Posted on 04/16/2022 10:21:40 AM PDT by logi_cal869
I was reading about a new Chinese mini sub - a badly needed distraction - and saw a spurious reference to a new US 'Columbia Class' SSBN which was alien to me. Obviously, I'd missed it, and apparently many here as well.
I searched and saw no reference whatsoever to it here at FR, so rather than post a single article, there are a number below in the comments for clickable links, in addition to the linked Report to Congress.
Enjoy.
Nuclear Submarine Lineup
USS Columbia (SSBN-826)
USS Wisconsin SSBN-827
SSBN-828
SSBN-829
SSBN-830
SSBN-831
SSBN-832
SSBN-833
SSBN-834
SSBN-835
SSBN-836
SSBN-837
The United States is developing the Columbia Class ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), formerly know as the Ohio Replacement SSBN program, to maintain a continuous at-sea strategic deterrence as the current force of 14 Ohio Class SSBNs reach the end of their unprecedented 42 year service life in the late 2020s. Columbia Class is the United States Navy’s Number 1 acquisition priority. The Columbia Class SSBN program consists of a minimum of 12 submarines to meet the requirements for U.S. strategic deterrent force structure as set forth in the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review. The Columbia Class program completed Acquisition Milestone B on January 4, 2017 and is in the Engineering and Manufacturing Development Phase.Current plans call for a minimum of 12 Columbia Class SSBNs, with initial construction of the USS COLUMBIA (SSBN 826) beginning in 2021. According to the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Richardson, SSBNs are essential to national security and are ”…foundational to our survival as a nation.” (January 2016). Because these new SSBNs will be in service until 2080, a new ship design that advances critical stealth capabilities and survivability is required.
The backbone of the Navy’s next nuclear ballistic missile submarine is starting to take shape in a series of understated white buildings on the edge of Narragansett Bay.Building-sized sections of the future USS Columbia (SSBN-826) have been under construction at the General Dynamics Electric Boat facility at Quonset Point, under cover from the Rhode Island winter and largely unseen due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
EB’s sub construction yard – split between its more than 100-year-old yard in Groton, Conn., and the newer facilities on the site of an old U.S. Navy air station that’s turned into an industrial park – is finalizing an almost $2 billion expansion of its yards to build the dozen boat Columbia-class to replace the aging class of Ohio SSBNs, as well as building the larger Virginia Payload Modules for the Block V Virginia-class attack submarines.
The Common Missile Compartment (CMC) represents another cost savings for the Columbia Class. CMC is a joint United States and United Kingdom investment and design collaboration for the each country’s next SSBN class. The current U.S. Ohio Class and U.K. Vanguard Class SSBNs utilize the Trident II strategic weapons system with the D5 submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM). In lieu of developing a new SLBM, both the U.S. Columbia Class and U.K. Dreadnought Class will utilize the current Trident II D5 SLBM. As such, the CMC was developed rather than having each nation design their own missile compartment for their next SSBN classes during the same timeframe. This joint effort is saving each country hundreds of millions of dollars. The CMC design and production must stay on schedule to support the ongoing construction of the U.K.’s new Dreadnought Class SSBN.Both the Columbia and Dreadnought SSBNs will host the upgraded Trident II strategic weapons system with D5 Life Extension SLBMs. The Trident II D5 SLBM life extension program will reduce the risks to both national SSBN programs and eliminated the cost of developing a new SLBM while designing the next generation SSBNs. This ensures the new U.S. Columbia Class and U.K. Dreadnought Class SSBNs will be ready for deterrent patrols with operational missiles.
Back to China—big China story of today—the great decoupling begins....
They will invade Taiwan—this is part of the prep work.
In November, the program reached a milestone when the Navy announced that it awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat — the prime contractor for the effort — a $9.5 billion contract modification for full construction of the USS Columbia beginning in early fiscal year 2021, as well as advance procurement, advance construction and coordinated material buys. The deal also calls for the start of full construction for the second boat, USS Wisconsin, in 2024, assuming Congress appropriates funding in line with the Navy’s schedule.Electric Boat will perform about 78 percent of the Columbia’s construction. Much of it will take place at the company’s manufacturing complex in Quonset Point, Rhode Island. Final test and assembly will occur at its shipyard in Groton, Connecticut, at a 200,000 square-foot facility built specifically for the program.
Another major shipbuilder, Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding, will construct and deliver six module sections for each of the first two boats.
With little margin for hiccups, the Navy and its industry partners are doing what they can to try to keep the project from drifting off schedule.
Isn't that a lot to put on one platform? Ground, air and every other sub will only be 30%?
The days of surface capital ships are numbered. Subs and autonomous vehicles are the future.
Very interesting. I am skeptical of most multi-billion DoD programs as too many of them seem to be designed for fighting a war in the 1970s.
Subs are a big exception as they are our most important insurance policy against anyone messing with us.
My one question is if there is any long term threat to the viability of our subs. AI systems are very good at picking up even faint signals from noise. Will this make even very quiet subs detectable?
What’s important to read here is not the design to be, (the design may not be perfect, but it will do the job well, judging from previous Navy Accomplishments), it’s the instability of budgeting and finance of the program, due to Biden and Prog Liberal Marxist Budget, Economic and Monetary Policy Mismanagement.
But does it have automatic gender pronoun detection?
Why don’t they just send the blueprints, specifcations and operating parameters to the Russians and Chinese while they are at.
Nice diagrams and information.
I’ve been reading on these and the B21 Raider, lately as well as both Marine and Army plans to deal with small, mobile units trained to set up Forward Operating Bases, shoot and scoot anti ship missiles, and quick movement out of the AO.
I agree that the decoupling might be happening.
But no conflict yet.
I think the Chinese are patient and will wait until they feel they have the upper hand with Taiwan. Besides they are winning anyway. They are basically hollowing Taiwan out and making in theirs from the inside out.
Ukraine happened because frankly we no longer regard Russia as a world/global power and it’s in the Wests economic interest to tie Ukraine into the EU and NATO (big business wants securities). We just blew off any agreement we made (Minsk Memorandum) and what we knew where their limits (No NATO membership for Ukraine). This isn’t comparable to China.
A conflict with China might be a different story and I don’t see the Chinese nor the US stepping on the others feet like we did with the Russians. We are playing nicely, as they are. We each test the waters occasionally, but we don’t just declare Taiwan as a sovereign state like we did with Ukraine when we gave the green light for NATO membership October 2021. Nor do we give them any weapon system they ask for... How we state it, “unofficial diplomatic relations with Taiwan.”
Russia is no longer a big guy, so we became belligerent, rude. But China isn’t the same.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10694885/China-planning-build-military-base-Solomon-Islands-YEARS-leaked-Document.html (Australia, New Zealand and the US stepped in and stopped this - the point being that’s them trying to go into our sphere of influence)
ZeroHedge is awesome. Loaded with information.
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