USS Delaware (SSN 791)

USS DELAWARE History:

USS DELAWARE is a VIRGINIA-class nuclear-powered fast attack submarine built as the 18th boat of the class and the eighth and final submarine of the Block III configuration. The contract to construct the submarine was awarded on December 22, 2008, to Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News Shipbuilding in partnership with General Dynamics Electric Boat, tying the program directly into the broader recapitalization of the U.S. attack-submarine force after the LOS ANGELES-class. Construction formally began at Newport News in September 2013, with the boat named for the state of Delaware and sponsored by Dr. Jill Biden, then Second Lady of the United States.

The keel of the future USS DELAWARE was laid on April 30, 2016, during a ceremony at Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia. Dr. Jill Biden served as the ship's sponsor and authenticated the keel, a traditional milestone marking the formal start of the boat's assembly. The event underscored DELAWARE's role as the last Block III submarine, a variant that introduced a redesigned bow incorporating technology derived from converted OHIO-class guided-missile submarines, including two large-diameter VIRGINIA Payload Tubes replacing the earlier twelve individual vertical launch tubes.

Hull and systems work progressed over the next two years. On October 20, 2018, DELAWARE was christened at Newport News in a ceremony that again highlighted the sponsor's role and the connection between the crew and the First State. The submarine was then moved out of the construction facility. Official imagery shows the hull being rolled out at Newport News Shipbuilding on December 12, 2018, in preparation for launch. Two days later, on December 14, 2018, DELAWARE was launched, entering the water for the first time and beginning the transition from a shipbuilding project to an operational warship.

In mid-2019 the submarine entered its builder's sea trials phase. Newport News Shipbuilding reported that the future DELAWARE put to sea for several days in August 2019 to test all major systems and to conduct the submarine's first submergence and high-speed maneuvers both on the surface and underwater. These initial trials were followed by additional at-sea periods to resolve deficiencies and to confirm performance across propulsion, combat systems, navigation, and habitability. After successful trials, DELAWARE was delivered to the U.S. Navy on October 25, 2019. A Huntington Ingalls Industries press release dated October 28 announced the delivery and confirmed that the submarine had been officially transferred to the fleet three days earlier. At that point, the boat was designated Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU) DELAWARE and remained based in the Hampton Roads area as final outfitting and testing continued.

Leadership of the pre-commissioning unit shifted just weeks after delivery. On November 8, 2019, a change-of-command ceremony at Naval Station Norfolk saw Capt. Brian P. Hogan, the first commanding officer of PCU DELAWARE, relieved by Cmdr. Matthew Horton. Hogan had led the crew since December 2015 and had overseen much of the construction-phase work. His relief marked the transition from the original pre-commissioning leadership team to the officers who would take the submarine into the fleet. Senator Tom Carper of Delaware addressed the ceremony, emphasizing the connection between the boat, its crew, and the state whose name it bears.

Even before delivery, the Navy had decided where DELAWARE's early maintenance would take place. On January 4, 2019, the service assigned the boat's post-shakedown availability (PSA) to Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut, with work expected to begin in late 2019 or early 2020. The planned PSA at Electric Boat was intended to correct issues discovered on trials, incorporate final alterations, and bring the submarine to full operational readiness, while also sustaining several hundred shipyard jobs at Groton.

Amid this transition from shipyard project to operational asset, DELAWARE was formally commissioned into the U.S. Navy under unusual circumstances. On April 4, 2020, during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the submarine was administratively commissioned while submerged at sea, without the traditional public ceremony. Navy officials later described this as the first instance of a U.S. warship being commissioned while underwater, a reflection both of the health restrictions then in place and of the Navy's desire to avoid delaying the boat's entry into service. The Naval Vessel Register records April 4, 2020, as the date DELAWARE joined the active fleet.

Following commissioning, DELAWARE shifted her focus to completing the planned early maintenance period and to working up as an operational unit. The PSA at Groton, assigned to Electric Boat, provided an opportunity to incorporate lessons from the sea trials and to finalize system configurations typical of the Block III boats. Open imagery from this period confirms that by October 1, 2021, the submarine was already operating routinely from Naval Submarine Base New London: a Navy photograph dated that day shows DELAWARE returning to the base after conducting routine operations off the New England coast. The boat's homeport was listed as Groton, Connecticut, and she was assigned to Submarine Squadron 12 (SUBRON 12).

In the months leading into 2022, DELAWARE continued local operations from Groton as the crew refined tactics and certified in warfare areas. An open-source chronology notes that the submarine departed her Groton homeport for routine local operations on January 11, 2022, one of a series of short underway periods that built experience prior to extended deployments.

The most visible milestone of this early operational phase came with the delayed public commissioning. After concluding workups in New England waters, DELAWARE sailed south from Groton on March 26, 2022, en route to the ship's namesake state. Photographic records show her arriving in Wilmington, Delaware, on March 29 to prepare for formal ceremonies on the Christina River waterfront. On April 2, 2022, the Navy staged a commissioning celebration at the Port of Wilmington, with President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and First Lady Jill Biden in attendance. The event symbolically completed the boat's entry into service, two years after the administrative commissioning, and highlighted DELAWARE's status as one of the Navy's newest fast-attack submarines. After the ceremony, the submarine returned to Groton to resume operations under SUBRON 12.

From mid-2022 into early 2023, DELAWARE operated primarily in the western Atlantic as a fully commissioned unit. Public sources do not document each individual underway period, but the pattern was typical for a newly commissioned VIRGINIA-class submarine: tactical development, certification events with Submarine Development Squadron and Submarine Readiness Squadron 32, and preparations for a first overseas deployment under the Chief of Naval Operations' maritime strategy. By early 2023, the boat and her crew had completed post-shakedown work and workups and were ready for extended operations with U.S. 6th Fleet.

