Above the surface of the water, the newly commissioned USS Massachusetts nuclear submarine doesn’t appear too impressive. It only emerges about 30 feet out of the water with a periscope, a non-descript black skin and not much else.
Underneath, however, the $2.8 billion attack sub is a sight to behold. The brand new underwater war machine is docked in Boston Harbor this weekend inside the Conley Shipping Terminal in South Boston.
“The thing that’s amazing to me is watching it from the end of construction and seeing it built in the shipyard, then taking it out for sea testing and then the other day bringing it into Boston Harbor for the first time was just amazing,” said Commanding Officer Mike Siedsma, a Rochester, NY, native who has been leading the crew for the past 44 months. “I don’t think we’ve brought a sub into Boston Harbor since the 1980s or 1990s…We have one of the most advanced pieces of technology in the military here.”
The crew includes 147 members doing all sorts of jobs, from cook to nuclear mechanics to torpedo specialists and other advanced jobs. The crew formed in Oct. 2019 as construction on the ship started, and now has an average age between 19 and 25, with 25 percent of the crew female. The Virginia class sub is one of the first in its class to have mixed-gender accommodations.
Lt. Cmdr. John Collins shows off the control room that contains the brains of the operation on the submarine. He said periscopes nowadays don’t use the old technology, but rather are video based and moved using an actual X-Box controller. Seth Daniel photo
The submarine also has incredible capabilities. It carries 25 Tomahawk missiles and 20 ATAC supersonic missiles as well.
“We have some of the most elite sailors in the Navy on board here; our crew is amazing,” he noted. “You can’t get a ship away from the pier or a sub submerged without every single sailor doing their jobs.”
“When you see 19 year-olds on a sub, and how mature and capable they are, you’d be surprised how incredible adept they are compared to a normal high schooler or teen-ager not on a sub,” said Chief of the Ship Edward Brennan III, a Fall River native who chose the USS Massachusetts several years ago.
“Every day just goes by,” he continued. “You’re underwater. You don’t see the sun. We rarely go up to periscope depth and only a few see that. We could be off the coast of Virginia, or we could be on the other side of the world and it’s all the same.”
He added: “We have food for about 30 to 45 days and our culinary specialists cook 300 meals a day. The only limiting factor on how long we can be underwater is food. We can have 120 days of food max.”
The Reporter took an exclusive tour of the USS Massachusetts on Friday, and to say the quarters are tight is an understatement. Sailors sleep six to a room and bunks are stacked three-high on each side – the total size about that of a normal half-bathroom. There is a place for everything, and fire suppressions systems are of utmost importance and are everywhere. There are computers, touch screens, wires, and even drinking fountains all through the narrow corridors over three stories.
Every member of the crew has a job, and Brennan said they work eight-hour shifts and then are off 16 hours. Each job on the submarine is a 24-hour operation, whether launching Tomahawk missiles or cooking meals.
“When they’re not working they watch a lot of movies or look at personal electronic devices like iPads, but they also read a lot and study hard,” he said. “They also have to sleep.”
The culinary specialists in the submarine are known for making fresh bread every day. Here, the dough is set out and ready to be cooked. Food on submarines is known in the Navy to be better than other ships. Seth Daniel photo
Sailors on the ship said it is common knowledge in the Navy that the best food is on submarines. There is fresh baked bread every day in the kitchen, and the meals are carefully planned and of a higher quality than above-water-line vessels. They are the only members of the Navy fleet to have deep fryers as well, which came in handy on Friday when they were making hamburgers and French fries for lunch.
Todd Corillo of HII, the largest military ship builder in the country, said the USS Massachusetts began to be laid out in 2020 and is the 12th Virginia class sub they have delivered, with 25 of them total in the fleet. They partner with General Dynamics and built the USS Massachusetts in Newport News, VA, over the last six years. It was christened in May 2023.
“Each shipyard built sections of the sub, and the pieces were barged between the facilities, and we alternated the assembly,” he said.
The crew of the USS Massachusetts on the Conley Terminal in South Boston on Friday. Seth Daniel photo
Sheryl Sandberg, the former long-time chief operating officer of Meta Platforms/Facebook, was on hand Friday as the official sponsor of the ship – though it “isn’t what it sounds like,” she laughed.
A sponsor is a civilian role seen like a “godmother to the ship” and is traditionally a woman who looks out for the ship and it’s crew.
“This has been the honor of my life,” she said, noting she was asked by a high-ranking Navy official to assume the duty in 2015. “It goes back 180 years in the Navy and it’s a great honor. We are three months away from celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and last year the Navy celebrated its 250th anniversary. That teaches us that we don’t have a Navy because we have a country, but we have a country because we have a Navy.”
After the commissioning ceremony in Boston this weekend, the USS Massachusetts will submerge and head into the deep for more training and also to await their orders. There were no hints about where they will eventually deploy, whether to the Middle East or elsewhere, but they are capable of going anywhere in the world.
A Naval guard keeps close watch on top of the submarine, with the Boston skyline behind. Seth Daniel photo
“The geopolitical situation right now is interesting,” said Siedsma. “We’re always trained and ready to fight. Geopolitics is definitely interesting now, but it’s now what we worry about. It’s keeping the ship safe and being ready to execute our orders.”
The new sub is the sixth-ever USS Massachusetts to be in the Navy fleet. The first was a wooden ship that saw action in the Mexican American war in 1845. The most well-known USS Massachusetts was a 3rd Class battleship that now is a famous museum ship in Fall River. That ship came into the fleet in 1942 and was de-commissioned in 1962. It logged 11 battle scars during World War II in Pacific theatre action.
Saturday’s commissioning ceremony is expected to attract numerous federal elected officials, Gov. Maura Healey, and any number of military leaders from all branches of government. Beyond that, the guest list was not publicized.
A custom mug rack made with wood from every county in Massachusetts adorns the wall of the officers dining hall – a gift from This Old House television show. Seth Daniel photos
