U.S. Navy Names Five New Submarines

Sec­re­tary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced today the next five Vir­ginia-class attack sub­marines will be named the USS Illi­nois, the USS Wash­ing­ton, the USS Col­orado, the USS Indi­ana, and the USS South Dako­ta.

Mabus named the Vir­ginia-class sub­marines to hon­or the great con­tri­bu­tions and sup­port these states have giv­en the mil­i­tary through the years. 

“Each of these five states serves as home to mil­i­tary bases that sup­port our nation­al defense and pro­vides men and women who vol­un­teer to serve their coun­try,” Mabus said. “I look for­ward to these sub­marines join­ing the fleet and rep­re­sent­ing these great states around the world.” 

None of the five states has had a ship named for it for more than 49 years. The most recent to serve was the bat­tle­ship the USS Indi­ana, which was decom­mis­sioned in Octo­ber 1963. 

The selec­tion of Illi­nois, des­ig­nat­ed SSN 786, is the sec­ond ship to bear the state name and is home to the Navy’s one and only Recruit Train­ing Com­mand in Great Lakes where every enlist­ed sailor begins his or her service. 

The selec­tion of Wash­ing­ton, des­ig­nat­ed SSN 787, is the third ship to bear the state name and the state’s Puget Sound area, where the Navy’s third-largest fleet con­cen­tra­tion is located. 

The selec­tion of Col­orado, des­ig­nat­ed SSN 788, is the third ship to bear the state name. The sec­ond ship was a bat­tle­ship that stood as the lead ship of her class and took part in the Tarawa invasion. 

The selec­tion of Indi­ana, des­ig­nat­ed SSN 789, is the third ship to bear the state name and is the home to the Naval Sur­face War­fare Cen­ter Crane Divi­sion, in Crane, Ind., the Navy’s pre­mier engi­neer­ing, acqui­si­tion and sus­tain­ment orga­ni­za­tion which sup­ports our mar­itime warriors. 

The selec­tion of South Dako­ta, des­ig­nat­ed SSN 790, is the third ship to bear the state name. The sec­ond ship was a bat­tle­ship that also stood as the lead ship of her class and fought exten­sive­ly in the Pacif­ic the­ater dur­ing World War II. 

“Pri­or ships car­ry­ing the names of these five states stood as defend­ers of free­dom on the water. Now these states will rep­re­sent the lat­est and great­est tech­nol­o­gy ever assem­bled to sub­merge below the sur­face and project pow­er for­ward,” Mabus said. 

These next-gen­er­a­tion attack sub­marines will pro­vide the Navy with the capa­bil­i­ties required to main­tain the nation’s under­sea suprema­cy well into the 21st cen­tu­ry. They will have enhanced stealth, sophis­ti­cat­ed sur­veil­lance capa­bil­i­ties, and spe­cial war­fare enhance­ments that will enable them to meet the Navy’s mul­ti-mis­sion requirements. 

These sub­marines will have the capa­bil­i­ty to attack tar­gets ashore with high­ly accu­rate Tom­a­hawk cruise mis­siles and con­duct covert long-term sur­veil­lance of land areas, lit­toral waters or oth­er sea-based forces. Oth­er mis­sions include anti-sub­ma­rine and anti-ship war­fare; mine deliv­ery and mine­field map­ping. They are also designed for spe­cial forces deliv­ery and support. 

Each Vir­ginia-class sub­ma­rine is 7,800-tons and 377 feet in length, has a beam of 34 feet, and can oper­ate at more than 25 knots sub­merged. It is designed with a reac­tor plant that will not require refu­el­ing dur­ing the planned life of the ship, reduc­ing life­cy­cle costs while increas­ing under­way time. The sub­marines will be built in part­ner­ship with Gen­er­al Dynamics/Electric Boat Corp. SSN 786, 788 and 790 will be built by Elec­tric Boat in Gro­ton, Conn. SSN 787 and 789 will be built by Hunt­ing­ton Ingalls Indus­tries-New­port News Ship­build­ing in New­port News, Va. 

Media may direct queries to the Navy Office of Infor­ma­tion at 703–697-5342. For more news from sec­re­tary of the Navy pub­lic affairs, vis­it http://www.navy.mil/SECNAV .

For more infor­ma­tion about the Vir­ginia-class attack sub­ma­rine, vis­it http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4100&tid=100&ct=4 .

CORRECTION: Apr. 13, 2012, no. 264–12 — The name of the USS Indi­ana, SSN 789, home cen­ter is cor­rect­ed to Naval Sur­face War­fare Cen­ter Crane Divi­sion, in Crane, Ind. 

CORRECTION: Apr. 13, 2012, no. 264–12 — The com­pa­nies build­ing each ship have been cor­rect­ed from Northrop Grum­man Ship­build­ing to Elec­tric Boat in Gro­ton, Conn., for the USS Illi­nois, SSN 786; the USS Col­orado, SSN 788; and the USS South Dako­ta, SSN 790, and Hunt­ing­ton Ingalls Indus­tries-New­port News Ship­build­ing in New­port News, Va., for the USS Wash­ing­ton, SSN 787 and the USS Indi­ana, SSN 789. 

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs)