After delivering the dozen nuclear ballistic missile submarines to meet the U.S. nuclear deterrent, the Navy could keep large diameter hull submarines in production, the service’s director of undersea warfare (N97) said on Wednesday.
The Navy needs to build 12 Columbia-class SSBNs to meet the requirements from the U.S. Strategic Command for nuclear ballistic missile patrols at sea, Rear Adm. Mark Behning said. “Columbia, when it was first built and designed, is designed to replace the current Ohio-class of 14 with 12. We’re able to do that by eliminating the midlife refueling overhaul,” he said during a presentation at the Naval Submarine League 2023 annual symposium.
Following the last planned Columbia delivery in the 2040s – SSBN-838 set to replace USS Louisiana (SSBN-783) – the Navy wants to continue to build large-diameter submarines for a variety of missions. Under the Navy’s long-range shipbuilding plan, it intends to take delivery of the first large payload submarine in 2049, but the requirements for that hull are far from set. The Navy is trying to avoid a lull in building larger submarines after the $186 billion Columbia program – like it experienced following the end of the Ohio boats in the late 1990s – and send a demand signal to industry to maintain a workforce capable of building large submarines. The service has not yet determined the cadence between hulls in future submarines after the Columbia-class program.
