NORFOLK, Va. (AP) – The Navy’s newest nuclear-powered attack submarine has joined the fleet.
The USS John Warner was commissioned Saturday in front of several thousand people at a ceremony at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia.
The submarine is named after John Warner, a five-term U.S. Senator from Virginia who also served as Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974. His wife Jeanne is the ship’s sponsor. The John Warner will be the first Virginia-class submarine home ported in Norfolk. All other Virginia-class submarines are home ported in Groton, Connecticut and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Virginia-class submarines are capable of launching Tomahawk cruise missiles, delivering special forces and carrying out surveillance over land and sea. Virginia-class submarines are replacing Los Angeles-class submarines, which first joined the fleet in 1976.
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