The contract to build Drum was awarded to Mare Island Naval Shipyard at Vallejo, California, on 15 March 1967, and her keel was laid down there on 20 August 1968.

After commissioning, Drum conducted initial testing in Puget Sound before arriving at her home port of San Diego, California, on 22 May 1972.

Drum began her second deployment to the Western Pacific at the end of 1974, visiting Japan, Hong Kong, and the Philippines before returning to San Diego in May 1975.

1977 began with Drum changing her home port to Bremerton, Washington, and entering Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for Mark 48 torpedo impact testing and a non-refueling overhaul.

She spent the next several months conducting operations in Puget Sound, including visits to Seattle and Everett in Washington and Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada, until returning to San Diego, which once again became her home port, in July 1978.

From her return to San Diego until April 1979, Drum completed the rigorous training, testing, and loadout necessary prior to a deployment.

During this deployment, she completed a special operation for which she was awarded her second Meritorious Unit Commendation and made port visits to Guam, Thailand, and the Philippines.

After returning to San Diego in October 1979, she engaged in local operations and completed two months of repairs and alterations at Mare Island Naval Shipyard.

[1][2] In November 1981, Drum again departed San Diego for the Western Pacific, visiting South Korea, spending Christmas in Japan, and returning home at the beginning of 1982.

In May 1984, Drum left San Diego for a Western Pacific deployment, stopping in Hawaii for RIMPAC '84, a multi-national naval exercise, then continued west with visits to the Philippines, Japan, Guam, and Thailand.

After a summer of preparations, Drum departed San Diego in September 1990 for another deployment to the Western Pacific, during which she made port calls at Guam, Japan, and Singapore.

Port visits included Pearl Harbor, Japan, Guam, Singapore, and Australia, and she completed a 680 nautical miles (1,260 km) transit of the inner passage of the Great Barrier Reef.

On 13 February 1995, Drum departed San Diego for her thirteenth and last deployment to the Western Pacific, which included a visit to Guam.

Afterwards, she was stored at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, awaiting entry into the Nuclear-Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program for scrapping.

The non-profit Mare Island Park Historic Foundation was raising money to return Drum to Vallejo as a floating museum ship.