Navy submarine to bear Delaware's name

It’s been 89 years since a Navy ship bearing the name Delaware sailed the world’s waters.

The drought is now ended. The Navy announced at the Pentagon this afternoon that its newest attack submarine will be named Delaware.

And get this: It was a short, simple and slyly tongue-in-cheek letter to the editor of the News Journal last spring that spurred the state’s three-member congressional

delegation to launch an inside-the-Beltway campaign to get the state a namesake ship, according to Katie Wilson, press secretary to Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del.

“The Navy announced on Monday that each of five new submarines (which currently are named for states) would be named after a state that hasn't been represented in the Navy in more than 60 years,” Newark’s Steven Llanso wrote in a letter published April 18. “They missed an obvious candidate and should rectify that oversight by naming the SSN 791 after Delaware. The last USS Delaware (a battleship) had her name stricken in 1923, so the First State certainly qualifies.

“I know our Vice President [Joe] Biden is too bashful to weigh in on this question, so I leave it to the News Journal to take up the cry.”

The “bashful” Biden, in fact, showed up at the Pentagon ceremony today – as the “special guest” of his wife, Jill Biden, who Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said will serve as ship’s sponsor. As such, she’ll have the honor of breaking a bottle of champagne across the bow when the submarine is ceremonially christened. The vice president remained on the sidelines during the ceremony, ceding the spotlight to his wife. Also on hand were Carper and Lt. Gov. Matt Denn.

So Delaware, which does not build or host Navy ships or aircraft and ranks near the bottom of the list of states for federal defense dollars received, now will be represented on the high seas – more precisely, under the waves – with its first namesake warship since the battleship referenced by Llanso, which was decommissioned in 1923.

"This is an important day for Delaware as we welcome the USS Delaware to our proud family," said Carper. "It is a great source of joy to me that the vessel that will bear the name of Delaware will be one of the most state-of-the-art submarines in the world. If we want to continue to protect our military might and protect our shipping lanes so that we can conduct commerce around the world, we are going to need fast attack submarines like the USS Delaware.

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The ship will be something to crow about: The Virginia class of submarines is the Navy’s latest and greatest. Nuclear-powered and stealthy, the 377-foot subs bristle with torpedoes and Tomahawk cruise missiles, and are equipped with special warfare enhancements such as a large lock-in/lock-out chamber for divers.

The Delaware, to be known in official parlance as SSN 791, will be assembled in Newport News, Va., by builder Huntington Ingalls Industries, in partnership with the Electric Boat division of General Dynamics. The Navy earlier said, in error, that the submarine was already under construction.

The ship which won’t officially gain the “USS” – for United States Ship – before its name until it is commissioned and accepted into the Navy fleet, fully manned, operable and ready to sail.