US Navy welcomes first submarine built for mixed-gender crew into the fleet
The US Navy has officially welcomed the third incarnation of the USS New Jersey into the fleet - and it's the first to have been designed for both male and female crew members.
USS New Jersey is a Virginia-class, nuclear-powered, cruise missile fast attack submarine.
Her commissioning ceremony took place at Naval Weapons Station Earle in Middletown, New Jersey.
New Jersey is the 23rd Virginia-class submarine and the 11th to have been delivered by Newport News Shipbuilding.
The company pointed out that she is the first submarine to have been designed with a modification for gender integration.
Construction began in March 2016.
She is 377 feet -long, has a 34-foot beam and can dive further than 800ft underwater. She can travel at 25 knots and requires a crew of 135 personnel.
The submarine is designed to operate in anti-submarine, anti-ship, strike, special operations, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, irregular and mine warfare.
Her weapons include the advanced Tomahawk cruise missiles.
She is the third vessel to carry the name USS New Jersey.
The first USS New Jersey was commissioned in 1906 and was sunk in 1923 after being used for bombing tests.
The second USS New Jersey was commissioned in 1943 and saw service in the Second World War, Korean War and Vietnam War.
She was the only battleship to have provided fire support in Vietnam.
After retiring from active duty, she was later towed from the Pacific to the Atlantic in 1999 and became a museum.
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