Navy Says Columbia-class Sub Construction Schedule Improving
SAN DIEGO — The Navy and shipbuilders working on the first Columbia-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine are striving to accelerate delivery of the first boat after confirming a series of production delays last year.
District of Columbia (SSBN-826) is now about 65 percent complete, and shipbuilders General Dynamic Electric Boat and at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding are working to deliver the submarine in 2028, Program Executive Officer Strategic Submarines Rear Adm. Todd Weeks said Wednesday at a panel during WEST 2026.
“We sat down with our shipbuilding partners, and we realized that we were not where we needed to be on District of Columbia. We were not making the progress we needed to be making,” Weeks said. “Together with our shipbuilders, we embarked upon a bold plan that we called the A-26 acceleration plan and the goal was to be able to deliver every single one of the [26] modules that makes up [District of] Columbia, to deliver all those modules to the final assembly yard in Groton by the end of by the end of last year… We achieved that.”
The last module was the bow section of District of Columbia, which was delivered to EB from HII via barge just before Thanksgiving, USNI News reported at the time.
Like the Virginia-class attack boats, the construction of the 21,000-ton Columbia submarines are split between the two yards with HII’s Virginia yard constructing modules for the bow and stern and EB building the central barrel of the boat. The final assembly for the boomers occurs at EB’s Connecticut shipyard in a purpose-built facility on the Thames River.
Delays in the delivery of the bow and stern sections from HII and turbines from Northrop Grumman contributed to the slip from the scheduled delivery in Fiscal Year 2027, USNI News has reported.
Testifying in April before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Weeks said the service was tracking a potential delivery in 2029. Since then, the yards and the Navy have worked to improve the delivery schedule.
“By the end of this year, we will be pressure hull complete on that lead ship,” Weeks said Wednesday. “All the modules will be assembled into one hull. Then next year the ship will go into the water, and we’re driving towards delivering the ship in 2028.”
The pressure on the Navy is to maintain a dozen SSBNs for the U.S. sea-based nuclear deterrent. District of Columbia was originally set to begin its first patrol in 2030 following the retirement of the oldest Ohio-class SSBN, USS Henry M. Jackson (SSBN-730).
The Navy has examined extending the life of five of the current Ohio-class SSBNs to provide a buffer for the program delays, USNI News has reported.
The second Columbia, Wisconsin (SSBN-827), is about 35 percent complete, Weeks said.
“It is today, one of only two US Navy ships under construction that are on schedule,” he said. “The third ship [Groton (SSBN-828)] is about 10 percent complete, and we’re seeing good ramp-up there.”
Moving forward, Weeks said, the program of a dozen boomers is set to hit full serial production by 2031.
