The U.S. Navy has accepted delivery of the future USS Idaho (SSN-799), the latest Virginia-class fast attack submarine, marking the second submarine of the class handed over to the service in 2025.
The transfer from builder General Dynamics Electric Boat took place on 15 December in Groton, Connecticut, formally moving the submarine from construction into U.S. Navy custody. Following delivery, Idaho and its crew will continue with post-delivery tests, trials and crew certification ahead of commissioning, which the Navy expects to take place in the spring.
USS Idaho is the 26th Virginia-class submarine produced under the long-running teaming arrangement between Electric Boat and HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding. It is the 14th Virginia-class boat delivered by Electric Boat and the eighth of ten Block IV-configured submarines. Block IV boats are designed to reduce lifecycle maintenance periods and increase operational availability compared with earlier variants, according to the U.S. Navy.
Captain Mike Hollenbach, Virginia-class submarine programme manager, said the delivery reflected the combined effort of industry and the service. “Idaho represents the hard work and tenacity of shipbuilders, industry partners and Navy personnel to deliver the best undersea warfighting platform to the fleet,” he said. “With each delivery, the Navy reinforces our Nation’s superiority in the maritime domain.”
Once commissioned, Idaho will join the fleet as a multi-mission attack submarine, with roles that include anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence collection and support to special operations forces. The U.S. Navy states that Virginia-class submarines are characterised by enhanced stealth, advanced sensors and improved payload and special warfare capabilities intended to meet evolving operational demands.
This is good they need to be getting their arses into gear and commissioning 2 of these per year every year… at least in 2026 they will achieve that with Idaho and Massachusetts. The problem is over the last five years they have only managed to commission 5 boats and as a boat last 30 years and their target is 66 boats in commission they have a massive gap.
And it’s not really getting better.. Utah was laid down in 2021 for commissioning 2027 and is not even launched yet, it’s should have been launched in 2025 to be commissioned in 2027 so there is a possibility no boats are commissioned in 2027, Arkansas and Arizona are due 2028, Oklahoma and Tang 2029, no boats were laid down in 2024 so 2030 may not have any commissioned boats so that would be 6 boats commissioned in the next five years.. and only one (Barb) was laid down in 2025 for 2031 so even post 2030 is looking thin….
I suspect the new normal for the USN will be 35-40 boats by the late 2030s.. if you consider by 2035 it’s likely that the USN will have commissioned 40 Virginia class.. the LA class and seawolfs will be gone even the first two Virgina class boats will be 30 years old and close to retirement and the 1 boat average a year will only keep an ongoing fleet of 35 boats if you keep them struggling on for 35 years.
Happy New Year Jonathan. It’s not good but neither has ours been and both are down to two simple causes “The Peace Dividend” and Politicians when neither care or are ever held accountable for their actions (or inactions).
We both just stopped buying boats (bar the 3 Seawolfs) for nearly a decade and expected industry to be sat there all modernised, fully manned and ready to pick up the build cycle where they had left it. So no one had been made redundant, design teams kept, new replacements recruited and trained whilst doing damn all.
What makes it even worse is that they need to replace 62 Los Angeles boats that were all delivered in less than 20 years and are all aging plus the 16 Ohios they delivered in just 16 years. Do the math it’s a hell of an achievement.
If it couldn’t get any worse not only can’t they replace the old boats fast enough but the maintenance and inspection process is in the same boat (pardon the pun).
Which if BAe do get SSN A up to 1 every 18 months is pretty damned impressive !
On the other hand it’s great news for UK PLC as BAe US is a prime Submarine maintainer and is doing rather well !