Had this incredibly ambitious plan gone forward, the Montana-class of battleships could have been the largest, best protected, and most heavily armed U.S. warships to ever head to sea.
Montana (SSN-794) was christened in a ceremony at Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding Division. Construction of the boat began in 2015, and the submarine is on schedule to be delivered to the U.S. Navy by the end of 2021.
The submarine will be only the second U.S. Navy vessel named in honor of the Big Sky state – which is the fourth largest in size but is also the 8th least populous. Previously, only the
Tennessee-class cruiser carried the name USS
Montana (ACR-13), and while she escorted convoys during the First World War, the vessel was eventually renamed and reclassified as the USS Missoula (CA-13) in the reserve fleet.