USS ''Nevada'' (SSBN-733) is a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

ballistic missile submarine A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine capable of deploying submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads. The United States Navy's hull classification symbols for ballistic missile submarines are SSB and SSBN – t ...

that has been in commission since 1986. She is the fourth ship of the U.S. Navy to be named for

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, the 36th state.

Construction and commissioning

The contract to build ''Nevada'' was awarded to the

Electric Boat An electric boat is a powered watercraft driven by electric motors, which are powered by either on-board battery packs, solar panels or generators. While a significant majority of water vessels are powered by diesel engines, with sail pow ...

Division of

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Uni ...

Corporation in

Groton, Connecticut Groton is a town in New London County, Connecticut located on the Thames River. It is the home of General Dynamics Electric Boat, which is the major contractor for submarine work for the United States Navy. The Naval Submarine Base New London is ...

, on 7 January 1981 and her

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

was laid down there on 8 August 1983. She was launched on 14 September 1985 sponsored by Mrs. Carol Laxalt, the wife of

United States Senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

Paul Laxalt Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

of Nevada, and commissioned on 16 August 1986, with

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

F.W. Rohm in command of the Blue Crew and Captain William Stone in command of the Gold Crew.

Service history

During the night of 1–2 August 2006, ''Nevada'' was operating in the

Strait of Juan de Fuca The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre ...

when she snagged and broke the 500-foot (150-metre) towline between the tug ''Phyllis Dunlap'' and one of two

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

s carrying empty containers that ''Phyllis Dunlap'' was towing from

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

, Hawaii, to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington.

Fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...

portions of ''Nevada''s

sail A sail is a tensile structure—which is made from fabric or other membrane materials—that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may ...

were damaged, and a second tug had to recover the drifting barge. In both 2005 and 2006, ''Nevada''s crew was awarded with the Battle Efficiency Award (Battle "E"). This award is given to the best submarine in its respective submarine

squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, ...

and is determined based on performance in inspections for tactical readiness and

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from nu ...

safety, among other factors. Nevada Seattle

In February 2008, ''Nevada'' entered Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility, Bremerton Site for a regularly scheduled Engineering Refueling Overhaul. The 'Green' crew worked for nearly 30 months on the refit and refuel until they were separated back to the 'Gold' and 'Blue' crews on 21 July 2010 in preparation for workups and sea trials. ''Nevada'' was awarded the 2018

Omaha Trophy The Omaha Trophy, which is sponsored by the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) and the STRATCOM Consultation Committee, is awarded each year to U.S. military units with intercontinental ballistic missiles, strategic aircraft, strategic spa ...

on 21 August 2019. The Blue and Gold crews received the trophy to recognize their high standards of performance in the command's mission areas. The ballistic missile submarine has been regarded as "one of the US Navy's most powerful weapons" in 2022.

References

External links

* * Ships built in Groton, Connecticut Ohio-class submarines Cold War submarines of the United States Nuclear submarines of the United States Navy United States submarine accidents Ballistic missile submarines 1985 ships Submarines of the United States {{US-submarine-stub