USS TENNESSEE is the ninth ship in the OHIO class of Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarines and the second ship in the Navy to bear the name of the state.

General Characteristics:
Awarded: January 7, 1982
Keel laid: June 9, 1986
Launched: December 13, 1986
Commissioned: December 17, 1988
Builder: General Dynamics Electric Boat Division, Groton, Connecticut
Propulsion system: one nuclear reactor
Propellers: one
Length: 560 feet (171 meters)
Beam: 42 feet (12.8 meters)
Draft: 36.5 feet (11.1 meters)
Displacement:
Surfaced: approx. 16,765 tons
Submerged: approx. 18,750 tons
Speed: 20+ knots
Armament: 24 tubes for Trident I and II, Mk-48 torpedoes, four torpedo tubes
Homeport: Kings Bay, Georgia
Crew: 17 Officers, 15 Chief Petty Officers and 122 Enlisted (2 crews)

USS Tennessee (SSBN-734), an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, was the fourth ship and first submarine of the United States Navy to be named for the 16th state. There had also previously been two ships of the Confederate States Navy to bear the name.

Authorized in FY1980, the contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut on 7 January 1982 and her keel was laid down on 9 June 1986. She was launched on 13 December 1986 sponsored by Mrs. Landess Kelso, and commissioned on 17 December 1988, with Captain D. Witzenburg in command of the Blue Crew and Captain Kenneth D. Barker in command of the Gold Crew.

SSBN-734 was the first Trident II missile submarine to be commissioned. See USS Tennessee for other ships of the same name.

Tennessee in fiction:
In Tom Clancy's novel Debt of Honor, the Tennessee is one of several submarines sent to deal with the Japanese invasion of the Marianas Islands.
In Tom Clancy's novel Executive Orders, the Tennessee is one of the U.S. Navy's submarines monitoring Chinese fleet exercises.