U.S. Navy’s New Virginia-Class Attack Submarine USS Utah Ready to Pass Key Sea Trials.

The U.S. Navy has christened the future USS Utah (SSN 801) at General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, marking the final Block IV Virginia-class submarine. The milestone strengthens undersea readiness as the Navy transitions toward the Columbia program and next-generation SSN(X).

General Dynamics Electric Boat disclosed on October 25, 2025, that the U.S. Navy christened PCU Utah (SSN 801) in Groton, the final Block IV Virginia-class attack submarine purpose-built to generate more deployments with fewer depot availabilities. Equipped with a life-of-ship S9G reactor, Large Aperture Bow sonar, photonics masts, the AN/BYG-1 open architecture and a mixed load of Mk 48 ADCAP and Tomahawk from bow payload tubes, Utah is engineered to hunt, surveil and strike while remaining hard to find. It enters service as the Navy rides out an SSN shortfall and shifts industrial capacity toward Columbia, preserving a credible undersea presence in the Indo-Pacific and the High North. Utah also bridges today’s multi-mission Virginias to Block V’s payload expansion and the future SSN(X), giving commanders a quiet, adaptable node for unmanned systems and off-board effectors from the outset.
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PCU Utah (SSN 801), final Block IV Virginia-class, is a life-of-ship reactor, LAB sonar, photonics masts, Tomahawk/ADCAP payloads for stealthy strike, ISR, and ASW (Picture source: General Dynamics Electric Boat).

Utah closes the Navy’s Block IV production run, a 10-boat multiyear buy awarded on April 28, 2014, valued at 17.6 billion dollars. Block IV spans SSN 792 through SSN 801, with Utah confirmed as the tenth and final hull in the series; Newport News Shipbuilding’s delivery of Utah’s bow module last year capped its Block IV module work. The keel was laid on September 1, 2021, at Electric Boat.

Utah is a standard-length Virginia without the mid-body Virginia Payload Module. The class measures 377 feet with a 34-foot beam and displaces about 7,800 tons submerged. Armament includes four 533 mm torpedo tubes for Mk 48 ADCAP and other payloads, plus two 87-inch Virginia Payload Tubes in the bow, each able to launch six Tomahawk cruise missiles using multiple all-up-round canisters. Crew size is about 145, sprint speed exceeds 25 knots, and the S9G reactor is designed for life-of-ship operation without refueling.

The signature acoustic shift that began in Block III and carries through Block IV is the water-backed Large Aperture Bow sonar array, which replaced the legacy spherical array to cut lifecycle cost while improving passive detection. Photonics masts removed the need for a hull-penetrating periscope and enabled a larger, lower control room. A reconfigurable torpedo room and a sizable lock-out chamber support combat divers, SOF delivery and emerging unmanned undersea vehicles. The AN/BYG-1 combat system uses an open-architecture baseline with recurring Technology Insertions and Advanced Processor Builds, allowing faster sensor and weapons integration across the class.

USS Utah gives fleet commanders a stealthy, all-domain hunter that can out-hear and out-endure adversaries in blue water while remaining lethal and discriminating in cluttered littorals. Missions range from anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare to precision land attack with Tomahawk, intelligence collection, seabed warfare, and special operations support. The open systems backbone and generous internal volume make the platform a natural hub for off-board effectors and UUVs as the undersea fight becomes more distributed.

Utah’s arrival also matters for force management. Block IV was engineered to reduce planned depot periods from four to three over a boat’s service life, targeting 15 lifetime deployments, which translates directly into more forward presence as the SSN inventory dips before recovering in the 2030s. That availability “3:15” model, coupled with life-of-ship fuel, reduces the time hulls spend pier-side and increases the time they spend on station, exactly where the Navy has a near-term gap.

From an industrial standpoint, Utah’s christening demonstrates that the two-yard rhythm between Electric Boat and HII Newport News is holding even as both yards place growing emphasis on Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines. Navy leadership and Congress are pressing to lift Virginia output from today’s roughly 1.2 to 1.3 boats per year toward two per year by 2028, and then to the 2.33 boats per year the Navy says are needed to meet U.S. fleet requirements and cover replacements for AUKUS transfers to Australia. Rear Adm. Jon Rucker, PEO Attack Submarines, has underscored that stabilizing supplier health and schedules is central to hitting those marks. Utah is a signal of momentum inside that larger industrial rebuild.

As a baseline comparison, Block IV Virginias like Utah enter service markedly quieter than most Los Angeles boats, with superior passive arrays, simplified bow-launched missile arrangements and a modern control architecture. Compared with the three Seawolf-class submarines, Virginia trades some magazine depth and sprint performance for affordability and numbers, which is what Indo-Pacific commanders need at scale. Official Navy data lists Los Angeles with 12 VLS tubes on many boats and Seawolf with eight torpedo tubes and up to 50 weapons in the room, underscoring the different design philosophies.

Against foreign peers, Russia’s Project 885M Yasen-M is larger and heavily armed, with a vertical launch complex for Kalibr, Oniks and now Zircon on newer units like Perm; production remains slow and expensive. France’s Suffren-class focuses on stealth with pump-jet propulsion and MdCN land-attack missiles for a smaller force that still needs global reach. Britain’s Astute-class pairs Tomahawk with Spearfish heavyweight torpedoes and an advanced sonar suite. Virginia’s advantage is the combination of well-funded acoustics, open-architecture growth, and an industrial base sized to deliver multiple hulls per year once recapitalized.

Starting with the second Block V hull, SSN 803, Virginias add the Payload Module amidships, four large-diameter tubes that raise strike capacity by 28 Tomahawks and restore room for dry deck shelters and larger payloads. Lessons from Utah’s build-to-feed Block V integration and early SSN(X) design work, even as the Navy’s FY2025 budget shifted the first SSN(X) procurement to FY2040, extending the Virginia program’s centrality into the 2040s.

It was a public accounting of progress after a tough stretch for American shipbuilding. Electric Boat credited its workforce and suppliers, while Utah’s commissioning committee began organizing the community support that surrounds a ship’s formal entry into the fleet. Utah is a late-block Virginia built to deploy more often, integrate new payloads faster and listen farther than legacy boats. In an era when undersea capacity, quieting and time on station are decisive, the submarine adds exactly the kind of capability the U.S. Navy can use now, while setting the table for the payload-rich Block V boats that will follow.

Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.