Tag Archives: SSN

Submarine Industrial Base Under Strain as Virginia-Class Parts Wearing Out Early; Implications For Columbia-Class

Submarine Industrial Base Under Strain as Virginia-Class Parts Wearing Out Early; Implications For Columbia-Class

Virginia-class submarine USS Vermont (SSN-792) as she returns home to Submarine Base New London on Thursday, on Dec. 24, 2020. US Navy Photo

Some parts on Virginia-class attack boats are wearing out faster than the Navy anticipated 20 years ago, and buying replacement parts is further straining a nuclear submarine industrial base that’s already juggling an expansion of construction of new hulls and maintaining the current fleet.

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NAVSEA Says Attack Sub Repairs Much Improved as USS Boise Enters Yard Following 4-Year Wait

NAVSEA Says Attack Sub Repairs Much Improved as USS Boise Enters Yard Following 4-Year Wait

The Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Boise (SSN 764) enters Souda Bay, Greece, during a scheduled port visit on Dec. 23, 2014. Boise conducted naval operations in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe during its last deployment that ended in January 2015 — and the submarine has been awaiting a maintenance availability ever since, due to limited capacity in public and private yards. US Navy photo.

After years of struggling to conduct attack submarine maintenance – with the four public naval shipyards prioritizing SSN work last, behind a backlog of ballistic-missile sub and aircraft carrier work, and private shipyards finding it tough to resume submarine repair work after years of only doing new construction – the Navy appears back on track for its SSN maintenance, the head of Naval Sea Systems Command told USNI News. Read More

HII: Block V Virginia SSN Contract Balances Budget Realities With Operational Needs

HII: Block V Virginia SSN Contract Balances Budget Realities With Operational Needs

Rendering of Block V Virginia-class submarine with Virginia Payload Module. General Dynamics Electric Boat Image

Negotiations to build the Block V Virginia-class submarines will likely result in a contract for fewer subs than what Congress authorized, than the Navy wants and than industry can build, a shipbuilding executive told Wall Street analysts on Thursday. Read More

Gilday Submits Data-Driven, Tech-Focused Plan to Push Navy Forward

Gilday Submits Data-Driven, Tech-Focused Plan to Push Navy Forward

An F-35C Lightning II assigned to the “Argonauts” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 147 prepares to make an arrested landing on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) on Dec. 8, 2018. US Navy Photo

CAPITOL HILL – Vice Adm. Michael Gilday supports the Navy’s vision for a larger and more lethal Navy that uses data to make decisions and incorporates industry’s technological advances rapidly, according to advance policy questions he submitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Read More

GAO: Navy Surface, Sub Repair Backlog Grew in 2018; 3 Attack Boats Now Not Certified to Dive

GAO: Navy Surface, Sub Repair Backlog Grew in 2018; 3 Attack Boats Now Not Certified to Dive

USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) prepares to pull into Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va. in 2017. US Navy Photo

CAPITOL HILL – Maintenance backlogs continue to plague the Navy’s surface ship and attack submarine readiness, with the service losing the equivalent of 17 ships for operational tasking this year due to delays in getting repairs, according to an analysis from the Government Accountability Office. Read More