Groton, Connecticut — The US Navy submarine that’s named after the state of Iowa is back at port in Connecticut after its first test drives — and test dives — in the Atlantic Ocean.
Mat Tanner, a retired Navy Chief submariner and executive director of the USS Iowa Commissioning Committee, says the 377-foot-long nuclear-powered submarine has completed both its Alpha and Bravo levels of testing.
Once those in-service trials are finished, likely in mid-December, Tanner says the Iowa will be “delivered” to the US Navy.
Officials say the three-billion-dollar submarine will have a crew of 120 enlisted personnel and 14 officers. During these tests, there are military and civilian personnel onboard the Iowa.
The submarine will become the fourth US Navy vessel to be named after the state of Iowa and Tanner says all appears on schedule for commissioning and the start of full-service military duty early next spring.
Earlier plans suggested the submarine might be commissioned in the Pacific waters of southern California, beside the retired World War Two-era Battleship Iowa, which is now a floating museum in Los Angeles Harbor. The plan now calls for the sub to be commissioned instead at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, Connecticut.
