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The lead attack submarine in the series, USS Virginia (SSN 774) of the Virginia Block 1 class, leaves the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (Portsmouth in New Hampshire, not to be confused with the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Virginia) for sea trials after maintenance and dry dock work, which began on November 18, 2018. Repairs dragged on for more than 4 years. Although, if this repair is what the United States (NATO) calls "mid-life cycle repair", then normal terms are also possible. SSN-774 Virginia is the first submarine of this class in the US Navy. Launched in 2004.
Portsmouth Navy Yard is a US Navy yard. The shipyard is engaged in the overhaul, repair and modernization of submarines of the US Navy. Although it is nominally a state-owned shipyard, several corporations (for example, Delphinius Engineering of Eddystone, Pennsylvania; Oceaneering International of Chesapeake, Virginia; Orbis Sibro of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina and QED Systems Inc. of Virginia Beach, Virginia) carry out maintenance and modernization of submarines there according to public announcements contracts.
In addition to the Navy, a recruiting battalion of the US Army was relocated to the Navy in June 2010 at PNSY from the closed Brunswick Naval Air Base. The US Coast Guard uses the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard as the home port for the Reliance, Tahoma and Campbell boats.
In PNSY, serious work is underway on the construction and modernization of infrastructure. In fiscal year 2020, the US Navy signed contracts for the reconstruction of the communications building, the construction of a flood protection pool and the extension of crane rails in Dry dock No. 1, the modernization of crane rails in dry dock No. 2, the reconstruction of buildings and the implementation of various projects on the completion embankment. In the summer of 2021, several contracts were signed for the purchase and installation of three drainage pumps with a capacity of 12,000 gallons (more than 54,500 liters) per minute for the expansion of dry dock No. 1, for the continuation of the construction of the dry dock complex No.2. The construction of a coastal facility for Virginia-class submarines (Building 178) has also been contracted - a $1.73 billion contract for the construction of a dry dock for the maintenance and modernization of Virginia-class submarines.
