Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division has delivered the newest Virginia-class fast-attack submarine to the US Navy, USS Montana.
Montana (SSN 794), which successfully completed sea trials last month, is the 10th Virginia-class submarine to be delivered by HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division and the 21st built as part of the teaming agreement with General Dynamics’ Electric Boat.
Construction work on USS Montana began in May 2015. The submarine was christened by the ship’s sponsor, former US Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, during a ceremony in September 2020.
USS Montana is the third of the 10-ship group of Virginia-class submarines known as Block IV.
Block IV submarines incorporate design changes focused on reduced total ownership cost. By making smaller-scale design changes, the navy is expected to increase the length of time between maintenance stops and increase the number of deployments.