New USS Utah submarine to be christened on Saturday in Connecticut

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — More than 80 years after the USS Utah battleship was sunk during Pearl Harbor, a new USS Utah is set to be christened this Saturday.

“That battleship is still enshrined at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, but today we’re honoring the fact that the United States government has determined to name a new nuclear submarine the USS Utah, SN 801 is the designation number, which I thought was quite nice,” Ron Fox, a member of the USS Utah Commissioning Committee, told ABC4. 801, as locals know, is Utah’s area code.

The USS Utah will be christened on October 25 at 10 a.m. eastern time at the Electric Boat Shipyard in Groton, Connecticut. There will be a watch party at the Utah Capitol in the Presentation Room open to the public. Doors will open at 7:30 a.m., and the Presentation Room is located just off the west entrance to the Capitol.

“It will be christened by two women, which is a little unusual but very complimentary,” Fox explained. Those women are Sharon Lee, wife of Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), and Mary Kaye Huntsman, the wife of former governor Jon Huntsman Jr., who also has two sons who are naval officers. They are co-sponsors of the ship.

The original USS Utah was a battleship launched in 1909. It was sunk on December 7, 1941 during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Now, Utah is lucky enough to have a second naval ship named after the state.

This new USS Utah is a Virginia Class nuclear submarine with a crew of about 120 sailors and 15 officers. It will cost about $5 billion when all is said and done, compared to the old USS Utah, which cost about $3 million.

Fox explained the naming traditions of naming vessels, stating that all battleships used to be named after states, but that changed after World War Two. “Then they started naming, as we built fewer and fewer battleships, as you know, carriers were named after presidents or after historic ships like the Essex or they also have one called the Iwo Jima, after historic events,” he said.

Then, about 20 years ago, the Navy started naming submarines after states. This submarine, Fox said, is a smaller attack submarine with a missile contingent.

The christening and what happens next

Sharon Lee and Mary Kaye Huntsman will christen the ship, and Fox explained what that will look like.

“The women break the champagne bottle on the bow of the ship, and it slides into the water. From this point so far, the ship was built indoors, and now it actually slides out into the water, and the finishing touches on the ship, a lot of the construction has to go forward,” he said.

The christening is happening in Groton, Connecticut because that’s where the ship has been constructed by Electric Boat, which is a division of General Dynamics.

After the christening, final construction will be completed, and it will begin sea trials. Fox said that the sub will be commissioned and placed into active duty with the U.S. Navy in 2027. At that time, there will be a commissioning ceremony, and the ship will go out to sea for normal operations.

For Fox, having another ship named after Utah is an honor.

“You know, we go to pearl harbor and we see where the old USS Utah was sunk,” he said. “They have a monument there and we hope to revitalize that monument after the Utah starts to go out to sea, and it is something that… It’s like, we have counties and we have states, and it’s an honor to have a ship of the line, so to speak, named after one of our states.”

He also encouraged Utahns to be proud that there is a new ship named after our state. “We have many people who have either been past enlistees of the United States Navy, or those people who have served in our military forces, they understand the camaraderie that goes on with the veterans, and it’s an important thing for us to know that we have this opportunity to participate in this christening to watch.”