Opinion — “After a rigorous, data-driven analysis, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to deactivate the USS boise. This strategic move allows us to reallocate America’s highly skilled workforce to our top priorities: delivering the new Virginia (attack) and Columbia (strategic ballistic missile) class submarines and improving the readiness of the current fleet. It is the duty of our sailors and the nation to make these difficult calls to build a more capable and ready Navy.”
This was a statement from Admiral Daryl Caudle, Chief of Naval Operations, as part of a US Navy press release distributed last Friday announcing the decision to deactivate the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS. boise (SSN 764).
Friday’s press release also said, “This move is part of a Navy-wide, data-driven initiative to optimize fleet structure, ensuring that every dollar is invested in capabilities that directly contribute to maintaining the decisive war-fighting advantage…The Navy is changing the way it does business, and part of that change is to ensure that all authorized funding directly contributes to readiness and our ability to defeat future threats.”
I quote that Navy press release because the U.S.S. boise This shows that this should be considered an extreme case of excessive spending on military service.
according to defense news“The Navy originally planned boise Its overhaul was scheduled to begin in 2013, but the timetable was repeatedly delayed, primarily due to lack of shipyard availability. As a result, the submarine has not gone to sea since its last voyage in January 2015 and formally lost its dive certification nine years ago.
Meanwhile, its overhaul was scheduled for October 16, 2017 by Huntington Ingalls Inc. – Newport News Shipbuilding was awarded a contract for $59.8 million to plan and execute the engineered overhaul. boise. Work was expected to begin in January 2019 and be completed by February 2021.
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In February 2020, Huntington-Ingalls was awarded a $15 million modification to a previously awarded contract and in September 2020, Huntington-Ingalls was awarded another modification, this time to a $351.8 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, for continued advanced planning and modernization to prepare the USS Marine Corps. boise For its overhaul, which was to begin in dry dock.
Ultimately, despite earlier delays, in February 2024, Huntington Ingalls Inc. was awarded a $1.17 billion cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to a previously awarded contract to complete the USS. boise (SSN 764) Engineer Overhaul. However, only $36 million was to be made available at the time of the award. This time the overhaul was to be completed by September 2029.
Last Friday, Navy Secretary John Phelan told fox news He boise The overhaul had already cost $800 million and an additional $1.9 billion would be required to complete repairs. “At some point, you just cut your losses and move on,” Phelan said.
I wonder what boise This case is unique, especially because of the Navy’s new fiscal year 2027 Budget The request sent to Congress last week includes a record $65.8 billion in shipbuilding funding for 18 battle force ships and 16 non-battle force ships.
Looking at Pentagon contracts last Thursday, I found the Navy awarding a $33.5 million firm-fixed-price contract to BAE Systems, Maritime Solutions San Diego for maintenance, modernization and repair of the USS Marine Corps. Augusta (LCS 34) Fiscal 2026 Docking Selected Restricted Availability. According to the Navy, the work will be done in San Diego and is expected to be completed by August 2027.
Docking Selected Restricted Availability is essentially a major scheduled shipyard overhaul. The ship is placed in dry dock so that the crew can inspect and repair parts of the hull and propulsion system that are normally below the waterline, as well as update onboard equipment and perform checks that cannot be performed at sea.
USS Augusta The 17th Independence-class is a US Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), a controversial group of ships that have faced a number of problems ranging from hull fatigue cracks limiting their design top speed and other issues, rendering them incapable of performing the roles they were built to fill.
Augusta Delivered to the Navy in May 2023 and commissioned in September 2023. Based on user reports and social media messages, Augusta It has faced mechanical and sanitation challenges since arriving at Naval Base San Diego in late 2023. Reported issues included engine startup failures, which caused delays in pier activities, and serious pipeline problems.
In November 2025, a little more than two years later Augusta When commissioned, Naval Sea Systems Command had a request for a “combination of maintenance, modernization and repair, and … a highly capable contractor with adequate facilities, capable piers (for the applicable ship class) as well as human resources capable of accomplishing, coordinating and integrating the multiple areas of ship maintenance, repair and modernization.”
So, after a minimum service of three years at sea, Augusta The LCS, which cost more than $500 million to build, will be repaired and modernized over the next year at a cost of at least $30 million.
reviewed the story of AugustaThen I looked into the history of the LCS program
And the Navy’s shipbuilding found another cautionary tale worth telling, given that in fiscal year 2027 the Pentagon is about to establish what the Office of Management and Budget calls in budget documents “President Trump’s” golden fleetThat includes initial funding for the Trump-class frigates and next-generation frigates, as well as increasing public shipyard capacity and improving overall ship production.
Launched in February 2002, the Navy conducted a major, multi-year competition for the LCS program that included two different designs – Lockheed Martin’s steel monohull (Freedom class) and Austal USA/General Dynamics’ (Independence class) with an aluminum trimaran hull, meaning a tapered main hull flanked by two smaller outrigger hulls to provide better stability, speed and efficiency than a monohull.
In November 2010, the Navy asked that Congress approve ten each of the Independence and Independence classes as part of a plan to build two LCS variants for a total of 52 modular ships. Different modules for the LCS included anti-submarine warfare, mine countermeasures, surface warfare and special warfare missions.
The two different designs meant that ships could not trade parts or sailors, making them more expensive to maintain and crew. Costs also increased due to development delays and testing failures due to the combination of new concepts and systems. Originally priced at $220 million per LCS unit, the cost of the first ships rose to $700 million, later falling to around $500 million.
In December 2015, Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordered the Navy to reduce the number of LCS to be built from 52 to 40, and to reduce service to one variant by fiscal year 2019.
In 2021, the Navy decommissioned the LCS-2, USS Independence, after just 11 years of what was supposed to be 25 years of service. This was part of the Navy’s plan to decommission the first four LCS ships due to high operating costs and structural issues. Instead, by 2023, six additional LCS ships were decommissioned.
Three other LCSs were scheduled to be taken out of service, but have since been retained as test beds for the Navy’s robotic autonomous systems and other purposes.
The Navy’s fiscal 2027 budget request reportedly requests $1 billion for President Trump’s proposed 35,000-ton guided missile warship, which would have rail-guns, hypersonic missiles, nuclear cruise missiles, lasers and a large vertical launch system battery.
“We are starting immediately with the first two,” Trump said last December, “but based on the Navy’s record of developing and building warships, I do not expect this suspect ship to appear any time soon.”
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