Navy Finds Urgency In Staving Off A Sub Shortfall Decades In The Making

[Onkel Neal]

Navy Finds Urgency In Staving Off A Sub Shortfall Decades In The Making

The shortfall in attack submarines – set to span 2025 to 2036 and then 2038 to 2041 – didn’t catch anyone in the Navy off-guard. Program Executive Officer for Submarines Rear Adm. Michael Jabaley told USNI News in a March 3 interview that the Los Angeles-class attack subs (SSN-688) were built at a rate of up to five or six a year and are now approaching the end of their service life. Even building Virginia-class attack subs (SSN-774) at a two a year – a rate the Navy finally reached in 2011, after years of building either one or no attack subs, and has fought to maintain throughout sequestration and congressionally mandated spending caps – the shortfall is inevitable.

This is pretty cool, you can see exactly when the US Navy plans to decomm each boat. Looks like the Houston (713) is due this year
Graph: http://i0.wp.com/news.usni.org/wp-co...n97.png?w=2668