USS Indiana (SSN 789)

USS INDIANA History:

USS INDIANA is a VIRGINIA-class nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine named for the state of Indiana. She is the sixteenth VIRGINIA-class boat and the sixth of the Block III series, which introduced a revised bow with two large VIRGINIA Payload Tubes instead of twelve individual vertical launch tubes. The construction contract for the submarine that would become USS INDIANA was awarded on December 22, 2008, as part of a multi-boat procurement to the team of General Dynamics Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News Shipbuilding.

Following contract award, detailed design and early module construction proceeded at Newport News. The submarine's name was publicly assigned in 2012, when the Navy announced that a new VIRGINIA-class attack submarine would carry the name Indiana. The commissioning-committee history notes that she is the third U.S. Navy vessel to bear the name, following a battleship and an earlier ship, creating a symbolic link between the submarine's crew and the state's maritime heritage.

On May 16, 2015, the keel of the future USS INDIANA was laid at Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia. At the keel-laying ceremony, ship sponsor Diane Donald, wife of retired admiral Kirkland H. Donald, authenticated the keel by having her initials welded into a steel plate attached to the hull, in keeping with naval tradition. This milestone marked the formal start of the boat's assembly, although module fabrication had been under way for some time. Construction progressed through 2015 and 2016 with parallel work on hull sections, internal systems, and combat-system integration. By early 2017, the submarine was structurally complete enough for christening. On April 29, 2017, the boat was christened at Newport News Shipbuilding. During the ceremony Diane Donald performed the traditional act of breaking a bottle of sparkling wine across the bow, formally naming the submarine INDIANA. The event was attended by Navy leadership, shipyard workers, and delegations from the state of Indiana, reflecting the close relationship between the namesake state and the crew.

In mid-2017 the submarine reached launch. Sources differ slightly on the exact launch date, but the Navy and shipyard material agree that INDIANA entered the water for the first time in June 2017, transitioning from land-based assembly into afloat status at Newport News for completion and testing. Throughout late 2017 and early 2018, the crew and shipyard teams conducted pierside tests, system calibrations, and initial sea trials. Photographs from May 2018 show INDIANA at sea on trials, including running on the surface and submerged evolutions, indicating that the boat had entered the intensive trial regime in the Virginia capes and Atlantic test ranges. These trials validated propulsion, navigation, combat systems, and ship-handling.

On June 25, 2018, the Navy formally accepted delivery of the future INDIANA. In August 2018, with delivery complete and commissioning approaching, INDIANA conducted specialized work at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia. Image captions show the submarine in the Magnetic Silencing Facility at Kings Bay in August 2018, undergoing deperming and magnetic-silencing procedures that help reduce the boat's magnetic signature and improve survivability against modern detection systems. This visit to Kings Bay also allowed the crew to gain familiarity with another major East Coast submarine base beyond her initial construction site.

Later that month and into September 2018, INDIANA operated out of Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia. Photographs show the submarine returning to Norfolk after Hurricane Florence in September 2018, indicating that she had put to sea or relocated ahead of the storm and then returned when conditions allowed, a typical measure to protect high-value ships from weather damage along the U.S. East Coast.

The formal commissioning of USS INDIANA took place at Port Canaveral, Florida. On September 29, 2018, the submarine was commissioned in a ceremony at the Navy port facilities at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Port Canaveral, with thousands of guests in attendance. Navy and media photographs show the crew manning the decks and standing at attention after the order to "bring the ship to life". The event marked the transition of USS INDIANA from a pre-commissioning unit to an active unit of the fleet. Indiana governor Eric Holcomb and other dignitaries attended, and Diane Donald fulfilled her sponsor's role at the ceremony.

