PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – The keel of the nation’s 20th Virginia-class attack submarine named for Oregon was laid Saturday at the manufacturing plant for General Dynamics’ Electric Boat.
The milestone marks the ceremonial beginning of a ship’s construction. Modern submarines do not have a traditional keel that runs the length of the ship because they are built in modules. Instead, at the event, the submarine’s sponsor wrote her initials in chalk on a metal plate for a welder to inscribe and to be mounted on the submarine.
The future USS Oregon is expected to cost about $2.7 billion and be delivered to the Navy in November 2019.
“Oregon is going to be put to work the minute it’s launched because the demand signal is at the highest level,” said U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, a Connecticut Democrat.
The keel-laying comes at a time when many in Congress and in the military are eager to get more submarines into the fleet. Groton, Connecticut-based Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia have an agreement to build two attack submarines annually.