The Navy’s Columbia-class submarines will arguably be the most formidable vessels of their kind to sail the seas.
Shipbuilding issues and budgetary constraints have plagued the U.S. Navy’s upcoming projects in recent years. From next-generation aircraft and submarines to aircraft carriers and destroyers, the service’s setbacks will impact its ability to project power out at sea if not rectified soon. According to a statement made by Secretary of the Navy John Phelan before a House defense subcommittee earlier this month, getting the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine program back on track is a top priority for the service.
“We need to get hulls in the water,” Phelan asserted, adding that “The Department of the Navy has suffered from years of suboptimal management decisions, inefficient and burdensome bureaucracy, and poor capital allocation resulting in delayed shipbuilding and huge cost overruns. Too often, taxpayer dollars are wasted, while maintenance backlogs grow and vital modernization efforts lag.” If the Navy wants to field its new class of Columbia-class submarines by its initial 2031 deadline, a lot of progress must be made in the meantime.
What We Know About the Columbia-class Program
The Navy’s existing Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines are set to retire at a rate of one per year beginning in 2028. When the Columbia vessels replace these aging subs, they will resume the role of submarine presence in the U.S. military’s strategic nuclear force. The Navy first collaborated with manufacturer General Dynamics Electric Boat to design the Columbia-class prototype in the early 2000s. As part of the plan, a total of one dozen submarines will be produced by Electric Boat with the help of Newport News Shipbuilding. The new submarines will be similar in size to their Ohio-class predecessors but will notably possess eight fewer missile tubes. However, this does not mean the Columbia-class will be less lethal. In fact, thanks to incorporated new technologies, the Navy’s Columbia-class submarines will arguably be the most formidable vessels of their kind to sail the seas.
Each Columbia-class submarine will be fitted with sixteen missile tubes for launching Trident II D5 submarine-launched ballistic missiles. The latter boats produced in this class will host an upgraded D5LE2 ballistic missile, which is a product of a joint American/British effort that provides a cost-effective addition. Another significant feature incorporated on the Columbia boats is the use of an electric motor to turn the propellers. In the past, only two other American submarine classes featured this type of propulsion system, where the steam from the reactor turns generators which supply power to the electric motor instead of using the steam and reduction gears to turn the propeller shaft. Since this drive system is much quieter than the traditional mechanical variant, the Columbia-class will sport a reduced acoustic signature, making it more challenging for adversarial boats and aircraft to detect.
While the Columbia boats will certainly be unmatched when they enter service with the Navy, timing issues could cause a power vacuum if the Ohio vessels retire too soon. To rectify this potential shortfall, the Navy must ensure the lifespans of the Ohio vessels are extended.
About the Author: Maya Carlin
Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin. Carlin has over 1,000 articles published over the last several years on various defense issues.
Image: DVIDS.
