US Navy Secretary Ray Mabus will name the Navy’s new Virginia-class submarine as USS Utah in a ceremony on September 28 .
This will be the second vessel in US Navy history to bear the name. The first USS Utah was commissioned in 1911 and was eventually sunk by the Japanese in 1941.
In 1998, the U.S. Navy awarded a $4.2 billion contract for the construction of the first four ships of the class. Virginia is the first of these. US Navy currently has twelve Virginia-class submarines in service and several more in construction.
The USS Utah will be constructed at Groton, Conn., and is supposed to be delivered to the Navy by 2022, reported The Salt Lake Tribune.
Naval Today Staff, Image: US Navy