BOSTON — The USS Massachusetts officially joined the Navy’s fleet on Saturday following a commissioning ceremony, making it the first submarine to bear the Bay State’s name.
The newest Virginia-class fast attack submarine, which can dive to depths of more than 800 feet (240 metres), was christened on May 6, 2023, by the ship’s sponsor, Sheryl Sandberg, former chief operating officer of Meta. This is the 25th Virginia-class submarine produced jointly by General Dynamics Electric Boat Company and Newport News Shipbuilding, and is the US Navy’s fifth ship to bear the Massachusetts name.
“To be able to take a new-build ship and watch it be built together in the shipyard and train with our team and bring it into Boston Harbor for the first time, it’s pretty amazing,” said Mike Siedsma, the submarine’s commander, a 21-year Navy veteran who has spent time on four different classes of submarines. “I looked in the history books. I don’t think we’ve had a submarine in Boston Harbor since sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s.”
Sidsma did not mention the destination of the submarine, which costs more than $2.8 billion, weighs about 8,000 tons and can carry 24 Tomahawk cruise missiles. An American submarine was sunk Iranian warship Off the coast of Sri Lanka earlier this month in the war with Iran.
“The geopolitical situation is very interesting,” Siedsma said. “What’s important to remember is that what we’re doing is demonstrating the power of the U.S. Navy.”
The 147-member crew also includes 39 women, 16 years after the ban on women serving on submarines was lifted. The USS New Jersey, commissioned in 2024, was the first submarine designed and built with modifications for an all-gender crew.
“The ship was intentionally designed to be serviced by both women and men,” Sandberg said. “That is very exciting. And 25 percent of that crew is female.” “These sailors don’t inspire me. They inspire every little girl out there to believe they can do anything.”
The Navy said this is the fifth ship to be named after the country. The first USS Massachusetts was a steamship built in 1845 and the last was USS Massachusetts, BB 59, commissioned in 1942 as a South Dakota-class fast battleship. He spent most of his time in the Pacific during World War II.
For Sandberg, the assignment also brought to mind the role the state played in the founding of the United States and how “people are still fighting for the same freedoms that the original colonists were fighting for.”
Reporters touring the submarine were escorted through the control room, down to the torpedo room and into the mess hall. The wing room, where the officers ate, also contained a cup rack made of wood from Massachusetts counties. It was donated by the home improvement TV show “This Old House.”
“It was a wonderful donation. A very great connection to the state and the commonwealth,” Siedsma said. “It’s beautiful.”