Names selected for two future US Navy Virginia-class subs

US Secretary of the Navy Kenneth J. Braithwaite has confirmed that two future US Navy Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarines will be named USS Tang and USS Wahoo.

The submarines have been named after two different fish species that are also namesakes of a pair of submarines that saw service in the World War II. The first USS Tang is credited with sinking 31 Japanese ships totalling 227,800 tonnes while the first USS Wahoo had been credited with sinking 20 Japanese ships by the time it was lost with all hands on board as a result of enemy fire on October 11, 1943.

As with all Virginia-class submarines, the future Tang and the future Wahoo will be built by a partnership of General Dynamics Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding.