WATCH REPLAY: Fast-Attack Submarine USS Indiana Commissioning at Port Canaveral Attracts 5,000 People

SPACE COAST DAILY TV SPECIAL PRESENTATION

WATCH: The Navy’s newest fast-attack submarine, the USS Indiana (SSN 789), was commissioned Saturday at the Navy Port at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at Port Canaveral, Florida. (U.S. Navy video)

BREVARD COUNTY • PORT CANAVERAL, FLORIDA – The Navy’s newest fast-attack submarine, the USS Indiana (SSN 789), was commissioned Saturday at the Navy Port at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Port Canaveral, Florida.

It is the 16th Virginia-class submarine to join the fleet.

Indiana is now the third U.S. Navy ship, and first submarine, to be commissioned with a name honoring the state of Indiana. Diane Donald, the wife of retired Adm. Kirkland H. Donald, is the ship’s sponsor.

Designed to operate in both coastal and deep-ocean environments, Indiana will present leadership with a broad and unique range of capabilities, including anti-submarine warfare; anti-surface ship warfare; strike warfare; special operation forces (SOF) support; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; irregular warfare; and mine warfare missions.

USS INDIAN FACTS AND STATS

How many other submarines does the U.S. Navy currently have?

There are currently three classes of SSNs (attack submarines) in service; the Los Angeles, Sea Wolf and Virginia class (50 in total). The Navy also has guided missile submarines and ballistic missile submarines too.

What makes the Virginia class different?

The Virginia-class submarines are better capable to operate in littoral waters. They additionally can be configured to support special operations forces (SOF) by converting a torpedo room into an area for SOF personnel and their equipment. Additionally, diving operations can occur with greater ease due to a large lock-in/lock-out chamber for divers.

Block III submarines feature a redesigned bow, which replaces 12 individual launch tubes with two large-diameter Virginia Payload Tubes each capable of launching six Tomahawk cruise missiles, among other design changes that reduced the submarines’ acquisition cost while maintaining their outstanding warfighting capabilities.

Where was Indiana constructed?

Virginia-class submarines are built under a joint construction contract between General Dynamics’ Electric Boat Division and Huntington Ingalls Industries-Newport News Shipbuilding. GD Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding are the only two U.S. shipyards capable of building nuclear-powered vessels.

When was the keel laid?

May 16, 2015

When was the ship christened?

April 29, 2017

When did PCU Indiana pass the required inspections by the Navy?

Indiana successfully completed the independent Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV) trials, which evaluates the submarine’s seaworthiness and operational capabilities. During INSURV trials, the crew took the submarine to test depth and tested the submarine’s propulsion plant and material readiness. The sub was delivered to the Navy on Sept. 21, 2017.

Who is USS Indiana’s sponsor?

Diane Kerr Donald is a native of McKeesport, Pennsylvania, and a proud, lifelong Navy spouse. Joining Navy life when she married her husband, Kirkland Donald, a submarine officer at the height of the Cold War, Diane juggled the demands of family and career along with frequent relocations and separations.

Ever busy with work and raising daughter, Diane always found time to support Sailors and their families at every duty station.

Diane was a long-serving member of the Submarine Force spouse organizations. She actively supported, organized and ran charity events and projects to raise funds for the Dolphin Scholarship Foundation and other organizations.

In 2003, Diane served as president of Dolphin Scholarship Foundation and continued her passionate leadership of an organization dedicated to funding and awarding college scholarships for children of submariners. In following years, she continued as an advocate for Dolphin Scholarship Foundation and the Submarine Force at large, and as a strong supporter for the civilians and Sailors of Naval Reactors.

As an engaged, compassionate, creative and ever supportive Navy spouse, Diane set a worthy example of selfless service and commitment to the Navy and the nation for 37 years.

When was the ship named?

The Secretary of the Navy announced June 25, 2012, that SSN-789, the 16th Virginia-class submarine, would be named after the state of Indiana.

How big is the PCU Indiana?

377 ft. long; 34 ft. wide; approximately 7,800 tons submerged

How fast can the PCU Indiana go?

25+ knots submerged

What history does the USS Indiana name have in the Navy?

The submarine Indiana will be the fourth planned, and third commissioned U.S. Navy vessel to bear the Indiana name. It is the first not designed as a heavy battleship.

The first USS Indiana (BB 1) first served from 1895-1903, most notably as part of the naval blockade of Santiago Harbor in the Spanish-American War. It was recommissioned from 1906-1914, and again from 1917-1919 primarily as a training platform.

The keel for a planned Indiana (BB 50) was laid down in 1920, but construction was halted due to the terms of the Washington Treaty for Naval Limitation following World War I, and it was never commissioned.

USS Indiana (BB 58) was laid in 1939 and launched Nov. 20, 1941, weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor. With work accelerated, the ship commissioned on April 30, 1942, and deployed for the war in the Pacific in November – less than a year after it was launched.

A massive South Dakota-class battleship, USS Indiana played a key role in almost every U.S. naval engagement after its arrival. BB-58 earned the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with nine battle stars, the World War II Victory Medal, Navy Occupation Medal with “ASIA” clasp, and the Philippine Liberation Medal with two stars. Indiana’s major campaigns in the Pacific included the Gilbert Islands Campaign, Marshall Islands Campaign, Mariana Islands Campaign and the Great Turkey Shoot, Battle of Iwo Jima, Okinawa Campaign and Preparations for Invasion of Japan.

Following Japan’s surrender, Indiana was the first major combatant to return to the U.S., and the last of its class of battleships to be decommissioned in 1947.

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