Defense One | April 8, 2024

What’s going on with Navy shipbuilding?

That’s the question Secretary Carlos Del Toro asked in February, as it emerged that labor shortages were delaying construction on the lead frigate of the Navy’s new Constellation class. But that wasn’t the only program behind schedule, and so Del Toro ordered up a 45-day review of all of his service’s shipbuilding efforts. When the Navy revealed its findings in early April, the study showed every major program was a year and a half to three years behind schedule. 

What comes next isn’t yet clear. “We don’t have detailed plans of action, milestones, initiatives—we are identifying and deeply looking into where we are now in a ‘get real, get better’ approach,” Nickolas Guertin, the Navy’s chief buyer, told reporters at the Pentagon. “We found that we have issues that need to be resolved…But we don’t have all those things completely nailed down yet.” 

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Task & Purpose | March 20, 2024

The silent service, “We come unseen!”

The first recorded submarine attack in naval combat happened in 1776. An American submersible craft dubbed “Turtle” attempted to attach a time bomb to the British flagship called “Eagle,” which was a part of the Boston Harbor blockade. 

Though that early attempt failed, the desire to improve submersible technology led to today’s nuclear-powered submarines. The U.S. Navy just christened its latest Virginia class fast attack submarine, the USS Idaho, during a ceremony on Saturday, marking it as the 26th boat in its class to be christened. 

But, with recent budget cuts, the construction start date of the Navy’s latest class of submarines — the SSN(X) — is delayed until the early 2040s. With the replacement of the Virginia Class submarine being postponed for the third time, the current submarines will remain in active service. 

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Stars & Stripes | March 15, 2024

(Tribune News Service) — As the demand for nuclear-powered submarines increases, Newport News, Va., Shipbuilding said it’s working to hire 3,000 skilled trades workers this year and a total of 19,000 within the decade.

“We are making intentional investments and collaborating with community leaders to ensure we have a robust pipeline for hiring and strong partnerships to meet hiring needs,” Newport News Shipbuilding spokesperson Todd Corillo said.

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Stars & Stripes | March 13, 2024

STUTTGART, Germany — U.S. special operators and allied commandos moved across frozen tundra in snowmobiles and linked up with a fast-attack submarine after it cracked through a thick sheet of ice, marking a first in the Arctic Circle, military officials said this week.

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Military Times | March 13, 2024

The Navy fired the commanding officer of the guided-missile submarine Ohio’s gold crew on Monday.

The service said it removed Capt. Kurt Balagna, who has served as the commanding officer of the vessel since at least 2021, due to a “loss of confidence in his ability to command.”

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Defense News | March 11, 2024

The U.S. Navy’s fiscal 2025 budget request includes money for one Virginia-class attack submarine instead of the planned two, but still represents “a prioritization and very significant investment in undersea warfare capabilities,” the service’s undersecretary said Friday, arguing this is not contradictory.

The Navy has been buying its attack subs at a rate of two per year since FY11, but industry has not kept up in recent years, delivering closer to an average of 1.2 boats annually. The service spent $2.3 billion from FY18 to FY23 to change that, hoping to not only get industry up to an on-time delivery rate of two per year, but then to a rate between 2.3 and 2.5 to support the AUKUS submarine partnership with Australia and the United Kingdom.

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Task & Purpose | March 5, 2024

“With great power, comes great responsibility.”

In the U.S. Navy, the Chief’s Mess is the cornerstone of every unit. It’s the vital link between the lower enlisted and the higher echelons of the command.

In order to make it into the mess, a sailor must be selected for the rank of chief petty officer out of their peer group and undergo the chief’s season, or what is currently called the chief’s initiation. 

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Stars & Stripes | February 29, 2024

The Virginia-class attack submarine New Jersey has returned to Newport News, Va., after several days at sea testing systems and components, Huntington Ingalls Industries announced Thursday.

Tests included submerging for the first time and conducting high-speed maneuvers on the surface and below.

“Taking New Jersey out for the first time is a significant milestone, and the first major test of the submarine’s capabilities at sea,” said Jason Ward, Newport News Shipbuilding vice president of Virginia-class submarine construction. “Both New Jersey and her crew performed exceptionally well.”

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