The USS Massachusetts entered service Saturday as the first submarine ever named for the state.
BOSTON (AP) — The USS Massachusetts officially joined the Navy’s fleet Saturday after a commissioning ceremony, making it the first submarine named after the Bay State.
The newest Virginia-class fast attack submarine, which can dive to depths greater than 800 feet (240 meters), was christened on May 6, 2023, by the ship’s sponsor, Sheryl Sandberg, the former CEO of Meta. This is the 25th Virginia-class submarine co-produced by General Dynamics Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding and the fifth US Navy ship named Massachusetts.
“To be able to take a ship from new construction and watch it being built together near the shipyard, train with our team and take it into Boston Harbor for the first time is pretty amazing,” said Submarine Commanding Officer Mike Siedsma, a 21-year Navy veteran who has spent time on four different classes of submarines. “I’ve looked in the history books. I don’t think we’ve had a submarine in Boston Harbor since the late ’80s or early ’90s.”
Siedsma did not say where the submarine — which cost more than $2.8 billion, weighs about 8,000 tons and can carry 24 Tomahawk cruise missiles — is going. An American submarine sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka earlier this month in the war with Iran.
“The geopolitical situation is very interesting,” Siedsma said. “What’s important to remember is what we’re doing is testing the might of the United States Navy.”
The crew of 147 also includes 39 women, 16 years after the ban on women serving on submarines was lifted. The USS New Jersey, which was commissioned in 2024, was the first submarine designed and built with modifications for a gender-integrated crew.
“The ship is intentionally designed to be served by both women and men. That’s very exciting. Twenty-five percent of this crew is female,” Sandberg said. “These sailors just don’t inspire me. They inspire every little girl out there to believe that she can do anything.”
The Navy said this is the fifth ship to be named after the state. The first USS Massachusetts was a steamer built in 1845 and the last was USS Massachusetts, BB 59, commissioned in 1942 as a South Dakota-class fast battleship. Most of the time was spent in the Pacific during World War II.
For Sandberg, the commission also brought to mind the role the state played in the founding of the United States and how “people are still fighting for the same freedoms that the original colonists were fighting for.”
Journalists visiting the underground were ushered past the control room, down into the torpedo room and into the dining hall. The wardroom, where the officers eat, also contains a cup rack made of wood from counties in Massachusetts. It was donated by This Old House, the home improvement TV show.
“It was a tremendous donation. A great connection to the state and the commonwealth,” Siedsma said. “It’s beautiful.”
By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press
Subscribe to our free newsletters
Our weekly newsletter Closing arguments provides the latest on ongoing trials, major litigation and decisions in courts around the US and the world, while monthly Under the lights feeds legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.
