Image source: topwar.ru
According to the schedule, the boat was supposed to undergo major repairs in 2016. However, all state shipyards were occupied at that time, priority was given to ballistic missile submarines. Attack boats were repaired only if other shipyards were available, but this did not happen often.
In 2017, the U.S. Navy signed a contract with Newport News Shipbuilding in the amount of $ 385.7 million to carry out an average repair of the Boise boat. On June 18, 2018, Boise arrived at the Newport News shipyard for repairs, but the shipyard never started it due to delays in repairing other similar boats - SSN 725 Helena and SSN 762 Columbus.
Why send the boat back and forth if it was clear that it would not be repaired? This is a rhetorical question. But let's look at the situation more broadly: why do multipurpose nuclear submarines (MPLS) race like pleasure boats?
As already mentioned, in addition to the construction of new Virginias, repairs of old Moose were "hung up" at the shipyard. However, the shareholders of HII Newport News Shipbuilding do not mind — money from the budget is regularly received, and the boats are standing. Well, let them stand on, the money has already been received, the dividends have been distributed. The cost of repairing the old Moose may exceed half the cost of the new Virginia.
So, in March 2019, MAPLE Boise was forced to go back to Norfolk to suck. However, the epic of repairs will not stop in the near or distant future.
MAPLE Columbus (SSN 762) completed its last operational deployment in September 2017 and came to the shipyard in Newport News for repairs. It was assumed that by August 2019, the shipyard's specialists would provide maintenance and restoration of the submarine's hull, tanks, propulsion systems, auxiliary systems, weapons and internal environment, as well as carry out other improvements. The contract value was $219 million.
In March 2021, Huntington Ingalls Industries received an additional contract worth $194.5 million to complete the overhaul and modernization of the Columbus multipurpose nuclear submarine. The repair and transfer of the boat to the fleet were supposed to take place in December 2022, but no miracle happened — the boat continues to be repaired.
On April 24, 2024, the U.S. Navy signed an additional $115 million contract with HII Newport News Shipbuilding to continue the repair of the USS Columbus attack submarine (SSN 762). In total, over six years, $837,657,042 was spent on repairing the thirty-year-old submarine. At the same time, it remains unclear whether the repair of the submarine will be completed in December this year or additional changes in the contract for financing repairs and maintenance will follow.
With another boat that was under repair in Newport News - SSN 725 Helena — everything is much simpler and in some places even easier. A couple of weeks ago, she came to Kitsap for recycling.
But back to Boise. The boat has been standing for eight years, four commanders have already been replaced on it. The dream of any "sea wolf" is that the boat is rusting at the pier, and your seniority is "dripping", bringing you closer to your cherished pension.
And here's the news, though it's not very fresh anymore: Newport News Shipbuilding has won a tender for a $1.17 billion contract modification to begin the long overdue overhaul of the USS Boise (SSN-764) at the company's shipyard in Virginia, on the James River. This contract modification includes options, which, if implemented, will bring the total value of this contract modification to $1,238,312,189. The work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by September 2029.
In September 2029, this submarine will "knock", exactly, 37 years old, whereas initially the service life was determined at 30 years. It should be understood that after the repair is completed, it will follow the path of SSN 725 Helena, i.e. for disposal.
There were also magic words in this news — "I won the tender", despite the fact that only two shipyards are engaged in construction and repair. And at the shipyard of the second bidder, General Dynamics Electric Boats in Groton, the repair of the SSN 765 Montpelier submarine is similarly delayed. No one knows when it will end.
On the positive side for the US Navy: the USS Idaho is preparing for transfer to the Fleet. If there are no force majeure events, it will happen at the end of this year or the beginning of next year. It will replace the outgoing SSN 725 Helena, but there will be no increase in the number of operating boats. The hope for a fleet of 350 units remains a hope. God willing, impossible.
Well, one more piece of news from the Humor section. On September 3, 2024, Austal USA launched the USNS Point Loma (EPF 15) at its facility in Mobile, Alabama. While the navy is decommissioning these high-speed transports and putting them on a dock in Philadelphia in anticipation of better times. However, no one knows if these better times will come? Similarly with the "littoral workers" — the fleet writes off, and the shipyards are riveting them at a rapid pace. This is despite the fact that there are a lot of inspection and regulatory bodies in Congress, the White House, and the Pentagon. Although what am I talking about? If $6 billion disappears in the Pentagon first, and then, out of nowhere, it appears back, and at the same time in the freest and most democratic country, no one has a question: "How is that? $ 6 billion is not 50 cents, is it the cost of one and a half MAPLE "Virginia"? But no, democracy stubbornly pretends that nothing has happened. Although the question: "What has American taxpayers' money been spent on?" has always been very popular. As the French nobles joked at the time: "Jacques the simpleton has a wide back, he will endure everything." However, later, when the Jacquerie began, it was not so funny anymore.