DELAWARE's maiden deployment began in early 2023 from Groton and lasted approximately six months. Under the command of Cmdr. Robert Low, the submarine deployed to the U.S. European Command area of responsibility and spent much of the period operating in the North Atlantic and Arctic-adjacent waters in support of NATO and U.S. undersea-deterrence objectives. When DELAWARE returned to Naval Submarine Base New London on August 14, 2023, DVIDS reporting noted that the boat had steamed nearly 35,000 nautical miles during the deployment and that 42 sailors had earned their submarine warfare insignia ("dolphins") while underway, illustrating how the first cruise served both operational and training purposes.

Port visits during this first deployment underlined the growing strategic focus on the High North and the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom (GIUK) gap. DELAWARE made a port call at Tromso, Norway, a key logistics and support hub north of the Arctic Circle that the United States and its allies increasingly use to sustain submarine patrols in the Norwegian and Barents Seas. During the same deployment, she visited the Faroe Islands, where her arrival had particular political significance. On June 26, 2023, DELAWARE moored at Torshavn, the Faroese capital, marking the first-ever visit by a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine to the archipelago. U.S. Navy and regional media highlighted the stop as evidence of closer security cooperation with the self-governing territory and as part of a broader response to heightened Russian submarine activity in the North Atlantic.

Throughout this deployment, DELAWARE operated under the command of SUBRON 12 and U.S. 6th Fleet, integrating with allied maritime forces and participating in intelligence, surveillance, and presence missions intended to reinforce NATO situational awareness along key undersea approaches to Europe. While the Navy did not publish a detailed day-by-day track, official statements emphasize that the patrols were carried out in support of the Chief of Naval Operations' maritime strategy and that the submarine contributed to multi-domain deterrence in the region. The boat's return to Groton on August 14, 2023, marked the successful completion of its first extended deployment since commissioning.

After a post-deployment stand-down and maintenance period in late 2023, during which shipping records show the submarine in New London on November 16, DELAWARE resumed local operations from Groton. The focus in this phase was on consolidating experience from the first deployment, training new crew members, and preparing for future tasking while the global security environment in Europe and the High North remained tense following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

A major leadership transition took place the following summer. On July 11, 2024, a change-of-command ceremony was held pierside at Naval Submarine Base New London, at which Cmdr. Robert Low turned over command of USS DELAWARE to Cmdr. Jason Patton. Operationally, 2024 saw DELAWARE continue to train and exercise primarily in the western Atlantic. A naval movements summary lists a port call in Norfolk, Virginia, on October 25, 2024, indicating that the submarine temporarily shifted from Groton to the Hampton Roads area, likely for training support and logistics. Afterward, she returned to Groton, maintaining her homeport assignment under SUBRON 12.

In early 2025, DELAWARE undertook another major deployment with U.S. 6th Fleet, this time under Cmdr. Jason Patton. The submarine departed Groton for a six-month cruise to the U.S. European Command area of responsibility, again focusing on North Atlantic and European waters. An official Navy post-deployment release later summarized that the boat completed a roughly 205-day deployment, spending 194 days at sea and covering more than 42,000 nautical miles. During this period, DELAWARE operated extensively in and around Norway and other parts of northern Europe, reflecting the continued emphasis on the High North and transatlantic sea lines of communication.

Port visits during the 2025 deployment included at least one extended stay and several brief logistics stops. DELAWARE moored at Haakonsvern Naval Base, near Bergen, Norway, on February 10, 2025, for a five-day visit, underscoring close maritime cooperation with Norway and providing the crew with rest and resupply after high-latitude operations. This port call was followed by a brief stop in Eyjafjördur in northern Iceland later in the deployment, consistent with the emerging use of Icelandic fjords as logistics points for allied submarines in the North Atlantic. Beyond traditional port calls, the 2025 deployment was notable for the integration of unmanned undersea technology. A U.S. Naval War College account of a post-deployment visit reports that during this cruise, DELAWARE conducted the first-ever forward-deployed submarine torpedo-tube launch and recovery of a Yellow Moray (REMUS 600) unmanned underwater vehicle. Conducted while operating in European waters for U.S. European Command, this evolution demonstrated the ability of a VIRGINIA-class submarine to deploy and recover a medium-size UUV through a torpedo tube, extending the boat's reach into shallower or more constrained areas and providing a template for future manned-unmanned teaming in the undersea domain.

DELAWARE returned from this second extended deployment on July 5, 2025, when she moored again at Naval Submarine Base New London. Navy reports on the homecoming emphasized both the operational achievements of the cruise and the contribution of the crew and families, noting that the deployment had been conducted entirely within the U.S. European Command area of responsibility and that the submarine remained under SUBRON 12 throughout. Less than a month later, on August 1, 2025, faculty and staff members from the U.S. Naval War College visited USS DELAWARE pierside at Groton to discuss lessons from the deployment, particularly the integration of unmanned systems. The visit, documented by the college, underscored how the submarine's recent operations were feeding back into doctrinal and educational work on future undersea warfare.

After completing post-deployment maintenance and leave, DELAWARE returned to a cycle of local operations and regional training. Imagery show the submarine operating in the western Atlantic later in 2025, including a visit to Port Everglades, Florida, from which she was photographed heading back to sea on September 28, 2025. Such movements fit the pattern of VIRGINIA-class fast-attack submarines conducting exercises, supporting fleet training events, and sustaining readiness between major overseas deployments.

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