Third Battlewagon SSN this Year
The U.S. Navy accepted delivery of the Submarine Force’s newest hunter-killer, the future USS Idaho (SSN 799), from Electric Boat on 15 December.
And with that, the Navy List is looking very 1944ish.
The future USS Idaho (SSN 799) on builders trials 251215-N-N2201-002
Idaho is the 26th Virginia-class submarine co-produced by EB and HII-Newport News Shipbuilding through a long-standing teaming arrangement. It is the 14th delivered by EB and is the eighth of 10 Block IV-configured attack submarines.
The future USS Idaho is the fifth Navy ship to be named for the state of Idaho. The first was a wooden-hulled storeship commissioned in 1866. The last was Battleship No. 42, which was commissioned in 1919 and received seven battle stars for service in World War II, then ignobly sold for scrap in 1947.
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She joins the fifth (completed) U.S. Navy vessel named for the Bay State, the future USS Massachusetts (SSN 798), which was delivered to the service from Newport News on 21 November.
Future USS Massachusetts (SSN 798) on builder’s acceptance trials. 251008-N-MQ094-002
The last and most famous to carry the name thus far (BB-59) was commissioned in 1942 as a South Dakota-class fast battleship, earning 11 battle stars for exceptional service in WWII from Casablanca to Okinawa before being decommissioned in 1947. She remained in the Reserve Fleet until stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in June 1962 and continues to serve as a floating museum.
USS Massachusetts underway somewhere in the Pacific (1943)
While Idaho and Massachusetts are set to be commissioned in 2026, the current USS Iowa (SSN 797) was commissioned in April.
Sailors attached to the fast-attack submarine USS Iowa man the newly commissioned sub during a ceremony in Groton, Conn., April 5, 2025. The Iowa operates under Submarine Squadron 4, which provides fast-attack submarines that are ready, prepared, and committed to meet the unique challenges of undersea combat and deployed operations in unforgiving environments across the globe. Navy Chief Petty Officer Joshua Karsten
The last Iowa, the famed class-leading fast battleship BB-61, which was christened on 27 August 1942, was only stricken from the NVR on 17 March 2006 and endures as a floating museum at Los Angeles, the only West Coast battlewagon.
USS Iowa (BB-61) off Pearl Harbor, en route to the U.S. at the end of her Korean War combat tour. The photograph is dated 28 October 1952. Note the ship’s hull number (61) and U.S. Flag painted atop her forward turrets. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command. Catalog #: NH 44536
If only Jesse Barrett “Oley” Oldendorf’s grandson were SUBRON commander…
