NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — The U.S. Navy’s newest Virginia-class submarine will be christened the USS Delaware in a ceremony Saturday morning in Newport News.
Former second lady Dr. Jill Biden, wife of former Vice President Joe Biden, is the ship’s sponsor. She will christen the ship by breaking a bottle of sparkling wine across the bow and say, “In the name of the United States, I christen thee.”
Biden’s participation in the ceremony will come one day she and her husband’s planned visit with steelworkers at Newport News Shipbuilding.
Navy officials say the future USS Delaware will be the seventh ship to the bear the name in a lineage that stretches back to the American Revolution. The previous Delaware was a battleship that served during World War I, and was decommissioned Nov. 10, 1923.
Construction on the new Delaware began in 2013. The attack sub is expected to be delivered in 2019.
The christening ceremony is scheduled for 10 a.m. at Newport News Shipbuilding.
