Navy Is Scrambling to Keep Its Ohio-Class Submarines Alive

Indian Defence Review ^ | May 14, 2026 | Evelyn Hart

[rexthecat]

A massive undersea firepower gap is looming, and the Navy’s aging Ohio-class submarines may be the only thing standing in its way. A routine fleet review in March 2026 surfaced a number Navy planners are still struggling to absorb. Over the next several years, four aging Ohio-class guided-missile submarines and a dozen Ticonderoga-class cruisers will reach their mandatory retirement dates. When they go, the fleet sheds 2,080 Vertical Launch System cells in one wave.

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TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: military; navy; submarines

[rexthecat]

Breaking...

[House Atreides]

“ Breaking...”
***************

Nobody saw this coming. /sarc

[lee martell]

Are Submarine Crews officially Co-Ed now?

[montag813]

Are they really that “aging”? the last of them was built in 1997.

[ProgressingAmerica]

So then un-mandatory the dates and push it back by a year or five. Commander in Chief can do it.

[Gil4]

Ohio-class subs have been around for a while. Not nearly as long as B-52s, but I was at the keel-laying and the launching of the Ohio ('76 and '79), and I was young enough to have to be dragged by my parents to both events.

There probably should be quotes around "launching." The Los Angeles class launchings were more fun - the speeches were just as long and boring, but at least they actually launched the sub.

The Ohio was too big for the ceremonial slide into the water - it had been lowered into the water before the ceremony.

[Spktyr]

Yes. The four that are aging out are Ohio, Michigan, Florida, and Georgia. These are the oldest Ohios, the first entering service in 1981, and were long ago converted from SSBNs to SSGNs - back in 2008. That was almost twenty years ago - those boats are now over forty years old.

We should have been working on and beginning to build a replacement class *long* before now. Same thing with the Ticos.

“But it’s only forty years old!” Yes, and the interval between WW1 and WW2 was less than that, and there were almost no WW1 subs still useful in combat by WW2.

[Angelino97]

So then un-mandatory the dates and push it back by a year or five. Commander in Chief can do it.

Commander in Chief could "un-madatory" the dates by a thousand years. Retirement in A.D. 3026.

But would that be wise?

I don't know. I don't know anything about metal fatigue, or seawater corrosion, or other related things.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

So then un-mandatory the dates and push it back by a year or five.

The military-indu$trial complex says no.

[DesertRhino]

The commander in chief cannot defy physical realities. A submarine has to endure abuse and pressures like no other ship. plane or spacecraft has to endure.
Subsafe is a real thing, not just a suggestion.

[doorgunner69]

The Tico class puzzles me. Essentially an older destroyer hull with lots of modern goodies.
Why do the time out so soon?

I spent a couple days on the USS Valley Forge late 80’s doing some RF measurements. It was darn near a new ship at the time.
Not so many years later I looked it up and it had been used in an SinkEx??

[Wayne07]

The four ships scheduled for retirement: USS Ohio, USS Michigan, USS Florida, and USS Georgia, were launched between 1979 and 1982.

[fidelis]

The commander in chief cannot defy physical realities. A submarine has to endure abuse and pressures like no other ship. plane or spacecraft has to endure.
Subsafe is a real thing, not just a suggestion.

[Equine1952]

When I was in the USN and worked in other entities after, we were heading toward (the boat lasts as long as the reactor and vice versa). The reactor is fueled to last X years/ no refueling.

I left the USN on a boat running on its second core (S5G/S3G). Our weapons’ package had changed ( Polaris to Posiden) but the core had too. I left in 1978 and don’t stay connected to the newer squids. Maybe the boat is not wore out, maybe the reactor is. If you pull rods and can’t get to criticality. Your boat is effectively retired without refueling. IT IWIS

[Equine1952]

True. The Thresher crew paid a price for it and “Level One” quality control. They’re still on yard shake down. Godspeed to them and the Scorpion crew. Regards

[Red Badger]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Valley_Forge_(CG-50)

[Daaave]

Aug 30, 2025 · The keel for the future USS Wisconsin (SSBN 827), the second Columbia-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, was laid during a ceremony on Aug. 27 navytimes.com

[Does so]

Are the secret parts in Chinese hands yet?

[Equine1952]

I look back on my days on a boomer. I had three Jacks for CO. The second was an EXO off a fast attack boat. He said “ as soon as these effing missiles are gone, we’re a big fast attack”. These poor bass now don’t have a torpedo room. The right of self defense is God given. Too bad the USN didn’t subscribe to Captain Jack Perdum’s way of thinking. IMO

[nathanbedford]

This comes coincident in time when the Pentagon is asking Congress for a whopping half trillion dollar increase in its war waging budget. I am entirely unqualified to judge whether we need to replace these subs, but the timing is suspicious.

On the other hand, the submarine fleet is the one sure and certain weapon to get through in the event of a nuclear attack and, therefore, it is the ultimate deterrent force.

It is up to Congress to review this policy and judge whether we should build these boats-God help us.