BOSTON — The USS Massachusetts officially joined the Navy fleet on Saturday after a commissioning ceremony, making it the first submarine named after the Bay State.

The newest Virginia-class fast attack submarine, which can dive to depths greater than 800 feet (240 meters), was christened on May 6, 2023, by the ship’s sponsor, Sheryl Sandberg, the former COO of Meta. This is the 25th Virginia-Class submarine co-produced by General Dynamics Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding and the fifth U.S. Navy vessel named after Massachusetts.

“To be able to take a ship from new construction and watch it be built together by the ship yard, train with our team and bring into Boston Harbor for the first time, it’s very amazing,” said the sub’s commanding officer, Mike Siedsma, a 21-year Navy veteran who has spent time on four different classes of submarines. “I looked at the history books. I don’t think we’ve had a submarine in Boston Harbor since sometime in the late ’80s or early ’90s.”

Siedsma did not say where the sub — which cost over $2.8 billion, weighs about 8,000 tons and can carry 24 Tomahawk cruise missiles — is headed. A U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka earlier this month in the war with Iran.

“The geopolitical situation is very interesting,” Siedsma said. “What is important to remember is what we are doing is proving the power of the United States Navy.”

The crew of 147 also includes 39 women, 16 years after a ban on women serving on submarines was lifted. The USS New Jersey, which was commissioned in 2024, was the first sub designed and built with modifications for a gender-integrated crew.

“The ship is intentionally designed to be served on by both women and men. That is pretty exciting. Twenty five percent of this crew is female,” Sandberg said. “Those sailors just don’t inspire me. They inspire every little girl out there to believe that she could do anything.”

The Navy said this is the fifth vessel to be named after the state. The first USS Massachusetts was a steamer built in 1845 and the last was USS Massachusetts, BB 59, commissioned in 1942 as a South Dakota-class fast battleship. Most of its time was spent in the Pacific during World War II.

For Sandberg, the commissioning also brought to mind the role the state has played in the founding of the United States and how “people are still fighting for the same freedoms that the original colonists were fighting for.”

Reporters touring the sub were led past the control room, down into the torpedo room and into the dining hall. The ward room, where officers eat, also features a mug rack featuring wood from counties in Massachusetts. It was donated by “This Old House,” the television home improvement show.

“It was an incredible donation. Very great connection to the state and the commonwealth,” Siedsma said. “It’s beautiful.”

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.

Your household can earn more than $200,000 a year and still be considered part of the “middle class” in Massachusetts, according to a recent study by SmartAsset.

Massachusetts ranks as the top state with the highest income range for households to be considered middle class, based on SmartAsset’s analysis using 2024 income data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The Pew Research Center defines the middle class as households earning roughly two-thirds to twice the national median household income.

According to a 2022 Gallup survey, about half of U.S. adults consider themselves middle class, with 38% identifying as “middle class” and 14% as “upper-middle class.” Higher-income Americans and college graduates were most likely to identify with the “middle class” or “upper-middle class,” while lower-income Americans and those without a college education generally identified as “working class” or “lower class.”

Here’s how much money your household would need to bring in annually to be considered middle class in Massachusetts.

How much money would you need to make to be considered middle class in MA?