NAVAL STATION ROTA, Spain –
The Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Indiana (SSN 789) completed a Safe Haven port visit in Naval Station (NAVSTA) Rota, Spain, June 22, 2020.
NAVSTA Rota is designated as a safe haven port for U.S. 6th Fleet (C6F) ships and submarines during the coronavirus pandemic. The base is equipped to resupply naval vessels while pierside, protecting ships and service members from COVID-19, while enabling resupply and designated liberty areas for the crew.
Indiana is on a scheduled deployment to the C6F area of responsibility to support national tasking and NATO allies and partners from the Mediterranean Sea to the High North.
“Indiana’s presence here sends a message to our regional allies and partners that the U.S. Navy is here and that we are open for business,” said Capt. Ted O’Harrah, commander, Task Force 69. “During this challenging time, we must ensure we protect the force, while also allowing them to get a much-deserved break in port. Safe havens provide resupply and protection to our units and service members, which are invaluable to our force readiness.”
Indiana was commissioned Sept. 29, 2018, and is one of the newest Virginia-class submarines to join the fleet. The submarine is the sixth Block III Virginia-class submarines and features a redesigned bow, which replaced 12 individual Vertical Launch System tubes with two large-diameter Virginia Payload Tubes. These design changes, along with other modifications, reduced the submarines' acquisition cost while maintaining their outstanding warfighting capabilities.
As the most modern and sophisticated fast-attack submarines in the world, this class of submarines can operate in both littoral and deep ocean environments to present combatant commanders with a broad and unique range of operational capabilities. Indiana is a flexible, multi-mission platform designed to carry out various missions including anti-submarine warfare, strike warfare, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
C6F, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied, and interagency partners, in order to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa.