The US Navy has accepted delivery of the USS Washington, the 14th submarine of the Virginia class.
Washington is the fourth of eight Virginia Block III submarines and the seventh of the class to be delivered to the US Navy by Huntington Ingalls Industries.
Mike Stevens, Virginia-class Submarine Program Manager said:
“Washington’s delivery continues our commitment to deliver Virginia-class submarines within budget and ready to deploy and execute Fleet tasking.”
The Washington successfully completed the Board of Inspection and Survey trials earlier this month receiving a score of 96 out of 100, the highest score to date on any new construction Virginia class submarine according to the US Navy. The INSURV board conducts acceptance trials of ships and service craft for the purpose of determining the quality of construction, compliance with specifications and Navy requirements.
Block III submarines feature a redesigned bow, which replaces 12 individual launch tubes with two large-diameter Virginia Payload Tubes, each capable of launching six Tomahawk cruise missiles. This, among other design changes, reduced the submarines’ acquisition cost while maintaining their outstanding warfighting capabilities.