After commissioning, USS INDIANA shifted to her operational homeport at Naval Submarine Base New London, Groton, Connecticut. There, she joined Submarine Squadron 12 under Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic, integrating into the Atlantic Fleet's fast-attack submarine force. Through late 2018 and 2019, INDIANA completed the early phase of her fleet life: shakedown operations, training, and certifications from Groton and in the western Atlantic. Publicly available sources do not provide a day-by-day account of these first underways and exercises, but images and brief notes show the boat repeatedly operating from New London. This period would have included tactical development exercises, engineering readiness checks, weapons-handling drills, and joint training with other U.S. and allied ships and aircraft, laying the groundwork for overseas deployments.

From mid-2022 onward, USS INDIANA was in the midst of an extended North Atlantic deployment that had begun on February 8, 2022, when she departed Groton for a scheduled cruise. By late July, she had already completed a series of high-latitude operations and brief stops, including a five-day visit to Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde in Faslane, Scotland, from April 27, 2022, and short pauses off Torshavn in the Faroe Islands on May 5 and southwest of Bergen, Norway, on May 18, underscoring her role in the northern approaches and North Atlantic sea lanes.

The "mid-2022" phase of that deployment is marked by a shift south toward the Mediterranean gateway. On July 26, 2022, USS INDIANA moored at Berth 1/2, Pier 1 at Naval Station Rota in Spain for a five-day port call, linking her northern operations with a key U.S. and NATO logistics hub near the Strait of Gibraltar. After leaving Rota, she headed back toward the United States, making a brief stop off Groton on August 7 to embark Nuclear Propulsion Examination Board personnel for an Operational Reactor Safeguards Examination. On August 10, 2022, she moored at Pier 6N at Naval Submarine Base New London, completing a six-month deployment in which she had covered the North Atlantic, northern European waters and approaches to the Mediterranean.

In the months that followed, USS INDIANA settled into a tempo of shorter sorties and training runs from Groton. She was briefly at sea again in September 2022, returning to Pier 31N on September 18 after a three-day underway. She sailed once more on October 25, then shifted south for a presence visit: from November 13-15 she was alongside at Trident Wharf, Port Canaveral, before returning home on November 21 and going back to sea again on November 29. In December 2022, she conducted a series of short personnel-transfer stops off Groton on December 2, 5 and 12, finally mooring at Pier 31N on December 14. Early 2023, continued this pattern. On January 20, 2023, she returned to Pier 17S after a six-day underway, went back to sea on January 30, made a brief stop off Groton on February 7, and was back in port on February 9. An eight-day underway at the end of March ended with her return to Pier 8N on March 31, followed by another departure on April 15 and brief stops off Groton on April 17 and 20.

In spring 2023, her activity turned more public-facing. On April 23, 2023, USS INDIANA moored outboard the destroyer USS COLE (DDG 67) at Berth 21 in Port Everglades, Florida, for a week-long visit supporting Fleet Week Port Everglades, opening the submarine to public events and outreach. Afterward, she again used Port Canaveral as a logistics point, mooring at Trident Wharf from May 1-5. On the way back north, she made a brief stop off Mayport on May 8, then a brief stop inside Naval Station Mayport on May 23, before tying up at Pier 6S in New London on May 26. A change of leadership followed quickly: on June 23, 2023, Commander Kyle S. McVay relieved Commander Scott Bresnahan as the boat's fourth commanding officer during a change-of-command ceremony held on board. Shortly after, on July 18, USS INDIANA left New London again for routine operations, then spent July 27-August 5 at Trident Wharf in Port Canaveral, before returning to Pier 31N on August 25 and heading back to sea on September 6.

Late 2023 saw the submarine extend her operating area to Canada and a large NATO exercise. On September 8, 2023, USS INDIANA moored at Shearwater Jetty at Canadian Forces Base Halifax, Nova Scotia, for a two-day port visit ahead of the multinational anti-submarine warfare exercise Cutlass Fury 2023. After those activities she made a brief stop off Groton for personnel transfer on September 24 and returned to New London on September 27. She put to sea again on December 1, made additional short stops off Groton on December 4 and 12, and moored at Pier 31N on December 14, closing out a year of frequent movements between New England, the southeast United States and the North Atlantic.

