The fourth of eight Virginia-class Block III submarines, USS Washington (SSN-787), has been delivered to the US Navy on 26 May. The contract to build her was awarded to Huntington Ingalls Industries in partnership with the Electric Boat division of General Dynamics in Newport News, Virginia on 22 December 2008 and the construction had begun in September 2011. 

Designed to carry out various missions such as anti-submarine and anti-surface ship warfare, strike, special operation forces support, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, irregular warfare and mine warfare missions, block III submarines features a switch from 12 vertical launch tubes to 12 missiles in 2 tubes, each capable of launching six Tomahawk cruise missiles.