USS Arkansas (SSN-800)

Summary

USS Arkansas (SSN-800) is a Virginia-class nuclear powered attack submarine currently being built for the United States Navy. She is the twenty-seventh boat of the class and the fifth vessel to be named for the U.S. state of Arkansas. She was ordered on 28 April 2014, and named during a ceremony on 15 June 2016 by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus.[3] Arkansas was keel laid on 19 November 2022 at Newport News Shipbuilding.[2]

USS Arkansas (SSN-800)
Future Virginia-class submarine USS Arkansas (SSN-800) under construction
History
United States
NameUSS Arkansas
NamesakeState of Arkansas
Ordered28 April 2014[1]
BuilderNewport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia
Laid down19 November 2022[2]
Sponsored byMelba Pattillo Beals, Minnijean Brown-Trickey, Elizabeth Eckford, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Carlotta Walls LaNier and Thelma Mothershed-Wair (members of Little Rock Nine)[2]
IdentificationHull number: SSN-800
General characteristics
Class and typeVirginia-class submarine
Displacement7,800 tons
Length377 ft (115 m)
Beam34 ft (10.4 m)
Draft32 ft (9.8 m)
PropulsionS9G reactor auxiliary diesel engine
Speed25 knots (46 km/h)
Endurancecan remain submerged for up to 3 months
Test depthgreater than 800 ft (244 m)
Complement
  • 15 officers
  • 120 enlisted men
Armament12 x VPT tubes for Tomahawk BGM 109 Cruise missiles, 4 x 21 inch (530 mm) torpedo tubes for Mk-48 torpedoes UGM-84 Harpoon

Service History edit

Construction edit

On 27 September 2023, Huntington Ingalls Industries, which oversees Newport News Shipbuilding, announced that the pressure hull of Arkansas had been completed.[4]

In popular culture edit

A fictionalized version of Arkansas was featured in the 2018 film Hunter Killer, which was based on the novel Firing Point by George Wallace and Don Keith.

References edit

  1. ^ "Naval Vessel Register".
  2. ^ a b c "HII Authenticates Keel Of Virginia-class Attack Submarine Arkansas (SSN 800)" (Press release). Huntington Ingalls Industries. 19 November 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  3. ^ "New Navy sub will be named USS Arkansas". 15 June 2016.
  4. ^ "HII Marks Arkansas (SSN 800) Construction Milestone at Newport News Shipbuilding". HII. Retrieved 2023-10-18.