Construction of a new naval ship called the USS Idaho is underway – for the first time in 100 years

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) – In the coming years, the Gem State will have a new military ship bearing his name.

The U.S. Navy is in the process of building the USS Idaho, a nuclear submarine that will go into active service after a commissioning ceremony in the summer of 2023. Construction of the submarine began in August, according to Richard Colburn, a retired American, naval captain and chairman of the USS Idaho Commissioning Committee.

It has been more than 100 years since a U.S. Navy commissioned a ship with Idaho’s name when a BB-42 battleship was launched in 1919.

Known as “The Big Spud,” this ship sailed during World War II and was used in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa in the Pacific Ocean, according to Colburn. The old battleship was also present to officially hand over the Japanese in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945, the official end of the war.

“It’s been a long time since a ship was called Idaho,” Colburn said Thursday.

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The new USS Idaho will be very different from the last. The USS Idaho, a Virginia-class submarine, will cost around $ 2.6 billion and should be in service for three decades, according to the commissioning committee. The submarine will be 377 feet long and have 120 crew members and 14 officers.

Colburn and the committee are raising funds to help fund the submarine’s 2023 commissioning ceremony, as well as crew habitability improvements and support programs for the crew and their families.

“When you get on the submarine, we want it to look like Idaho and have you go to Idaho with you,” Colburn said, and that’s part of what the committee is trying to do.

Although the commissioning date is two years away, the committee looks forward to having a ship in the waters to commemorate Idaho.

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Colburn said that once the new submarine is launched, it will be one of the most advanced underwater ships.

Among the various points of discussion regarding the new USS Idaho is its nickname. The possible monikers, Colburn said, range from orthodox to a game on the name of the previous ship.

“We offered the nickname ‘The Jewel of the Fleet’ ‘which the ship would use,” he said. Another suggestion? “The fully loaded Big Spud.”