The United States Navy has officially commissioned the USS John Warner, the most powerful attack submarine to be developed in the history of the country, in a ceremony at the Norfolk Naval Station.
Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert delivered the keynote address at the commissioning ceremony, asserting the necessity of maintaining undersea dominance.
"This boat is the latest incarnation of American sea power, and is a strategic asset for this country," Johnathan said.
Named after former Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia, who also served as the 61st Secretary of the Navy from 1972-74, the 337-foot submarine weighing 7,800 tons is a multimission vessel that can dive to depths of more than 800 feet and accomplish the seven core competencies of the Navy's submarine unit all while without being seen, thanks to an advanced combination of high-definition and infrared video technology.
"This affords us what we refer to as global access, and it is fundamental to any mission that you ask your military to do. Frankly, we are challenged in space, we are challenged in cyber, we are challenged in the air and we are challenged on the surface. We are not currently challenged in the undersea. We own the undersea domain. We must keep that situation as we go into the future," Johnathan added.
It costs about $2.5 billion. For starters, it is the second of eight Block III Virgina-class submarines built with the new Virginia Payload Modules (VPM) - larger tubes that increase the ship's missile-firing payload possibilities.