The $2.4 billion USS Hawaii, the third of the Navy's new Virginia-class submarines, is 90 percent complete, will be commissioned a year from now, and carries on the tradition of warships with an island flavor to their names.

As such, it will get a lot of attention here.

Its stealth means it will be a key player for missions in waters increasingly prowled by potential enemy submarines.

The eventual arrival of the Hawaii — the first of up to three of the new subs expected at Pearl Harbor — comes as the Navy prepares to tilt the balance of nuclear submarines from the Atlantic to the Pacific to meet a changing threat.

With it will come a greater ability to deliver commandos close to shore, and ever more quietly counter the threat of foreign diesel submarines.

Navy Cmdr. David Solms, skipper of the Hawaii, was in town for the farewell ceremony yesterday for another namesake sub — the USS Honolulu.

Honolulu heads out on its final deployment in early May, and after that, will go directly to Bremerton, Wash., to begin deactivation.

One of 17 Los Angeles-class attack submarines based at Pearl Harbor, Honolulu has been homeported here for most of its operational life.

The submarine arrived in Hawai'i to join the U.S. Pacific Fleet in 1986.

It completed nine deployments to the Western Pacific, participated in Operation Enduring Freedom, and navigated beneath the polar ice cap — getting checked out near the North Pole by polar bears when it surfaced through the ice.

USS Hawaii will be the state's follow-on namesake ship, and Solms, 43, said before yesterday's aloha ceremony he would be there for a "kind of a passing of the torch if you will."

"I'm absolutely pleased to be the commanding officer of this newest and finest warship," Solms said of what's called "Pre-Commissioning Unit" or PCU Hawaii. "I'm equally pleased to represent the people of the great state of Hawai'i."

Pearl Harbor has been important to the Navy since the late 1800s, and the submarine Honolulu was the third ship to bear the name.

According to the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, the first Honolulu was a cargo ship that was built in 1905 and was assigned to Army service, but didn't get the local name until 1918.

The second Honolulu, a light cruiser, was launched in 1937.

Samuel Wilder King is said to have suggested the motto "Mau Lanakila" (Always Victorious).

An earlier USS Hawaii, meanwhile, was to be the third 27,500-ton Alaska-class large cruiser. The start-and-stop effort saw her launched in 1945 after the war, but further work was suspended in 1947.

Other Navy ships that have had Hawai'i-related names include the submarine Kamehameha, cargo ship Pililaau, dock landing ship Pearl Harbor, and destroyer Chung-Hoon.

Navy League of Honolulu board member Bob Dewitz said the Hawai'i-namesake ships build a bridge between the community and Navy.

"It personalizes it for the public," Dewitz said. "At the same time, it really helps crew members of the ship become part of the community."

The USS Hawaii, at 377 feet, is 17 feet longer than the Los Angeles-class submarines at Pearl Harbor.

The Hawaii is the third being built in the class, with Virginia delivered in 2004 and Texas nearing completion.

The Pentagon decided that production of the previous Seawolf-class, displacing 9,100 tons, would end after the third submarine.

The Virginia-class, displacing 7,800 tons, was intended as a more cost-effective replacement.

With stealth as one of their best weapons, Solms said the Virginia subs are just as quiet as the Seawolfs, and those are "considerably" quieter than the Los Angeles boats.

New generations of extremely quiet diesel submarines produced around the world have challenged the U.S. Navy, but Solms said, "I would have absolutely no compunction about going up against a diesel submarine from any other nation."

One of the new features on Hawaii is a change in the way 4,000-pound torpedoes are carried. The end result is more room.

"All that open space now can be reconfigured for whatever mission the ship needs to do," Solms said.

That space can be filled up with torpedoes, for a maximum of 24, or a center section can be removed to create berthing for 30 SEAL commandos.

The Navy is placing greater emphasis on the littorals, or nearshore shallows where ships, commerce and people are concentrated, and the Hawaii — although about the same size as Los Angeles subs — has a "chin" array on the underside of its nose that maps the bottom.

Solms said it "gives the captain of the ship a little more confidence in driving the ship around in a challenging place."

The sub has a topside lockout that can accommodate nine SEALs, instead of two on Los Angeles subs, meaning quicker insertions.

Sensors are more capable, and gone is the traditional periscope.

"They don't penetrate the hull like on an old boat where you had John Wayne saying, 'Up scope,' and he'd get on the periscope and ride it around," Solms said.

On the Hawaii it will be controlled by joystick and viewed on video screen.

Features that differentiate Virginia-class subs externally from current Los Angeles models are a sail located farther forward on the hull and a fairing on the front of the sail that curves into the deck.

In addition to torpedoes, the submarine will carry Tomahawk cruise missiles and mines.

The submarine is in an enclosed building now in Groton, Conn., but will be floated off pontoons at the end of this month.

It will be christened on June 17 and commissioned in April or May of 2007, Solms said.

Solms said that if the secretary of the Navy decides to formally homeport the USS Hawaii in Hawai'i (other Navy officials say that's a foregone conclusion), the sub would arrive for a permanent stay in early 2009.

Before that happens, another Los Angeles-class submarine, the USS Jacksonville, is expected to arrive from Norfolk, Va. in October of 2008.

The move is part of a Navy decision to have a 60-40 split of submarines in the Pacific versus Atlantic with commercial trade and threats from countries like China growing in the Pacific.

The location for the Hawaii's commissioning — which could be here — hasn't been determined yet.

Solms said he hopes to take the sub out for sea trials in January.

Delivery to the Navy is scheduled for Feb. 28, 2007, and after that will come a shakedown period.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.