US Navy Facing Difficulties To Deliver Submarines

Columbia-class submarine construction remains a Pentagon priority. (US Navy) 

James: Struggles continue for US Navy to meet submarine-building requirements, commitments 

The US Navy (USN) has continued to face difficulties in delivering Virginia-class attack submarines (SSNs), maintaining existing vessels, and gearing up for the construction and delivery schedule for the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) meant to replace the Ohio-class boats for the US fleets. 

Meeting the requirements for the trinational Australian, UK, and US (AUKUS) agreement to bolster the Australian submarine fleet will likely mean a dip in the US submarine fleet below its future goals and needs, according to a recent report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

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Update: The Sinking Submarine Industrial Base (War On The Rocks)  

WNU Editor: Cost overruns are also becoming a problem .... US Navy’s $20 Billion Program To Develop 12 Columbia-Class Submarines In Financial Trouble (EurAsian Times).

US Navy’s Newest Ballistic-Missile Submarine May Not Be Delivered On Time

Bloomberg: US Navy’s Newest Submarine Leaves Pentagon Baffled on When It Will Be Ready 

Officials overseeing development of the US Navy’s next-generation submarine to carry nuclear missiles don’t have the information they need to know whether the first vessel in the $132 billion Columbia program can deploy on time in 2031, an unreleased congressional audit found. 

Navy and Pentagon officials “have not obtained the schedule data and statistical information needed to confidently determine the likelihood that the shipbuilders can accomplish it as planned,” the Government Accountability Office said in the report, which was delivered in September but hasn’t been made public. 

The 12-ship Columbia class is set to replace the current fleet of 14 Ohio class ballistic-missile submarines. It’s envisioned as a key component of the US nuclear deterrence strategy into the late 21st century, complementing intercontinental ballistic missiles and air-launched weapons in the nation’s nuclear triad. 

The first ship is estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to cost $15 billion in 2022 dollars, one of the costliest US weapons systems ever.  

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WNU Editor: This is one big red flag that there is a problem with the program. The latest Congressional report on the Columbia submarine program is here .... Report to Congress on Columbia-class Ballistic Missile Submarine Program (USNI News).

US Navy’s New Nuclear-Powered Submarine Program Has Been Hit By The Pandemic

A Navy depiction of the future USS Columbia nuclear missile submarine (SSBN 826)

Breaking Defense: Pandemic Hits Navy’s New Nuke Submarine Program

Work on the missile tubes for the Navy's part of the nation's nuclear triad is months behind schedule after Babcock was smacked hard by the pandemic.

WASHINGTON: The Navy’s top priority — its new nuclear-powered Columbia-class submarine — has been struck by the COVID-19 virus. Workers’ absences at a critical supplier have delayed construction and welding of the boat’s missile tubes by several months a senior Navy official said today, and the service is scrambling to make that time up.

While the service and its contractors are looking for ways to reclaim that time, the situation is something that Navy and Pentagon officials have most feared. Large-scale work on the first of the twelve planned Columbia submarines is slated to kick off in 2021, with deliveries starting in 2030 — just in time to begin replacing the Cold War-era Ohio-class subs as the Navy’s leg of the nation’s nuclear triad. The subs will carry 70 percent of the warheads allowed by the New Start treaty with Russia.

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Update: "Worst-Case" Scenario - COVID Strikes Navy's New Submarine Program (Zero Hedge)

WNU Editor: I am willing to bet that all of the Pentagon's major programs are delayed by the pandemic. Not just its new nuclear-powered Columbia-class submarine.

A New Era In Nuclear Weapons And Submarine Warfare Is Beginning

The Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarine USS Rhode Island Gold crew returns to homeport at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Bryan Tomforde)

FOX News/Warrior Maven: 'First-cut-of-steel' begins new era in nuclear weapons, submarine warfare

Almost nobody knows where they are at any given time, yet nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines quietly patrol dark domains of the undersea realm in strategically vital waters around the globe, bringing the prospect of unprecedented destruction upon potential enemies -- all as a way to keep the peace.

It would not be an exaggeration to call the first “cut of steel” for the lead ship in a class of new nuclear-armed Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines a historic occasion, as the boat is intended to usher in a new era in firepower-reliant strategic deterrence.

A “cut-of-steel” for advanced construction of the first boat took place at Newport News Shipbuilding June 17 -- three weeks early -- marking the formal beginning of a long and carefully labored process of building the most technically advanced ballistic missile submarine ever to exist.

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WNU Editor:  The Columbia submarine program's budget is at $128 billion .... Pentagon To Audit The Cost Of The U.S. Navy's Columbia Class Of Nuclear-Armed Submarines (April 17, 2019).

The U.S. Has Now Officially Begun Building Its New Nuclear Missile Submarine

Popular Mechanics: The U.S. Officially Begins Building Its New Missile Submarine

The Columbia-class submarines will serve more than 40 years and carry hundreds of nuclear warheads to sea at a time.

A U.S. shipyard has cut first steel for the first in a new class of nuclear-powered ballistic missiles submarines. Huntington Ingalls Industries has begun construction of USS Columbia, lead ship of the class set to enter service in 2031. Columbia (illustrated in the above image) and her sister ships will form the seaborne leg of the so-called U.S. nuclear triad, sailing the oceans of the world undetected for months at a time to form a powerful deterrent against surprise nuclear attack.

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Update: Watch: First Steel Cut for Columbia-Class Submarine (Maritime-Executive)

WNU Editor: 12 of these submarines are to be built.

Pentagon To Audit The Cost Of The U.S. Navy's Columbia Class Of Nuclear-Armed Submarines

Artist rendering of the Columbia-class submarine. Source: U.S. Navy

Bloomberg: Navy’s $128 Billion Nuclear Submarine Project Faces Audit

 * Inspector general to audit Columbia class propulsion, steering
 * Audit likely to finish as Congress mulls money for first sub

The Pentagon’s inspector general plans to audit how well the Navy is overseeing development of the propulsion and steering system for its new $128 billion Columbia class of nuclear-armed submarines.

An audit this early in the Navy’s top-priority program -- at least 17 months before construction is scheduled to start on the first of 12 vessels -- signals concern about the potential risks in technology for the sub, which is still mostly in its design phase.

The review that’s likely to begin by June will “determine whether the Navy is managing the development” of the system to “ensure that it meets performance requirements without cost increases or schedule overruns,” the watchdog office said in its fiscal 2019 audit plan.

“There is a suggestion in this statement that the stern section may present some risk of cost growth or schedule delay,” Ronald O’Rourke, naval systems analyst for the Congressional Research Service, said in an email. Until now, he said, concern about cost and delay “has focused on things other than the stern section.”

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WNU Editor: I guess someone figured out that the initial budget on the cost of this program was not realistic, and now everyone wants to know how much will this submarine program really cost.