GAO warns US Navy submarine shipyard backlog is eroding readiness
USS Pasadena waiting to be taken out of service (Source: US Navy)
A report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has warned that a persistent shipyard maintenance backlog is leaving attack submarines idle for extended periods, reducing fleet readiness and generating billions of dollars in additional costs.
The GAO found that active US Navy attack submarines lost more than 15,000 operational days to maintenance delays and idle time over the past decade. The resulting cost of sustaining submarines and crews that provided no operational capability was estimated at USD 3.4 billion (EUR 2.90 billion).
The US Navy operates 44 attack submarines, comprising 20 Los Angeles-class and 24 Virginia-class boats. Four public naval shipyards and two private yards are responsible for depot maintenance and decommissioning, in addition to other naval shipbuilding work. The GAO found that only about 11% of depot maintenance at public shipyards had been completed on time during the past decade.
Decommissioning is also being delayed because shipyards lack capacity, including the drydock space required to de-fuel nuclear reactors. Seven submarines accumulated 2,216 days of idle time while awaiting decommissioning during the past five years, costing more than USD 480 million (EUR 410 million).
The GAO expects the problem to worsen, with 15 submarines forecast to enter inactive idle status over the next four years. This could result in more than 14,000 days of idle time and USD 3.1 billion (EUR 2.65 billion) in additional costs.
The Los Angeles-class USS Pasadena has already spent more than four years awaiting decommissioning and is expected to have cost approximately USD 300 million (EUR 256 million) while inactive.
“The US Navy has not fully evaluated alternative options to more efficiently decommission attack submarines and develop and implement an inactivation plan that could allow them to reduce inactive idle time for crews and save billions,” the GAO said.
The report also highlighted delays in Virginia-class construction, with production running at approximately one boat per year against a target of two.
