The US Navy prepares to christen the USS Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Navy is planning to christen its newest fast attack submarine on Saturday morning.

The USS Utah SSN 801 is a Virginia Class nuclear submarine designed to seek and destroy other submarines and surface ships, as well as deploy special operations forces and carry out surveillance, recommence, and intelligence missions.

Virginia Class subs are fast, stealthy, and smaller than previous models making them ideal for close to shore operations.

The christening celebrations are scheduled to begin Thursday with an informal dinner at the Outer Lights Brewery in Groton, Connecticut.

Mike Lamoreaux is the chair of the USS Utah Commissioning Committee. He said when a new submarine is being christened, one of the things they do is, “Come up with the special beer brew.”

“So that’s just kind of a casual get-together for folks to go and get something to eat and if they they happen to drink alcohol, they can try the new the new Utah Brew,” Lamoreaux  said. “I think they call it Silent Raptor.”

Lamoreaux said the crew adopted the Utah Raptor as its mascot.

“Originally, because the state of Utah, it was the Honeybee,” Lamoreaux  said. “And if you went in their command center, they had everything Honeybee related.”

Lamoreaux said those are not the only ties the ship and ceremony have to Utah.

“The company providing the sparkling wine for the christening to break it over the bow of the submarine is a Utah winery up in Cache Valley [called] Slide Ridge Winery,” Lamoreaux  said.

In addition to being named the USS Utah, there’s also a tie in the boat’s designation: SSN 801.

“They were originally going to number this 799 really close to 801,” Lamoreaux  said. “And when it was named by the Secretary of the Navy, the governor at the time said, ‘Hey, is there any chance you could skip a couple of members and name (it) 801, just because we’ve had that area code here in Utah for a long time,’ and they found a way to accommodate us. So they named it SSN 801.”

The actual christening ceremony is scheduled at 10 a.m. Connecticut time, so it will be 8 a.m. in Utah.  Lamoreaux said there’s going to be a live viewing party Saturday morning at the State Capitol, but people can also view it on the commissioning committee’s website.

Lamoreaux said that evening there will be a special reception where a new design for the ship’s bell will be unveiled. 

“We’ll unveil the design for plank owner plaques (as well) that will be given to each of the sailors at the commissioning,” Lamoreaux said.

 

“The plank ceremony is a long standing tradition during the christening of naval vassals,” Lamoreaux said. “Historically a lot of their surface vessels were ships that had decks of wood. And one of their traditions was when a new vessel was commissioned, they would take pieces of decking off of another decommissioned vessel… and they would fashion it into a plaque that has the name of the sailor and the name of the submarine and has a copy of the ship’s crest on it.”

Lamoreaux said the plank ceremony is a way to honor the sailors. During the reception, the Utah’s Captain will present a very special plank to the state’s oldest sub-mariner.

“His name is Lee Drake, and he’s 95 years old.” Lamoreaux said. Drake is a veteran of the Korean War.

The USS Utah (SSN 801) is the second naval vessel named after the Beehive State.  The original USS Utah was a battleship built in 1911.  It played a role in World War I and was being used as a training ship on Dec. 7, 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. 

The Utah was hit by two torpedoes early in the attack, filled with water, rolled, and sank, killing 58 sailors.  The Utah remains in Pearl Harbor where it is considered a war grave.

“Every naval vessel has a silver set of silverware that goes in the captain’s wardroom and is used whenever they have dignitaries aboard or whatever. The original silver service for the USS Utah battleship is now at the Governor’s Mansion,” Lamoreaux said. “After that ship was sunk, they sent divers down to to take some things out of the ship that could be salvaged and one of those things was the silver service.”

According to Lamoreaux, the silver has a connection to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“That silver was paid for by donations that were raised by the Primary Organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” Lamoreaux explained. “In the early 1900s, they raised all of the money to buy the silver service.”

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