On Saturday, the keel-laying ceremony was held for the USS April 30, a Virginia-class submarine, the USS Delaware – SSN 791.
The event was held at Newport News Shipyard in Virginia. The attack submarine is powered by a nuclear reactor. Cost has been estimated at $1.8 billion.
A keel-laying ceremony is the formal recognition of the start of a ship’s construction. The submarine is designed for a variety of missions.
The last naval vessel to bear the name USS Delaware was a battleship that was decommissioned in 1923.
According to a release from U.S. Sen Tom Carper, a 2012 letter to the editor by Delawarean Steven Llano printed in the News Journal prompted Sen. Carper, Sen. Chris Coons and Cong. John Carney to send a letter to Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus encouraging him to consider naming a submarine after the state of Delaware.
Carper is a Navy veteran.
Delaware’s naval history goes back to the Revolutionary War, when the Delaware Bay, just off the coast of Lewes, served as the staging ground for the Continental Navy’s first marine mission in 1776.
“After reading the letter to the editor of the News Journal, the delegation thought it was about time Delaware got a ship named after it, and today is a great day as we celebrate the beginning of the ship’s construction,” said Carper. “Delaware is home to tens of thousands of veterans and active-duty service men and woman, and naming a ship after their home state is a wonderful way to honor them.”
Carper was joined by Dr. Jill Biden; Governor Terry McAuliffe (D-VA); Rep. Bobby Scott (VA-3); Rep. Randy Forbes (VA-4); Matt Mulherin, president of Newport News Shipbuilding; Jeff Geiger, General Dynamics Electric Boat; and Vice Admiral Joseph Tofalo, Commander, Submarine Forces.
Too bad this ship couldn’t be built in one of Delaware’s famous ship building towns, Milford or Milton; it would have bee a boon to our area economy! Just kidding; but if we must spend nearly 2 BILLION dollars on a weapon of war, and as a Navy vet myself I’m glad Delaware gets to put its name on it. Now if our congressional trio could get some serious money to attack heroin addiction in our State I would be equally proud.