The Department of Defense (DOD) held a ceremony this week in Salt Lake City to officially announce that Virginia-class attack submarine SSN 801 will be named the USS Utah, the second U.S. naval ship to bear that name.
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus led the ceremony to name the ship, which aims to honor the state’s history with the U.S. Navy, including its housing of the Naval Supply Depot Clearfield, which the Defense Department said was the world's largest naval supply facility by the end of World War II.
The USS Utah will be built in line with an agreement between General Dynamics Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News Shipbuilding division.
The DOD said this will be the second vessel to bear the USS Utah moniker. The original was a battleship that was commissioned in 1911, served during the Mexican Civil War and provided support during World War I, then was sunk during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 as it was performing regular exercises.
Virginia-class submarines can fire Tomahawk cruise missiles, can be utilized in anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare, and perform mine delivery and mapping services. This class of vessel measures 377 feet in length and can travel 25 knots while submerged.
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