New Virginia-Class Sub Headed For New Home At Pearl Harbor

By Star-Advertiser Staff and News Services

POSTED: 03:07 p.m. HST, Jul 23, 2010

The Virginia-class attack submarine USS North Carolina departed Submarine Base New London in Connecticut yesterday headed for its new home port at Pearl Harbor, the Navy said.

The North Carolina, commanded by Cmdr. Wallace Schlauder, will be the third Virginia-class submarine home-ported at Pearl Harbor, joining USS Hawaii and USS Texas. 

Measuring 377 feet long, weighing 7,800 tons when submerged and with a complement of more than 130 crew members, the North Carolina is the fifth ship to be named in honor of the Tar Heel State.

The North Carolina's keel was laid on May 22, 2004 and the submarine's official commissioning ceremony was held May 3, 2008. 

This first U.S. submarine built for a post-Cold War environment, the Virginia-class is capable of supporting a multitude of missions, including anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface ship warfare, strike, naval special warfare involving special operations forces, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, irregular warfare, and mine warfare. Each Virginia-class submarine costs in excess of $2 billion. 

Recognizing the importance of the Asia-Pacific region and a proliferation of submarines in the Pacific, the Pentagon's 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review mandated that 60 percent of the U.S. Navy's submarines be home ported in the Pacific by the end of 2010.

Fifteen older Los Angeles-class submarines also are based at Pearl Harbor, which has the largest concentrations of submarines in the Pacific.