U.S. Navy to christen new fast-attack submarine USS Idaho this weekend
March 15 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy will christen the fast-attack nuclear submarine USS Idaho on Saturday in Groton, Conn.
Construction began on the sub in 2017, and it will be the 26th Virginia-class fast-attack submarine in the U.S. Navy.
It's the fifth Navy ship to use the Idaho name. The last Navy Idaho-christened ship was a battleship commissioned in 1919.
The Saturday christening will feature a principal address by Nickolas H. Guertin, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition.
Rather than a bottle of sparkling wine, the sub will be christened with water collected from several Idaho lakes.
Teresa Stackley, daughter of former Navy officer Sean Stackley, will christen the new submarine.
The Navy said in a statement, "Virginia-class submarines are built to operate in the world's littoral and deep waters while conducting anti-submarine warfare; anti-surface ship warfare; strike warfare; special operations forces support; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; irregular warfare; and mine warfare missions."
Although Idaho is landlocked, there's a Navy Acoustic research Detachment on Lake Pend Oreille, the state's biggest and deepest body of water. The Navy described it as a state-of-the-art facility that helps support research, testing, development and evaluation of submarine acoustic stealth technology and propulsor design.
There are three classes of U.S. Navy attack submarines, relying on nuclear powered propulsion.
Los Angeles-class submarines are the backbone of the submarine force, according to the U.S. Navy. Roughly 25 are currently active. They fire Tomahawk cruise missiles from 12 vertical launch tubes.
There are three Seawolf-class subs the Navy said are exceptionally fast, well-armed and equipped with advanced sensors.
The Virginia-class is the newest, with 22 commissioned so far. They replace the Los Angeles-class subs as those vessels are retired.
