New SSBN 12-18 months late but trying to recover partial time, Navy tells lawmakers

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% complete.

Shipbuilders General Dynamics Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding started building the submarine in fiscal 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.

Beginning next decade, Columbia boats will replace Ohio-class submarines as the carrier of the Navy’s Trident II-D5 intercontinental ballistic missiles, which will carry two variants of the W76 warhead and the W-87 Alt 370 warhead. 

Later, Columbia will carry missiles armed with the W93 warhead, the first nuclear weapon since the end of the Cold War that will not be an overhauled or refurbished version of an existing weapon.

While the Navy says SSBN-826 must be ready to start patrol to make up for retiring Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines by fiscal 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.

A version of this story first appeared in Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily.