U.S.S. New Hampshire (SSN-778)
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Career
Name: U.S.S. New Hampshire
Namesake: The State of New Hampshire
Ordered: 14 August 2003
Builder: General Dynamics Electric Boat
Laid down: 30 April 2007
Launched: 21 February 2008
Christened: 21 June 2008
Commissioned: 25 October 2008
Homeport: Groton, Connecticut
Motto: ''Live Free or Die''
Status: in active service, as of 2011
General characteristics
Class and type: Virginia class submarine
Displacement: 7,800 tons
Length: 377 feet (115 m)
Beam: 34 feet (10 m)
Propulsion: S9G nuclear reactor
Speed: 25 knots (46 km/h)
Range: Essentially unlimited distance; 33 years
Test depth: 800 ft (244 m)
Complement: 134 officers and enlisted
Armament: 12 VLS (BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile) & 4 533 mm torpedo tubes (Mk-48 torpedo)
The USS New Hampshire (SSN-778), a Virginia class nuclear powered attack submarine, is the fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the state of New Hampshire (though one of her predecessors, BB-70, existed only on paper, authorized, but cancelled before keel laying). The name was awarded to the submarine after a letter writing campaign by the third graders from Garrison Elementary School in Dover to their members of Congress, the state governor, and the Secretary of the Navy.
The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut, on 14ÊAugust 2003. Construction began in January 2004. A keel laying ceremony for the submarine was held at Electric Boat's Quonset Point facility in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, on 30ÊApril 2007. The ship's sponsor was Cheryl McGuinness of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the widow of Thomas McGuinness, co-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, who died in the September 11, 2001 attacks when the jet was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
The submarine was launched on 21 February 2008 and christened four months later, on 21ÊJune 2008 in Groton, Connecticut, eight months ahead of schedule and $54Êmillion under budget. The NewÊHampshire finished sea trials and was delivered to the Navy on 28ÊAugust 2008. The ship was commissioned in a ceremony at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, on 25ÊOctober 2008.
