Her mission was to provide nuclear deterrent capability off the Pacific coast of the Soviet Union during peak years of the Cold War, from 1958 to 1964.

After training exercises off the East Coast Growler sailed south for her shakedown cruise, arriving at the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, Puerto Rico, on 19 February 1959.

Growler then proceeded to the Pacific via Norfolk, Virginia, Key West, Florida, and the Panama Canal, putting in at Pearl Harbor on 7 September to serve as flagship of Submarine Division 12.

On this mission, which lasted from 12 March to 17 May 1960, Growler departed Hawaii with a full store of Regulus sea-to-surface missiles, armed with nuclear warheads, and patrolled under a strict cloak of secrecy.

[1] From May 1960 through December 1963, Growler made nine such deterrent mission patrols, the fourth of which terminated at Yokosuka, Japan, on 24 April 1962, as the Navy displayed one of its newest weapons.

However, on 8 August 1988, Congress awarded the hulk to Zachary Fisher, Chairman of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.