Naomi Cooper
HII‘s Newport News Shipbuilding division has christened Massachusetts (SSN 798), the U.S. Navy’s 25th Virginia-class nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine built to conduct open-ocean and littoral missions.
SSN 798 is the 12th submarine in the Virginia class that NNS built for the service branch, HII said Saturday.
The christening ceremony was held outside of the module outfitting facility at the shipyard and was attended by NNS shipbuilders, officials from the Navy, the submarine crew and its sponsor.
Erik Raven, the undersecretary of the Navy, delivered the keynote address and commended the people behind the SSN 798 development who were “able to turn raw steel into the world’s most sophisticated undersea capabilities.”
NNS is one of two private shipyards in the U.S. that design and build nuclear-powered submarines for the U.S. Navy.
