STATE
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, June 1, 2022
A17
A new and very diff erent USS Oregon joins the U.S. Navy
is to track a large submarine,
with tremendous fi repower,
under the water.”
The commissioning of
the USS Oregon this week-
end ends a long gap in U.S.
Navy history without a ship
named for the state.
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
A new USS Oregon
offi cially joined the U.S
Navy on Saturday morning
during commissioning cer-
emonies at Submarine Base
New London in Groton,
Connecticut.
The Navy put the cere-
monial commissioning of
ships on hold for two years
because of the COVID-19
pandemic and only recently
resumed the tradition.
The
nuclear-powered
fast-attack submarine will
be the fi rst U.S. Navy ship to
carry the state’s name since
1893, when the battleship
USS Oregon was launched.
The Virginia-class sub-
marine was built at an esti-
mated price tag of just under
$3 billion by Groton-based
General Dynamics Electric
Boat Co. After its launch
and sea trials, the commis-
sioning marks the offi cial
beginning of its U.S. Navy
service.
Each Virginia-class sub-
marine has had an offi cial
sponsor, a woman with a
connection to the vessel’s
namesake state. Their role
is to bring good luck to the
submarine and crew, with
duties including breaking
a bottle of champagne over
the hull of the submarine
and giving the fi rst order
after a commissioning.
While still in the White
House, fi rst lady Laura Bush
sponsored the USS Texas
and fi rst lady Michelle
Obama carried the role for
the USS Illinois.
In April, fi rst lady Jill
Biden was the sponsor of the
USS Delaware, also a Vir-
ginia-class submarine.
During a commissioning
commemoration, she called
out “Offi cers and crew of
the USS Delaware, man our
ship and bring her to life.”
The crew responded, “Aye
aye, ma’am” and swiftly
boarded in dress uniform.
The sponsor of the com-
missioning of the USS Ore-
gon is Dana Richardson of
Corvallis, the wife of former
USS Oregon — pride of
the fl eet, then obsolete
John Narewski/U.S. Navy Provided Photo
The USS Oregon pulls into Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut on March 1,
2022 for the fi rst time. The submarine was delivered to the U.S. Navy on Saturday, Feb. 26.
Chief of Naval Operations
Admiral John Richardson.
Built to kill nuclear
missile subs
The USS Oregon com-
missioning will be the fi rst
traditional ceremony since
2019, before the COVID-
19 pandemic hit the United
States. Two Virginia-class
submarines — the USS Del-
aware and USS Vermont —
were commissioned to join
the Navy and public com-
memorations occurred later.
The USS Oregon will
soon take to sea to hunt —
and if necessary, kill — Rus-
sian and Chinese “boomers,”
the nickname for all ballis-
tic missile submarines that
can launch nuclear intercon-
tinental ballistic missiles.
The Russians’ main missile
submarine, the Borei-class,
carries 16 RSM-56 Bulava
nuclear ballistic missiles.
The USS Oregon has
four torpedo tubes to fi re
Mk-48 torpedoes that move
at 50 mph. Unlike older tor-
pedoes that exploded when
the tip struck a subma-
rine or ship, the Mk-48 has
advanced proximity fuses
to detonate with maximum
explosive force.
When fi red at surface
ships, the Mk-48 torpedo
dives under the hull and det-
onates at the keel, the blast
breaking the back of the
ship.
The USS Oregon has a
quiver of variety when it
comes to weaponry. It can
fi re surface-skimming Har-
poon anti-ship missiles, a
weapon that is now reaching
Ukrainian coastal defense
troops fi ghting Russia’s
attempt to bottle up the port
of Odessa.
The submarine also is
equipped with BGM-109
Tomahawk cruise missiles
that can reach targets on
land up to 1,500 miles away.
It can carry conventional
and nuclear warheads.
The USS Oregon is also
designed to house and qui-
etly deploy Navy SEAL
commando teams on covert
operations.
The submarine will move
through the water pow-
ered by pump-jet propulsion
instead of traditional screws
with blades — reducing the
amount of bubbles and noise
— called cavitation — that
can be heard on sonar.
The submarine’s S9G
nuclear reactor gives the
USS Oregon a top speed
of 25 knots submerged. Its
reactor will run for about 30
years without any additional
fuel. The nuclear power
gives the submarine virtu-
ally unlimited range and the
ability to stay submerged for
up to three months.
The advanced systems of
the submarine also cut the
size of crew needed at sea.
The submarine has 15 offi -
cers and 120 crew. The bat-
tleship could operate with
600 offi cers and crew.
The Navy has commis-
sioned 19 Virginia-class sub-
marines — the USS Oregon
is the 20th. Eight more are
under construction, includ-
ing what would become the
USS Idaho.
Vice Admiral Michael
J. Connor told Congress
in 2015 that the USS Ore-
gon and its sister boats were
“game-changers” in main-
taining a balance of power
with Russia and China.
“The undersea arena is
the most opaque of all war-
fi ghting domains,” Connor
said. “It is easier to track a
small object in space than it
The fi rst USS Oregon
was a brigantine purchased
in 1842 from a private owner
to be used as an exploring
ship until 1849.
The Confederacy seized
a privately-owned steam-
wheeler mail boat during the
Civil War and converted it
into blockade runner chris-
tened CSS Oregon. It was
scuttled and burned by its
crew as Union forces closed
in on New Orleans in April
1862.
By 1889, the Navy had
adopted a tradition of nam-
ing battleships after states.
In 1893, the USS Oregon
was launched at a cost $4
million — about $115 mil-
lion in today’s dollars. The
nation’s third battleship, it
was 351 feet long — 26 feet
shorter than the USS Oregon
submarine. It was the fi rst
American warship named
for the 33rd state.
More than 20,000 peo-
ple came to the Union Iron
Works shipyard on Mare
Island to watch the ship slide
into San Francisco Bay.
“The Oregon In Her Ele-
ment” said a wire report
headline in the New York
Times.
The battleship’s four
coal-fi red boilers could
push the ship to a top speed
of 15 knots with a range of
4,900 nautical miles before
requiring refueling. It was
nicknamed “Bulldog of the
Navy” for the way its bow
thrashed through open seas.
In 1898, the USS Oregon
made headlines by steam-
ing more than 15,700 miles
from San Francisco, around
South America’s Cape
Horn, to Florida — arriving
66 days after it left, just as
the Spanish-American War
broke out.