Brenda Marie Rivers
Huntington Ingalls Industries’ shipbuilding arm has reached the “pressure hull complete†phase for the Virginia-class New Jersey fast attack submarine ahead of sending the vessel to the U.S. Navy in 2022.
HII said Tuesday that its Newport News Shipbuilding segment achieved 72 percent completion for SSN 796 as part of the milestone last month.
The achievement entails the completion of efforts to integrate all of the submarine’s hull sections into a consolidated watertight unit.
New Jersey is slated for christening following its delivery to the Navy.
Jason Ward, vice president of Virginia-class submarine construction at Newport News Shipbuilding, said the company’s completion of hull integration activities proves his team’s capacity to meet program goals amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Jersey entered the construction phase in 2016 and achieved the keel authentication milestone in 2019.
