Tag Archives: USS Minnesota

US nuclear submarine fit for porpoise – Video Clip

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AMERICA has a new submarine which is fit for a porpoise.

Or rather, it’s fit for dolphins – two of which appeared to give USS  Minnesota the seal of approval as they spectacularly surfed its churning bow  wave during recent, successful sea trials.

The beautiful moment when the two mammals swam into the 8000-tonne Virginia  class boat’s forward wake was captured on camera and has been shared widely  online by gobsmacked viewers.

The video shows the dolphins leaping high into the air as the huge nuclear  attack sub, launched late last year, barrels across the surface at up to  46km/h.

Two Navy personnel can be seen watching from the conning tower as the mammals  ride the wave, apparently enjoying being propelled forward so quickly.

 

“That is a beautiful sight! That must be like a surfer’s dream to the  dolphins,” one online viewer commented. 

Dr Hugh Finn, a researcher at WA’s Murdoch University, said he’s seen  dolphins riding the bow waves of Australia’s Collins class subs in Cockburn  Sound, off Fremantle’s coast.

“Essentially the dolphins get a free ride from the pressure wave that a ship  creates in front of it,” he told AAP.

“The ship is moving the water for them and they are quite adept at riding the  wave.

“The same sort of phenomenon – including the leaping – occurs when dolphins  ‘surf’ waves along the coast.”

Source – News Com. AU

Submarine ‘Minnesota’ successfully completes sea trials – Video clip

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The U.S. Navy’s newest attack submarine “Minnesota” successfully completes first sea trials Monday.

Submarine ‘Minnesota’ successfully completes sea trials

Huntington Ingalls Industries announced the newest Virginia-class submarine, Minnesota (SSN 783), successfully completed alpha sea trials Monday.

Alpha trials are the boat’s first round of at-sea tests and evaluations. Minnesota is being built at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division, the Globe Newswire reported.

All systems, components and compartments were tested during the trials. The submarine submerged for the first time and operated at high speeds on the surface and under water. The Minnesota will undergo two more rounds of sea trials, including one with the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey, before delivery later this month. Minnesota is anticipated to deliver approximately 11 months ahead of its contracted delivery date.

“This submarine is the result of a lot of hard work by the shipbuilders here at Newport News, our teammates at Electric Boat, and the overall Navy organizational structure, including NAVSEA, SUPSHIP and ship’s force personnel,” said Jim Hughes, NNS’ vice president of submarines and fleet support, in a news release. “It is incredibly gratifying for all of us to see this magnificent vessel operate so well during her first at-sea period.

Minnesota clearly carries on the Virginia-class tradition of continuous cost and schedule improvement while also raising the bar on operational readiness and capability.”

Minnesota, named to honor the state’s residents and their continued support of the U.S. military, is the last of the block II Virginia-class submarines and is in the final stages of construction and testing at Newport News Shipbuilding division. Construction began in February 2008, and the keel was authenticated in May 2011. The boat was christened Oct. 27, 2012.

Minnesota is the 10th ship of the Virginia class of nuclear-powered fast-attack submarines. It’s the third ship to bear the state name, the Associated Press reported. The first USS Minnesota was a sailing steam frigate commissioned in 1857 that served during the Civil War. The second Minnesota was commissioned in 1907. The 7,800-ton Minnesota will have a crew of about 134 officers and enlisted personnel.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) designs, builds and maintains nuclear and non-nuclear ships for the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard and provides after-market services for military ships around the globe. For more than a century, HII has built more ships in more ship classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder at its Newport News Shipbuilding and Ingalls Shipbuilding divisions employing about 37,000 in Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana and California.

Source – Dispatch