USS Indiana SSN 789 Patch

USS Indiana SSN-789 was commissioned at Port Canaveral, Florida, on 29 September 2018, the sixth Block III boat of the Virginia class. She was built at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia, laid down in May 2015, christened in April 2017 and launched that June. Her sponsor was Diane Donald, wife of retired Admiral Kirkland H. Donald. She is a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, and her motto, SILENT VICTORS, is stitched across the bottom of this patch. The whole design is cut to the shape of the Hoosier State.

Block III Virginia-class boats like Indiana carry a redesigned bow with vertical launch technology drawn from the Ohio-class program. She operated out of Groton, Connecticut, before shifting homeport to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 2025. She is the third Navy ship to carry the state's name, after the battleships USS Indiana BB-1 and USS Indiana BB-58. BB-58, a South Dakota-class battleship, fought through the Pacific in World War II. The submarine keeps both of them in her design.

The patch is cut to the outline of Indiana with a gold border on a blue field. At the top is the gold torch and ring of stars that Hoosiers know from their state flag, a torch for liberty and enlightenment. USS INDIANA cuts across the middle in big silver and black letters over a Virginia-class boat angled up toward the surface. Under her runs a gold battleship silhouette for BB-1 and BB-58, then SSN 789 between a wheat head and gears for the state's farms and industry. A silver dolphin and a gold dolphin, enlisted and officer, flank the SILENT VICTORS scroll.

It measures 4 inches wide by 5 inches tall with a cut edge that follows the state outline and an iron-on backing. Sewing it on is always the strongest way to attach it. The silver lettering stands out well on a dark jacket or a vest. The unusual shape makes it read as Indiana from across a room.

Fast attack crews do their work out of sight, and the motto says that plainly. This patch fits a shadow box next to a set of dolphins and a commissioning program, or the vest of a plankowner. It also makes a good gift for a Hoosier sailor who rode her out of Groton or Pearl Harbor, or for the family that came to Port Canaveral to watch her come to life. She carries the state's name under the sea, and the patch carries it home.