USS Arkansas (SSN-800)

The USS Arkansas is a Virginia-class fast-attack submarine constructed in Newport News, Virginia.

The Virginia-class submarines are the newest generation of American nuclear-powered fast-attack submarines and feature such innovations as a torpedo room that can be reconfigured to make space for large groups of special operations troops, as well as two photonic masts with digital and infrared cameras in place of traditional periscopes. They are constructed by General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII Newport News Shipbuilding.

The 7,800-ton Arkansas will be 377 feet long and thirty-four feet wide and capable of speeds of more than twenty-five knots. It will be armed with two eighty-seven-inch Virginia payload tubes capable of launching six Tomahawk cruise missiles each, as well as four torpedo tubes. The vessel will be operated by 132 sailors.

The U.S. Navy announced in June 2016 that the twenty-seventh Virginia-class sub would be named for the state of Arkansas, and construction began in 2018. The navy selected the female members of the Little Rock Nine—Elizabeth Eckford, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Melba Patillo Beals, Thelma Mothershed Wair, Gloria Ray Karlmark, and Minnijean Brown Trickey—as the sponsors for the vessel, and metal plates with their initials were welded into the submarine’s hull. All nine members of the Little Rock Nine were honored at the keel authentication ceremony on November 19, 2022.

A significant construction milestone was announced on September 27, 2023, when the submarine’s pressure hull was completed, making it into a single watertight component. The submarine’s commanding officer Micheal Huber visited the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History in Little Rock (Pulaski County) in November 2024 and announced that the sub would be christened on December 7, 2024, but would not be commissioned until at least 2026.

Perhaps by coincidence, an action movie called Hunter Killer was released in 2018 (the same year as construction began on SSN-800), featuring a Virginia-class submarine called the USS Arkansas with actor Gerard Butler portraying a captain named Joe Glass, the same name as a significant figure in the Arkansas film-making industry.

For additional information:
“Attack Submarines – SSN.” United States Navy. https://www.navy.mil/Resources/Fact-Files/Display-FactFiles/Article/2169558/attack-submarines-ssn/ (accessed November 22, 2024).

“HII Marks Arkansas (SSN-800) Construction Milestone at Newport News Shipbuilding.” HII.com. https://hii.com/news/hii-arkansas-ssn-800-newport-news-shipbuilding-pressure-hull-2023/ (accessed November 22, 2024).

“Hunter Killer.” Internet Movie Database. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1846589/ (accessed November 22, 2024).

McFadin, Daniel. “Vessel’s Captain Drops by in State.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, November 9, 2024, pp. 1B, 3B. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2024/nov/08/commanding-officer-of-uss-arkansas-the-navys/ (accessed November 22, 2024).

Thomas, Alex. “Little Rock 9’s Strength Built into Sub, Its Builders Say.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, November 20, 2022, pp. 1A, 8A. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2022/nov/20/little-rock-nine-recognized-during-keel-laying/ (accessed November 22, 2024).

———. “Shipbuilders to Honor Little Rock Nine.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, November 19, 2022, pp. 1A, 4A. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2022/nov/19/uss-arkansas-ceremony-to-honor-little-rock-nine/ (accessed November 22, 2024).

Mark K. Christ
Little Rock, Arkansas