New U.S. Navy Submarine Holds Special Meaning for Simplot
On Saturday, April 25, 2026, a true Idaho gem officially joined the U.S. Navy. The USS Idaho, the Navy’s newest Virginia-class nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine, was formally commissioned into active service in Groton, Connecticut.
The commissioning ceremony marked the culmination of a multi-year build and officially brought the USS Idaho into the fleet, following its christening in March 2024. It is the fifth U.S. Navy vessel named after Idaho.
Roots Run Deep
While there are many proud Idaho connections to the Navy and the new USS Idaho, for Simplot Land & Livestock President Tom Basabe, the ceremony carried special meaning. Basabe stood on the deck of a ship bearing the same name as one his father, John Basabe, who served aboard 85 years earlier.
“Quite frankly, a couple times it got emotional there for me,” said Basabe “I was proud of the opportunity to be there and enjoyed it. And I’m pretty happy about the whole experience.”
John Basabe was recruited by J.R. Simplot to run the company’s Bruneau Sheep Company in the 1950s and later built and led Simplot’s Land and Livestock division. He worked for Simplot for 33 years and was close friends with J.R.
But long before any of that, he was a determined teenager who dropped out of high school in his junior year and forged his mother’s signature to enlist in the navy in December 1941, just weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
John Basabe served aboard the battleship USS Idaho (BB-42) during World War II, taking part in six major battles across the Pacific: Leyte Gulf, Tinian, Okinawa, Iwo Jima, the Mariana Islands and Saipan – earning a battle star for each. His service laid the foundation for a legacy of commitment, leadership and service that continues today.
“He (John) did say more than once, all those kids going to war—we were just kids and we didn’t know any better and didn’t know what was in front of us” Tom Basabe said. “At 17 years old, that is a pretty profound statement to make.”
Idaho's Deep and Unexpected Navy Roots
You might think a landlocked state in the intermountain west of the United States, would be an unlikely place for Navy history. But Idaho’s connection to the Navy – and its fleet of submarines – runs deep.
- During World War II, Camp Farragut in North Idaho was the second largest of seven Navy boot camps in the country, training nearly 300,000 sailors.
- The Navy ran a radio operator training program at the University of Idaho in Moscow.
- Sun Valley Resort served as a naval convalescent hospital from 1943 to 1946.
- Battleship guns were tested and repaired at a naval facility in Pocatello.
Idaho’s most enduring naval contribution – nuclear power and stealth – helped change naval warfare forever.
In 1947, engineers at what is now the Idaho National Laboratory began designing a prototype nuclear reactor that could propel a submarine, effectively launching the U.S. Nuclear Navy in the Idaho desert.
In northern Idaho, the Navy’s Acoustic Research Detachment, located on Lake Pend Oreille, plays an important role in submarine stealth. The lake, which is deeper than Loch Ness and closely mimics the open ocean, provides ideal conditions for testing new submarine shapes and subsystems.
Vice Admiral Edmund Giambastiani called Lake Pend Oreille “the most important body of water in the world to the U.S. submarine force” because acoustic research conducted there flows directly into the Virginia-class submarine design. Some of the advanced stealth technology aboard the USS Idaho came from that very facility.
Idaho doesn’t need a coastline to have a Navy story. It just needs a lake, ingenuity and people willing to do the work.
Five Vessels, One Great Name
Five U.S. Navy ships have carried the name Idaho over the years:
- USS Idaho (1864): A wooden steam sloop later converted to a full-rigged sailing ship.
- USS Idaho (BB-24): A Mississippi-class battleship launched in 1905 and sold to Greece in 1914.
- USS Idaho (SP-545): A motorboat acquired in 1917 and returned to her owner in 1918.
- USS Idaho (BB-42): A New Mexico-class battleship launched in 1917 that saw combat in World War II and was sold for scrap pieces in 1947. Nicknamed The Big Spud.
- USS Idaho (SSN-799): A Virginia-class submarine commissioned on April 25, 2026. Nicknamed The Silent Spud.
Life Aboard the USS Idaho
- The USS Idaho is commanded by Commander Chad J. Guillerault and crewed by 15 officers and approximately 120 enlisted sailors — roughly 135 people living and working in a very small space, deep beneath the ocean’s surface.
- The submarine stretches 377 feet in length with a 34-foot beam and weighs 7,800 tons. To put that in perspective, it’s about as long as a 37-story building laid on its side.
- The total program cost for the submarine is approximately $2.6 billion.
- The Virginia class is the first submarine class to replace the traditional periscope with photonic sensors – high-resolution cameras, light-intensification systems, and infrared sensors mounted on masts outside the pressure hull. Images are transmitted via fiber-optic cable and displayed on screens in the command center – controlled by an XBOX controller!
- Space is tight on submarines! Aboard the USS Idaho, two to three sailors share a single bed in stacked bunks on a rotating schedule, known as hot racking.
- Meals are served after each eight-hour rotation, and storage space is so limited that food storage is spread throughout the submarine. Crew members literally walk on top of stacked canned goods until they eat their way down to the deck plates. Fresh food like fruit, vegetables and meat gets eaten first.
- Frozen French fries? Not here. We asked, and moments later a sailor emerged with a box of whole Idaho Potatoes. On the USS Idaho, fries are cut fresh daily.
Esto Perpetua. Let it be perpetual.
That’s the USS Idaho and the State of Idaho’s motto. The phrase speaks to continuity, resilience and responsibility across generations.
That spirit was on full display at the commissioning of the USS Idaho, made possible in part by the Simplot Company Foundation and other leading Idaho businesses and nonprofits that supported the fundraising effort led by the USS Idaho Commissioning Foundation.
Like the Simplot Company, the USS Idaho carries a legacy grounded in innovation, pride of place, and a commitment to something bigger than any one generation. Simplot and the State of Idaho stand proudly behind the USS Idaho as it begins its service, it does so backed by a state that stands behind it, proud of what has been built and confident in what lies ahead.
