USS Vermont commissioned in Connecticut

GROTON, Conn. (WCAX) - The Navy’s newest submarine is officially commissioned and will hit the water bearing Vermont’s name.

WCAX photographer Lance McKenzie was in Connecticut over the weekend for the ceremony.

“Today Vermont is tested and battle ready. We’re very proud to serve on the newest attack submarine in the United States. The commissioning ceremony is a time honored tradition that began with the first commissioning of the Navy’s first ship, a captured British schooner in 1775,” said Exec. Officer Joshua Ludwig.

Organizers spent a year putting together this ceremony.

The USS Vermont is fast, quiet and nearly invisible underwater.

It’s equipped with torpedoes and missiles to take out enemy ships and subs.

“We want that crew to know that when they are deployed on a mission on our behalf, thousands of miles from here, deep under the sea, and they’re out there alone, depending at that point on each other to serve us. The memory of this in our presence reminds them that they are not alone,” said Rep. Peter Welch.

“We’re with them as a fellow Vermonter career submariner from a family of career submariners and the current Director of Undersea Warfare. I represent the chief of Naval operations and I’m humbled to do so today. Extremely proud to celebrate the time honored tradition of Vermont’s commissioning and her official entry into Naval service here. The Green Mountain State’s legacy of Naval service. It runs deep despite the fact that Vermont has no ocean coastline, but in the predawn hours of 9 May, 1775 early in the American revolution Vermont’s hero, Ethan Allen, seizes the initiative and leads the Green Mountain Boys across Lake Champlain to capture the British Fort Ticonderoga,” Read Admiral Douglas Perry.

“Rear Admiral Perry, you’ve shown great leadership on behalf of our under sea warriors, but that’s not the only reason you’re here. And you know that as a native Vermonter, you represent all of the warriors from Brattleboro to St. Albans who’ve ever worn the uniform of the United States. Navy Vermonters served in every conflict with valor and excellence from the highest mountains to the very depths of the ocean. That’s a spirit far older than the state itself and even older than our nation itself,” said Carlos Del Toro.

The sub’s missions are top secret, but it is expected to be deployed 15 times over the next 30 plus years.