SS-581 was commissioned in 1956 and laid down at Ingalls Shipbuilding in 1957. The submarine was launched in 1959 and named Blueback by Mrs. Kenmore M. McManes, the wife of an admiral, after a form of rainbow trout that lives in Lake Crescent. The submarine was put into service in the same year.
After the test trips, the submarine was moved to the Pacific in June and stationed in San Diego. At the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, minor problems that had arisen were resolved after the first voyages and first test firings. The boat's first mission to the Western Pacific followed in 1959, including a visit to Yokosuka in Japan. After completing the voyage, she participated in a large-scale anti-submarine warfare exercise under the supervision of then-Chief of Naval Operations George Whelan Anderson, Jr. and along with the new aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63) and USS Topeka (CLG-8 ), USS Henry B. Wilson (DDG-7) and USS Preble (DLG-15). After further exercises, Blueback went to Mare Island NSY for her first overhaul in July 1962. Among other things, the depth control rudders were moved from the bow of the boat to the tower. After the overhaul, the boat was stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in early 1963.
From there the Blueback moved to Australia, Subic Bay and Japan in April. In 1964 the ship had to go into dry dock after a falling crane damaged the hull. Later that year she sailed twice to the Wake region, first as a target ship for the UUM-44 Subroc, then as a target ship for the evaluation of the Thresher class to serve. In 1965, the Blueback was deployed again to the Far East, where she was involved in operations in support of the Vietnam War fleet for the first time. An overhaul at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard followed towards the end of the year, which lasted until September 1966. Another trip followed in 1967 to support the Vietnam War. The boat was not in Vietnamese waters. In 1968 the Blueback was on unspecified special operations in the Far East. In 1969/1970 the ship was again in the Puget Sound NSY.
Another war mission followed in April 1970, after which the ship was in the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for maintenance. The Blueback was also in Vietnamese waters in 1971. From March 1972 she was in Pearl Harbor NSY for overhaul for a year, and only in mid-1973 did she move back to the Far East. In 1975 the submarine took part in the RIMPAC maneuver for the first time, followed by another overhaul in 1976 at Pearl Harbor NSY. In 1977 she was deployed again as part of RIMPAC and then moved back to San Diego. From there the boat took part in the UNITAS exercise. In 1978, the Blueback moved to the Western Pacific for the eighth time, where she took part in multinational exercises. Another such trip followed in 1980.
After ten more years of service with the US Navy, the Blueback was decommissioned on October 1, 1990. This made her the last conventionally powered submarine in the US Navy fleet. Shortly beforehand, some scenes from the film The Hunt for Red October had been filmed on the boat, but these were not used in the film. She was in the reserve fleet in Bremerton until early 1994 and was then donated to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland. The Blueback now lies there on the banks of the Willamette River and can be visited as a museum ship.