The U.S. Navy took delivery of USS Washington (SSN 787), the 14th Virginia-class submarine, on May 26.
Washington is also the seventh boat in the class built by Huntington Ingalls Industries and the fourth of eight Virginia-class Block III submarines.
Washington began construction in September 2011 and will be commissioned later this year in Norfolk, Virginia. The submarine’s sponsor is Elisabeth Mabus, daughter of the 75th Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus.
“Washington’s delivery continues our commitment to deliver Virginia-class submarines within budget and ready to deploy and execute Fleet tasking,” said Capt. Mike Stevens, Virginia-class submarine program manager.”
Washington will be the third U.S. Navy ship, and first submarine, to be commissioned with a name honoring the state of Washington. The previous two ships were an armored cruiser, (ACR 11), which served under the name from 1905 to 1916, and a World War II battleship (BB 56), decommissioned in 1947.
Washington successfully completed the Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV) trials earlier this month receiving a score of 96 out of 100, the highest score to date on any new construction Virginia-class submarine. The INSURV board conducts acceptance trials of ships and service craft for the purpose of determining the quality of construction, compliance with specifications and Navy requirements.
Block III submarines feature a redesigned bow, which replaces 12 individual launch tubes with two large-diameter Virginia payload tubes, each capable of launching six Tomahawk cruise missiles.