Here’s How the US Navy Builds a Virginia-Class Attack Submarine

Constructing Virginia-class submarines like the USS Massachusetts showcases both the excellence in American engineering and the underlying, fundamental weaknesses in America’s shipyards.

The Virginia-class submarine is probably the most important power projection platform in the United States Navy’s small fleet. In typical fashion, there are not enough of these silent killers to go around, considering all the threats the Navy is required to address on the high seas. 

The Virginia-class sub represents the pinnacle of modern US Navy undersea warfare capabilities—including anti-submarine warfare (ASW), strike missions, and intelligence gathering. With a displacement of about 7,800 tons and advanced stealth features, they replace the iconic, though aging, Los Angeles-class attack subs.

The USS Massachusetts’ Specifications

• Year Introduced: Not yet introduced (anticipated commissioning fall 2025)
• Length: 377 ft (115 m)
• Beam (Width): 34 ft (10.4 m)
• Displacement: 7,800 tons
• Engines: S9G nuclear reactor; auxiliary diesel engine
• Top Speed: 25 knots (28.8 mph, 46 km/h)
• Range: Unlimited
• Armaments: 12 VLS tubes, four 21-inch (530mm) torpedo tubes for Mk-48 torpedoes; BGM-109 Tomahawk missiles
• Crew: 135 (15 officers, 120 enlisted)

The Construction of Undersea Perfection 

The USS Massachusetts (SSN-798), the 25th in the Virginia series, was a collaborative effort between General Dynamics Electric Boat (GD/EB) and Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding. Virginia-class submarines like SSN-798 are assembled using modular techniques to enhance efficiency and affordability. 

Step 1: Designing a Virginia-Class Submarine

Building a Virginia-class submarine begins with a detailed design and planning phase, often years before physical work on assembling the submarine begins. Such a program emphasizes integrated product and process development (IPPD), which incorporates advanced simulations and modular design to reduce parts and costs (in theory, at least, but it is a common complaint that most Navy construction programs go over time and over budget significantly). 

For the USS Massachusetts, named after the Bay State and sponsored by former Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, planning aligned with Block IV of the Virginia-class, focusing on cost reductions and enhanced capabilities such as improved radar and payload modules. 

Step 2: Making the Parts of a Virginia-Class Submarine

Modules are fabricated at specialized facilities. GD/EB’s Quonset Point, Rhode Island, site and HII’s Newport News, Virginia, shipyard handle the creation of large hull sections, decks, and other components. These modules are cylindrical pressure hull segments made from high-strength steel and built separately to allow parallel workstreams. For SSN-798, construction began in earnest around 2017, with modules fabricated to include blended hull features around missile hatches for better stealth.

Step 3: Assembling a Virginia-Class Submarine

Next comes the hull assembly. Shipbuilders join these modules to form the complete pressure hull, a watertight structure that withstands extreme depths. This milestone, known as “pressure hull complete,” was achieved for the USS Massachusetts in August 2022 at Newport News Shipbuilding. The teaming arrangement between GD/EB and HII alternates final assembly: HII handed SSN-798’s integration, welding sections together in massive indoor facilities to protect sensitive nuclear and electronic systems.

Step 4: Outfitting a Virginia-Class Submarine

Outfitting follows, where internal systems are installed. This includes the nuclear reactor—built by separate contractors, like BWX Technologies—propulsion systems, payload tubes for Tomahawk cruise missiles, sonar arrays, and command centers. Advanced manufacturing techniques, such as 3D printing for components, are increasingly used to streamline this phase.

SSN-798 is also the first submarine in the American fleet designed for gender-integrated crews, with living quarters and facilities adapted accordingly. 

Step 5: Christening a Virginia-Class Submarine

The submarine then undergoes christening, a ceremonial event where the sponsor breaks a bottle over the bow. SSN-798 was christened in May 2023 at Newport News. 

Step 6: Launching a Virginia-Class Submarine

After that comes launching. The submarine is transferred from the construction hall to a floating drydock, submerged, and floated into the water. For the Massachusetts, this occurred in February of last year, marking a key transition to water-based testing.

Final stages involved rigorous testing and sea trials. Builders conducted dockside checks on systems, followed by at-sea evaluations for speed, stealth, and weapons. Any issues, like equipment replacements noted in SSN-798’s test program, are addressed. Upon success, the submarine is delivered to the Navy for commissioning, typically six to seven years after construction starts. 

America’s Naval Shipyards Have Big Problems

Despite this structure process, however, the Navy faces significant hurdles in building sufficient Virginia-class submarines in a timely and cost-effective manner. Production rates have lagged, with shipyards struggling to deliver a mere two boats per year. Key issues include workforce shortages; attracting and training skilled welders, engineers, and technicians is difficult, exacerbated by an aging industrial base and competition from other sectors.

Supply disruptions, intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic and other global events, have caused delays in critical components like reactors and steel. Simultaneously building Virginia-class and the larger Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines strains these limited resources further, leading to serious, shared shipyard bottlenecks. Cost overruns, meanwhile, are rampant. The program is collectively 410 months behind schedule across boats, with billions of dollars of extra expenses as a result. 

Maintenance backlogs for existing submarines in the Navy’s strained and overstretched fleet further divert the dwindling American naval shipyard capacity, reducing operational availability to around 65 percent.

Can Donald Trump Fix America’s Ailing Shipyards?

Geopolitical demands, like the AUKUS pact requiring submarine transfers to Australia, add pressure without expanded infrastructure as well. According to industry experts, building new yards could take as long as a decade, making it an infeasible solution in the near term. The Navy is investing billions in supplier development, advanced manufacturing, and workforce programs, aiming for 2.33 Virginia-class subs annually eventually. Systemic reforms, however, are needed to address red tape, acquisition practices, and generational underinvestment in shipbuilding.

Constructing Virginia-class submarines like the USS Massachusetts showcases both the excellence in American engineering and the underlying, fundamental weaknesses in America’s shipyards. The modular, collaborative methods help to build next-level submarines that will keep the United States safe. Yet persistent declines in workforce, complications from supply chains, and dual-class production hinder efficient production.

If the Trump administration is to “make the Navy great again,” it must take steps to overcome America’s ongoing naval shipyard crisis. America requires many more Virginia-class submarines than it has. The only way it will achieve the numbers it needs will be if Washington actually ameliorates the problems at the yard. 

About the Author: Brandon J. Weichert

Brandon J. Weichert is a senior national security editor at The National Interest. Recently, Weichert became the host of The National Security Hour on America Outloud News and iHeartRadio, where he discusses national security policy every Wednesday at 8pm Eastern. He is also a contributor at Popular Mechanics and has consulted regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. Weichert’s writings have appeared in multiple publications, including The Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, The Asia Times, and others. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.