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?

AG Andrea Campbell called Diana DiZoglio’s personal cell phone a day after an SJC justice moved the legislative audit legal case to the full court, a call that the auditor alleges violates the state’s professional conduct rules.

DiZoglio’s fight with Campbell is steaming ahead, even as the attorney general claims that there’s a “path forward” for the voter-approved audit of the state Legislature, over 15 months after 72% of the state signed off on the ballot measure.

DiZoglio’s office argues that Campbell’s attempt to call the auditor on her personal cell phone violates Rule 4.2 of the Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct, which prohibits lawyers from communicating directly about a case with an individual represented by another attorney without consent.

“The Attorney General is our state’s top law enforcement officer and should follow the Rules of Professional Conduct,” DiZoglio said in a statement on Wednesday. “I will not participate in dark, shadow conversations with the AG about this lawsuit.”

“That she is trying to get me to speak with her alone, via private cell phone, without my legal counsel present, is unacceptable,” the auditor added.

Campbell’s office is firing back at DiZoglio’s claim, which it says is a “false and baseless accusation.”

“If the Auditor is interested in a solution,” the office said in a statement shared with the Herald, “the AG is available to speak with her or the Auditor’s staff can speak with our office – but as it stands, her office refuses to engage with us directly on a path forward.”

DiZoglio and Campbell have been locked in a legal tug-of-war since voters approved the audit in November 2024.

Siding with legislative leadership, Campbell has claimed that DiZoglio has not answered basic questions on the scope of the legislative audit. The AG argues that the auditor’s review may also violate the state Constitution.

In February, DiZoglio sued House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka for refusing to comply with the audit. The auditor is asking the SJC to allow her to appoint an outside attorney, as Campbell is representing the top Beacon Hill Democrats.

DiZoglio spotlighted Campbell’s attempt to talk with her on her personal cell phone after the AG appeared on GBH’s Boston Public Radio on Wednesday. The auditor also released emails between the two offices regarding the call.

In her radio segment, Campbell admitted to calling the auditor after seeing her at a recent event in Worcester and that she had yet to hear back from DiZoglio. The AG said the message that she is trying to convey to the auditor is that “there’s a pathway forward.”

Speaking at an event on March 16, DiZoglio said, “I have only asked for financial receipts and state contracts. There is nothing unconstitutional about …  getting access to that information.”

Campbell argues DiZoglio has “changed” her stance on the audit’s scope.

Deputy Auditor Michael Leung-Tat expressed his concerns about Campbell’s call to DiZoglio in an email on Monday to Assistant Attorney General Anne Sterman and First Assistant Attorney General Pat Moore.

Leung-Tat emphasized that the last time DiZoglio and Campbell spoke via phone was allegedly in November 2023, when the AG informed the auditor of her support of the legislative audit.

“They don’t have a relationship beyond our office’s official communications,” Leung-Tat wrote, “and, as you know, official business between our offices is conducted at the staff level. … it appears that the Attorney General was calling the Auditor about the pending litigation before the SJC.”

“As you are aware,” the deputy auditor added, “we have been engaged with your office seeking assistance in our efforts to audit the Legislature since 2023, so it is curious that the Attorney General only just now decided to call.

In an email reply, Moore said there was “nothing unethical” about Campbell’s call and that the AGO was “surprised to see” the auditor’s “unfounded assertion.”

“The Auditor has also used her time in those forums make false allegations against the Attorney General and officers of every other branch of state government, recently including judges,” Moore wrote. “Having now heard multiple variations of these comments, the Attorney General felt it appropriate to reach to talk with the Auditor.”

After multiple exchanges back and forth, Moore refuted Leung-Tat’s claims that DiZoglio has answered Campbell’s questions to help the legislative audit proceed. The first assistant AG added that the office “takes pride in our professionalism.”

“We do not, just to pick one example,” Moore wrote, “claim that every state agency funded by legislative appropriation is corrupt; nor that the courts adjudicating our cases are.”

“Nor do we take exception to conferring with those against whom we are litigating,” he added. “We do that every day.”