The nuclear-powered attack submarine, the USS Idaho, was christened at a Navy ceremony in April at the Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut, after years of construction. The submarine is not the first to be named after the state of Idaho; its predecessor was a battleship commissioned in 1919 and participated in seven battles during World War II.
"We are a maritime nation, bordering on both the Atlantic and the Pacific. Our commerce depends on safe and secure sea lanes of communication," Hung Cao, the newly installed Secretary of the Navy, said at the ceremony. "President Trump's commission to our military is simple: to achieve peace through strength. The USS Idaho joins the fleet ready to answer the call to action, in any ocean, at any time."
The Idaho is the eighth of 10 submarines that are part of the block IV line and is equipped with enhanced stealth characteristics, advanced surveillance equipment, and a special warfare modification (likely for the insertion of Navy SEALs). The submarine also carries 12 vertically launched cruise missiles in addition to torpedoes and is capable of a number of different littoral mission sets.
Weighing 7,800 tons and coming in at 377 feet in length, the Idaho is powered by an onboard nuclear reactor that will not need to be refueled during the expected lifetime of the submarine.
