Maintenance delays to its attack submarine fleet have resulted in the Navy wasting about $1.5 billion to support boats unable to sail missions, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.
“From 2008 to 2018, most of the planned repairs for the Navy’s fleet of about 50 nuclear attack submarines have started late and run long, resulting in a combined 10,363 days of maintenance delays and idle time,” said the GAO report, which officials released on Monday.
The congressional watchdog found that since FY2008, 14 attack submarines have spent a combined 61 months idling while waiting to enter shipyards for maintenance. The waits are often coupled with maintenance delays once at a shipyards, thus compounding total delays, the report notes.
Analysts cite repairs to the USS Boise, a Los Angeles-class attack sub, as an example of the delays. Originally scheduled to enter a shipyard for extended repairs in 2013, the Boise ended up idle for more than two years because of shipyard delays.
While the GAO report said the Navy has started to address the backlogs at government-owned facilities, private shipyards will be needed to meet the maintenance demands in the coming years.
• Dan Boylan can be reached at dboylan@washingtontimes.com.
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