photo by MC1 Steven Myers

USS Virginia (SSN 774) departs Naval Submarine Base New London to begin her first scheduled full length deployment. Virginia is the sixth U.S. Navy vessel to bear the name of the first English colony and the 10th American state. It is also the first U.S. nuclear attack submarine designed for battle space dominance across a broad spectrum of regional and littoral missions as well as open-ocean, “blue water” missions. Land, sea, and undersea firepower, advanced sensors, and other special features enable the Virginia-class to execute numerous war fighting tasks simultaneously.