Huntington Ingalls Industries announced on 3 March that the Virginia-class submarine Montana was launched into the James River at the company’s Newport News Shipbuilding division.
The 7,800t submarine, which had been in a floating dry dock since being transferred from a construction facility in October 2020, was submerged and moved by tugboats to the shipyard’s submarine pier, for final outfitting, testing and crew certification.
Currently, Montana is approximately 92% complete and scheduled to be delivered to the USN in late-2021.
The Virginia-class submarines, a class of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines, are built for a broad spectrum of open ocean and littoral missions to replace the USN’s Los Angeles-class submarines as they are retired.
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