In early 2024, USS INDIANA balanced local training with an extended Arctic evolution. She sailed from New London on January 20, 2024, for routine training in the Narragansett Bay operating area, made a brief personnel-transfer stop off the Electric Boat shipyard on January 23, and again paused off Groton on January 25 and February 5 before mooring at Pier 6S on February 7. On February 19, 2024, she left Groton to participate in Ice Exercise (ICEX) 2024. On March 13, she arrived at Ice Camp Whale, about 150 nautical miles north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, operating under the ice in the high latitudes. After completing her Arctic tasks, she made a brief stop off Groton on April 7 and moored at Pier 6N on April 11, then went to sea once more on April 29. Early May brought further movements: on May 2 she made a short personnel-transfer stop off Groton, then turned south for a brief stop off Mayport, Florida, on May 6 before supporting a Submarine Commander's Course at the AUTEC range. On May 22, she made a brief stop at Trident Wharf in Port Canaveral, and on May 25 she was back at Pier 31N in New London.

The summer of 2024 combined frequent short sorties with preparation for another deployment. USS INDIANA was underway again on June 5, made a personnel-transfer stop off Groton on June 10, and returned to port on June 13. She then conducted very short underways from July 29-30 and on August 15, interspersed with brief stops off Groton on August 19, 22 and 24 and on September 3, before mooring at Pier 6S on September 6. On September 24, 2024, she departed Groton for a scheduled deployment to the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility.

During this deployment, she again worked closely with European partners, beginning with an eleven-day port call at Valiant Jetty, HMNB Clyde in Faslane, Scotland, starting on November 15. At the end of the year, on December 31, she was moored at the West Quay in the port of Limassol, Cyprus, for a three-day liberty visit. On January 13, 2025, she made a brief personnel-transfer stop off Gibraltar.

The early months of 2025 kept USS INDIANA in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic. On January 18, 2025, she moored at Berth 50, South Mole, at HMNB Gibraltar for a four-day port call, followed by a brief stop off Naples later in January. On February 2, she transited the Strait of Messina southbound, then made brief personnel-transfer stops in Augusta Bay, Sicily, on February 4 and 7. From February 12-15, she was alongside at Berth K14 in Souda Bay, Crete. From February 28 into early March 2025, USS INDIANA participated in the NATO anti-submarine warfare exercise Dynamic Manta 25 off the east coast of Sicily, before turning west, transiting the Strait of Gibraltar and heading back toward the United States. On March 25, she made a brief stop off Groton to embark Nuclear Propulsion Examination Board personnel for another Operational Reactor Safeguards Examination, and on March 27, 2025, she moored at Pier 17S in New London, completing a six-month deployment in the U.S. 6th Fleet area.

The months immediately after this deployment were dominated by short local operations and preparations for a major transition. On June 10, 2025, USS INDIANA returned to Pier 32N after a one-day underway in the Narragansett Bay operating area. On June 13, Commander Kyle Johnson relieved Commander Kyle S. McVay as commanding officer during a change-of-command ceremony on board. Just days later, on June 19, she returned to Pier 32N after a four-day underway, and on June 24 she left New London once more, this time for a homeport change to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

By late summer 2025, USS INDIANA had shifted fully into the Pacific theater. On July 22, 2025, she moored at Wharf S20 at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for the first time, marking the completion of her homeport change and her assignment to the Hawaii-based submarine force. On September 3, she moved to Wharf W5 at Naval Magazine Lualualei for an ammunition onload, then got underway on September 5 for routine training in the Hawaiian Islands operating area, returning to Wharf S20 on September 10. She sailed again on September 30 and in October conducted a series of short personnel-transfer stops: in Pearl Harbor on October 4 and 7, off the southwest coast of Maui on October 11, and again in Pearl Harbor on October 12, 19 and 20. On November 10, 2025, USS INDIANA made a brief stop off the coast of Kailua-Kona on Hawaii Island, and by November 25 she was moored at Wharf Y3B at Pearl Harbor.

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