A look inside the nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Massachusetts – The Boston Globe

The latest USS Massachusetts is a Virginia-class, fast-attack submarine that can patrol undetected with an arsenal of Tomahawk cruise missiles and torpedoes. The keel was laid in 2020 at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia, and construction costing about $2.8 billion continued through its christening in May 2023.

More than 10,000 shipbuilders — including electricians, pipefitters, welders, and myriad other workers — brought the submarine into being. Extensive and demanding sea trials followed the christening, and now the boat — as submariners like to call their vessels — will be formally accepted by the Navy.

During its initial trials, which were completed in October, the submarine’s systems and components were tested, including submerging the submarine for the first time and conducting high-speed maneuvers while on the surface and submerged.

The commissioning ceremony begins at 10 a.m. at the Conley Terminal in South Boston. The public has been invited free of charge to the event, but the USS Massachusetts Commissioning Committee is no longer taking additional requests because of overwhelming demand.

To coincide with the ceremony, the USS Constitution, the world’s oldest commissioned warship, will proceed from its berth in the Charlestown Navy Yard toward the USS Massachusetts.

“In that moment, in one visual, there will be none older, none newer, none better, and none finer than the duo of the USS Constitution and the USS Massachusetts,” said Dinis Pimentel, chair of the USS Massachusetts Commissioning Committee.

“You’ll see Navy heritage and tradition, and our most capable, most lethal, and most stealthy submarine,” he added.

The ship’s sponsor is Sheryl Sandberg, the founder of LeanIn.Org and former chief operating officer of Meta Platforms.

The submarine’s home port is scheduled to be Groton, Conn., and its voyages over an expected life span of 30 years could take the ship on underwater assignments anywhere in the world.

More than half of its 377 feet is occupied by a nuclear reactor that could power a small city, according to the Commissioning Committee. Its crew is divided among the engineering department, which operates the reactor, and other sailors assigned to weapons, navigation, and on-board supply duties.

The USS Massachusetts is the 25th Virginia-class submarine, which usually are named for states, to be delivered to the Navy.

Pimentel said that having the commissioning in Boston is a natural fit during the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding, and also considering the city’s close ties to the American Navy during that entire time.

“This is a capital ship,” Pimentel said of the USS Massachusetts, “and the Navy likes to be able to commission ships in places attached to their namesakes, where the area is meaningful.”

Globe Photo David L. Ryan Brian MacQuarrie can be reached at brian.macquarrie@globe.com.