A Navy official told a panel of senators last week that the lead Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine is currently running 12 to 18 months late, but they are trying to recover some of that delay time.
In a written statement for the Senate Armed Services Seapower subcommittee hearing April 8, program executive officers for the Navy’s nuclear-powered submarine and aircraft carrier programs as well as the manager for the Maritime Industrial Base office said the future USS
District of Columbia (SSBN-826) is more than 50 percent complete.
Shipbuilders General Dynamics Electric Boat [GD] and HII Newport News Shipbuilding [HII] started building the submarine in fiscal year 2021.
The statement said delivery is running up to a year and a half behind schedule based on shipbuilder performance, supply chain problems, the complexity of the first-in-class boat construction, and testing.
“However, we’re taking action right now to accelerate and recover as much schedule as you possibly can,” Rear Adm. Todd Weeks, Program Executive Officer for Strategic Submarines, said during the hearing.
While the Navy says SSBN-826 must be ready to start patrol to make up for retiring Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines by fiscal year 2031, Weeks projected the first boat will be ready around 2029. Between delivery and the first deployment, the boats must undergo significant testing and certification.
Last year, Matt Sermon, former executive director of the Program Executive Office for SSBNs and current Program Manager for the Maritime Industrial Base office, promised the Navy will have SSBN-826 on patrol in 2030, even if the path is difficult. At the time he said the ship was on track to deliver 12 months late (Defense Daily, Nov. 18, 2024).
Previously, the shipbuilding review released in April 2024 said the first Columbia-class submarine was running 12 to 16 months behind schedule, while the latest range estimate adds two more months (Defense Daily, April 3, 2024).
The written statement elaborated that the Navy is working with the submarine shipbuilders General Dynamics Electric Boat [GD] and HII Newport News Shipbuilding [HII] “to implement an aggressive, alternative build strategy to recover up to 12 months of schedule, improve overall performance, and deliver the lead ship as rapidly as possible.”
The officials noted Navy investments in the overall submarine industrial base have improved three main factors so far: hiring by 41 percent in 2023 and exceeded targets in 2024, increased capacity of vendors in key market spaces, shoring up single source suppliers and developing new suppliers, and strategic outsourcing and manufacturing technology is on track to help increase production.
However, outside those areas, “we have not observed the needed and expected ramp-up in Columbia-class and Virginia-class submarine production rates necessary to keep pace with the 1+2 strategy.”
The written statement argued the Navy, submarine shipbuilders and supply base all underestimated the effort needed to shift from low-rate production to the annual one Columbia-class plus two Virginia-class rate the Navy needs for “an era of near-peer competition.”
The officials said the current tactic to improve the situation is “intrusive program office deck plate presence to help inform and drive improvement,” backed by the submarine program offices, Supervisor of Shipbuilding and both shipbuilders
The Navy and shipbuilders also conducted “in-depth reviews” into the underlying drivers of performance issues for new lines of effort to push increasing production rates, which informed new production rate projections.
The Navy said it now projects these tactics plus ongoing investments will continue improvements to be seen from 2025 through 2029.
When asked by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) about the expected timelines of the follow-on Columbia-class boats, Weeks said the second SSBN, the future USS Wisconsin (SSBN-827), is currently on schedule to be delivered within 80 months of construction start, in 2032.
The Navy is tracking the next five ships to be on time but he noted they are “really in the early construction phase of those. So we’re not in a position yet to be able to evaluate where they are relative to the delivery schedule.”
The third boat, the future USS Groton (SSBN-828), is planned to be delivered in 2034.