USS Arkansas (SSN-800)
US Navy Virginia-class submarine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
USS Arkansas (SSN-800) is a Virginia-class nuclear powered attack submarine of the United States Navy. She is the twenty-seventh boat of the class and the fifth vessel to be named for the U.S. state of Arkansas. She was ordered on 28 April 2014, and named during a ceremony on 15 June 2016 by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus.[3] Arkansas's was keel laid on 19 November 2022 at Newport News Shipbuilding.[2]
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USS Arkansas |
| Namesake | State of Arkansas |
| Ordered | 28 April 2014[1] |
| Builder | Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia |
| Laid down | 19 November 2022[2] |
| Sponsored by | Melba Pattillo Beals, Minnijean Brown-Trickey, Elizabeth Eckford, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Carlotta Walls LaNier and Thelma Mothershed-Wair (members of Little Rock Nine)[2] |
| Christened | December 7, 2024 |
| Identification | Hull number: SSN-800 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Virginia-class submarine |
| Displacement | 7,800 tons |
| Length | 377 ft (115 m) |
| Beam | 34 ft (10.4 m) |
| Draft | 32 ft (9.8 m) |
| Propulsion | S9G reactor auxiliary diesel engine |
| Speed | 25 knots (46 km/h) |
| Endurance | can remain submerged for up to 3 months |
| Test depth | greater than 800 ft (244 m) |
| Complement |
|
| Armament | 12 x VPT tubes for Tomahawk BGM 109 Cruise missiles, 4 x 21 inch (530 mm) torpedo tubes for Mk-48 torpedoes UGM-84 Harpoon |
Service History
Construction
On 27 September 2023, Huntington Ingalls Industries, which oversees Newport News Shipbuilding, announced that the pressure hull of Arkansas had been completed.[4] On 7 December 2024, the submarine was christened by Carlotta Walls LaNier, a member of the Little Rock Nine, at HII's Newport News Shipbuilding Division in Newport News, Virginia.[5]
In popular culture
A fictionalized version of Arkansas was featured in the 2018 film Hunter Killer, which was based on the novel Firing Point by George Wallace and Don Keith.
