New Mexico Democratic Sens. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall on Tuesday introduced a resolution that calls on the secretary of the Navy to name the next nuclear submarine the “USS Los Alamos” in honor of the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s contributions to the service.
The senators’ press release noted that 2018 will be the 75th anniversary of the founding of the nuclear weapons lab, which during the Manhattan Project “also provided the technical understanding in nuclear energy that led to the Naval Propulsion Program.”
“Los Alamos and the United States Navy have maintained a strong bond since the dawn of the nuclear age,” Udall said in a statement. “It is a bond that has strengthened our national security and helped bolster science and technology in New Mexico and around the world. A submarine named USS Los Alamos would speak to this strong history and would be a formidable force when underway.”
Last May, Heinrich and Udall, along with several members of the House of Representatives, wrote a letter to then-Navy Secretary Ray Mabus asking that he support a “citizen-based initiative” to honor the legacy of the lab in naming a future nuclear-powered submarine.
