The U.S. Navy’s 27th Virginia-class submarine, USS Arkansas, has been launched into the water for the first time at Newport News Shipbuilding.
Workers transferred the new boat from the Virginia construction yard into a floating dry dock and then out into the James River on Tuesday last week. She will float pierside at the HII facility while she undergoes final outfitting, testing, and crew certification.
The nuclear-powered attack submarine is 115 metres long and has a 10-metre beam; she is capable of a maximum speed of in excess of 25 knots and has a crew of about 135. She is the 13th Virginia-class boat built at the Newport News shipyard.
Bryan Caccavale, vice-president of Navy programmes at NNS, commented: “We are committed to increasing submarine construction cadence and throughput for the U.S. Navy.”
He added: “Nuclear-powered submarines are critical to our national security and we’re proud to see Arkansas in the water.”
As a Block IV variant submarine, she will be able to carry 37 Tomahawk cruise missiles; 12 of these can be fired via vertical launch tubes, the remainder via torpedo tubes.
She is designed for a range of missions including anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-ship warfare, strike warfare, special operations, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), and mine warfare.
USS Arkansas is the last of the Block IV variants under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding; the yard is currently building four more Block V variants, the Oklahoma, Barb, Wahoo and Silversides. Two further boats, Long Island and Miami have also been authorised.
Virginia-class submarines are scheduled to be built until at least 2043, and are likely to stay in active service until at least 2060, with the newest boats expected to operate into the 2070s.
- You can read more details on the HII website