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. She is the first of the Virginia-class 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 and sixth graders from Dover Middle School in Dover to their members of Congress, the state governor, and the Secretary of the Navy.[7]

For other ships with the same name, see USS New Hampshire.

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
United States
NameUSS New Hampshire
NamesakeThe State of New Hampshire
Ordered14 August 2003
BuilderGeneral Dynamics Electric Boat
Laid down30 April 2007
Launched21 February 2008[1]
Christened21 June 2008[2]
Commissioned25 October 2008[3]
HomeportNorfolk, Virginia
IdentificationMMSI number: 369970008
Motto"Live Free or Die"
Statusin active service
Badge
General characteristics
Class and typeVirginia-class submarine
Displacement7,800 tons
Length377 ft (115 m)
Beam34 ft (10 m)
Propulsion
  • 1 × S9G PWR nuclear reactor[4] 280,000 shp (210 MW), HEU 93%[5][6]
  • 2 × steam turbines 40,000 shp (30 MW)
  • 1 × single shaft pump-jet propulsor[4]
  • 1 × secondary propulsion motor[4]
Speed25 knots (46 km/h)
RangeEssentially unlimited distance; 33 years
Test depth800 ft (244 m)
Complement134 officers and enlisted
Armament12 × 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.[8] 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.[9]

Launched

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][10] New Hampshire finished sea trials and was delivered to the Navy on 28 August 2008.[11] The boat was commissioned in a ceremony at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, on 25 October 2008.[12]

The photonics suite on New Hampshire

Although she is the fourth vessel to carry this name, one of her predecessors, BB-70, was authorized but cancelled before keel laying.

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, the company responsible for building the oxygen generator, 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.[13]

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 24 April 2008.
  2. "Navy's newest submarine christened". CNN. 21 June 2008. Archived from the original on 27 June 2008. Retrieved 21 June 2008.
  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. Ragheb, Magdi (9 September 2011), Tsvetkov, Pavel (ed.), "Nuclear Naval Propulsion", Nuclear Power - Deployment, Operation and Sustainability, ISBN 978-953-307-474-0
  5. "Validation of the Use of Low Enriched Uranium as a Replacement for Highly Enriched Uranium in US Submarine Reactors" (PDF). dspace.mit.edu. June 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  6. "US study of reactor and fuel types to enable naval reactors to shift from HEU fuel". fissilematerials.org. 10 April 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  7. Manning, Colin (22 December 2005). "New attack submarine gets N.H. name, thanks to Dover students' campaign". Foster's Daily Democrat. Retrieved 12 February 2008.
  8. Photo gallery of New Hampshire'' (SSN-778) at NavSource Naval History
  9. "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.
  10. Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Thousands Mark New Navy Sub", 22 June 2008.
  11. Plumb, Tierney (28 August 2008). "General Dynamics delivers submarine ahead of schedule". Washington Business Journal. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
  12. "081025-N-2966A-006". US Navy.
  13. "Exclusive: UTC-built oxygen generator fails on U.S. submarine". Reuters. 21 March 2011. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
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