impact point.

Its detection system is reliable acoustic path (RAP) sound propagation with a snake or circle search pattern in launch mode.

[citation needed] Bluefish was designed for stealth and surveillance, and was an integral part of the US NAVY's strategic defense during the height of the Cold War.

Her scrapping via the Nuclear-Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton, Washington, was completed on 1 November 2003.