USS New Hampshire (SSN-778)

USS New Hampshire (SSN-778), a Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine, is the fourth vessel of the United States Navy to be named for the state of New Hampshire (though one of her predecessors, BB-70, existed only on paper – authorized, but cancelled before keel laying). She is the first of the Virginia Block II submarines to enter service. Her name was awarded to the submarine after a letter-writing campaign by the third-graders from Garrison Elementary School in Dover to their members of Congress, the state governor, and the Secretary of the Navy.[4]

Pre-commissioning Unit New Hampshire (SSN-778) sits moored to the pier at General Dynamics Electric Boat shipyard moments before her christening ceremony commenced.
History
Name: USS New Hampshire
Namesake: The State of New Hampshire
Ordered: 14 August 2003
Builder: General Dynamics Electric Boat
Laid down: 30 April 2007
Launched: 21 February 2008[1]
Christened: 21 June 2008[2]
Commissioned: 25 October 2008[3]
Homeport: Groton, Connecticut
Identification: MMSI number: 369970008
Motto: "Live Free or Die"
Status: in active service
Badge: USS New Hampshire SSN-778 Crest
General characteristics
Class and type: Virginia-class submarine
Displacement: 7,800 tons
Length: 377 ft (115 m)
Beam: 34 ft (10 m)
Propulsion: S9G reactor
Speed: 25 knots (46 km/h)
Range: Essentially unlimited distance; 33 years
Test depth: 800 ft (244 m)
Complement: 134 officers and enlisted
Armament:

12 × VLS (BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile) &

4 × 533 mm torpedo tubes (Mk-48 torpedo)

History

The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut, on 14 August 2003. Construction began in January 2004.[5] A keel-laying ceremony for the submarine was held at Electric Boat's Quonset Point facility in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, on 30 April 2007. The ship's sponsor was Cheryl McGuinness of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the widow of Thomas McGuinness, co-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, who died in the September 11, 2001 attacks when the jet was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.[6]

The submarine was launched on 21 February 2008 and christened four months later, on 21 June 2008 in Groton, Connecticut, eight months ahead of schedule and $54 million under budget.[2][7] New Hampshire finished sea trials and was delivered to the Navy on 28 August 2008.[8] The boat was commissioned in a ceremony at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, on 25 October 2008.[9]

Equipment failure while on deployment

During the week of 13 March 2011, while on a mission under the Arctic ice cap, New Hampshire suffered an oxygen generator failure. This failure required the submarine to surface through the ice. The crew had used oxygen candles to make oxygen until the boat surfaced. United Technologies Corp., the company responsible for building the oxygen generator, had dispatched a representative with needed replacement parts to the submarine by way of a temporary ice camp, to assist the crew in repairing the problem.[10]

References

This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.

  1. ^ "NEW HAMPSHIRE (SSN 778)". Naval Vessel Register. U.S. Navy. 26 February 2007. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  2. ^ a b "Navy's newest submarine christened". CNN. 21 June 2008. Archived from the original on 27 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-21.
  3. ^ "Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to host commissioning of USS New Hampshire (SSN 778)". Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. Archived from the original on 5 April 2008. Retrieved 11 April 2008.
  4. ^ Manning, Colin (22 December 2005). "New attack submarine gets N.H. name, thanks to Dover students' campaign". Foster's Daily Democrat. Retrieved 2008-02-12.
  5. '^ Photo gallery of New Hampshire' (SSN-778) at NavSource Naval History
  6. ^ "Electric Boat Lays Keel For Submarine New Hampshire". Electric Boat Corporation. 30 April 2007. Archived from the original on 14 May 2008. Retrieved 11 April 2008.
  7. ^ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Thousands Mark New Navy Sub", 22 June 2008.
  8. ^ Plumb, Tierney (28 August 2008). "General Dynamics delivers submarine ahead of schedule". Washington Business Journal. Retrieved 2008-08-31.
  9. ^ "081025-N-2966A-006". US Navy.
  10. ^ "Exclusive: UTC-built oxygen generator fails on U.S. submarine". Reuters. 21 March 2011. Retrieved 24 June 2011.

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