A Connecticut-based company that has been building U.S. Navy submarines for more than 100 years just signed a contract to develop the first vessels of the new Columbia class of ballistic missile submarines.
This week, General Dynamics Electric Boat was awarded a nearly $9.5 billion deal to construct and test the lead and second ships of the new submarine class. They will eventually be used to replace the aging Ohio class of ballistic missile subs, known informally as “boomers.”
“Electric Boat has been making preparations for construction of the Columbia class for nearly a decade,” said Kevin Graney, president of General Dynamics Electric Boat. “As a result, Columbia’s design is more advanced than that of any previous submarine program.”
Individual sections of the new submarines will be manufactured in the company’s complex in Quonset Point, Rhode Island. The components will be assembled into a complete submarine inside a 200,000-square-foot facility now under construction, company officials said.
At 560 feet long and displacing nearly 21,000 tons, the Columbia class submarines will be the largest ever built in the United States. They will have nuclear fuel that will power the submarine for its entire service life.
Electric Boat is expected to deliver the lead ship to the Navy in 2027.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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