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History | |
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Name | District of Columbia |
Namesake | District of Columbia |
Builder | General Dynamics Electric Boat |
Laid down | 4 June 2022 |
Sponsored by | Eleanor Holmes Norton and Muriel Bowser [1] |
Status | Under construction |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Columbia-class submarine |
Displacement | 20,810 long tons (21,140 t) (submerged) |
Length | 171 metres (561 ft) |
Beam | 13 metres (43 ft) |
Propulsion | Turbo-electric drive, pump-jet |
Range | Unlimited |
Complement | 155 |
Armament | 16 × Trident D5 |
USS District of Columbia (SSBN-826) will be the lead boat of the United States Navy's Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines and the Navy's first vessel to be named for the District of Columbia.
On 25 July 2016, U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced that the new submarine would be named USS Columbia. [2] The Navy already had a USS Columbia (SSN-771), an attack submarine commissioned in 1995, which was expected to retire before the missile submarine was commissioned. But after the Navy decided to prolong the attack sub's service, the new submarine's name was changed to avoid having two active vessels with the same name. [3] On 3 June 2022, the Navy announced that the new submarine would be named USS District of Columbia. [1]
In 2021, construction began on District of Columbia at General Dynamics' Electric Boat facility in Quonset Point, Rhode Island. [4] A keel laying ceremony was held at the shipyard on 4 June 2022. [1] Completion of District of Columbia is scheduled for 2030, followed by her entry into service in 2031.
The 12 ballistic missile submarines of the Columbia class will perform deterrent patrols, the naval leg of the U.S. nuclear triad. They will replace the Ohio class, whose submarines are to be decommissioned, one per year, beginning in 2027. [5] District of Columbia will replace an as-yet-unannounced Ohio.
In April 2014, the Navy completed a 300-page specification report for the Ohio Replacement Program submarines. There are 159 specifications including weapons, escape routes, fluid systems, hatches, doors, sea water systems, and a set length of 560 ft (170 m) (later confirmed in design specifications), partly to allow for sufficient volume inside the pressure hull. [6]
Electric Boat designed the new class with help from Newport News Shipbuilding. [7] Each submarine, beginning with District of Columbia, will have 16 missile tubes, each carrying one UGM-133 Trident II missile. The submarines will be 560 feet (170.7 m) long and 43 feet (13.1 m) in diameter, as long as the preceding Ohio-class design, and 1 foot (30 cm) larger in diameter. [5] Each Columbia-class nuclear core is designed to last as long as the submarine is in service avoiding the need for nuclear refueling during the vessel's active service life. [8] [9]
The design and technology development of the Columbia class is projected to cost $4.2 billion (fiscal 2010 dollars), although technology and components from the Ohio and Virginia classes are to be included where possible, to save money. The cost to build District of Columbia, the lead boat of the class, will be an estimated $6.2 billion (fiscal 2010 dollars). [5] The Navy has a goal of reducing the average cost of the remaining 11 planned hulls in the class to $4.9 billion each (fiscal 2010 dollars). [8] The total lifecycle cost of the entire class is estimated at $347 billion. [8] The high cost of the submarines is expected to cut deeply into Navy shipbuilding. [10] The Navy procured the first Columbia-class boat in FY2021. [11] On 7 June 2021, the U.S. Navy Budget office announced that the total cost for the first submarine, District of Columbia, would reach $15.03 billion, but that also includes planning costs for the entire program. [12]
In March 2016, the U.S. Navy announced that General Dynamics Electric Boat was chosen as the prime contractor and lead design yard. [13] Electric Boat will carry out the majority of the work, on all 12 submarines, including final assembly. [14] All 18 Ohio-class submarines were built at Electric Boat as well. [15] Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding will serve as the main subcontractor, participating in the design and construction and performing 22 to 23 percent of the required work. [16] In late 2016, some 3,000 employees were involved, in Electric Boat alone, in the detailed design phase of the program, [17] with the procurement for the first submarine established in 2021. [5] Completion of District of Columbia is scheduled for 2030, followed by her entry into service in 2031. All 12 submarines are expected to be completed by 2042 and remain in service until 2085. [5] [6]
District of Columbia will have an electric drive propulsion system that uses an electric motor to turn the propeller of a vessel. It is part of a wider (Integrated electric power) concept whose aim is to create an "all electric vessel". [18] [19] Electric drive should reduce the life-cycle cost of the submarine while at the same time reducing acoustic signature. [20] [21]
In 2014, Northrop Grumman was chosen as the prime designer and manufacturer of the turbine generator units. [22] The turbines convert thermal energy in the steam into mechanical energy, and the generators convert that mechanical energy into electrical energy. [23] The electrical energy is then used for powering onboard systems as well as for propulsion via electric motor. [22] [24]
In December 2008, General Dynamics Electric Boat Corporation was selected to design the Common Missile Compartment that will be used on the Columbia class. [25] In 2012, the U.S. Navy announced plans for the class to share a common missile compartment (CMC) design with the Royal Navy's Dreadnought-class submarine. [5] The CMC will house SLBMs in "quad packs". [26] [27]
The Benjamin Franklin-class submarine was a group of US ballistic missile submarines that were in Navy service from the 1960s–2000s. The class was an evolutionary development from the earlier James Madison class of fleet ballistic missile submarine. Having quieter machinery and other improvements, it is considered a separate class. A subset of this class is the re-engineered 640 class starting with USS George C. Marshall. The primary difference was that they were built under the new SUBSAFE rules after the loss of USS Thresher, earlier boats of the class had to be retrofitted to meet SUBSAFE requirements. The Benjamin Franklin class, together with the George Washington, Ethan Allen, Lafayette, and James Madison classes, composed the "41 for Freedom" that was the Navy's primary contribution to the nuclear deterrent force through the late 1980s. This class and the James Madison class are combined with the Lafayettes in some references.
The Ohio class of nuclear-powered submarines includes the United States Navy's 14 ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) and its four cruise missile submarines (SSGNs). Each displacing 18,750 tons submerged, the Ohio-class boats are the largest submarines ever built for the U.S. Navy. They are the world's third-largest submarines, behind the Russian Navy's Soviet-designed 48,000-ton Typhoon class and 24,000-ton Borei class. At 20 Trident II missiles apiece, Ohio-class boats carry just as many missiles, if not more, than either the Borei class or the recently deactivated Typhoon class (20).
The Seawolf class is a class of nuclear-powered, fast attack submarines (SSN) in service with the United States Navy. The class was the intended successor to the Los Angeles class, and design work began in 1983. A fleet of 29 submarines was to be built over a ten-year period, but that was reduced to 12 submarines. The end of the Cold War and budget constraints led to the cancellation of any further additions to the fleet in 1995, leaving the Seawolf class limited to just three boats. This, in turn, led to the design of the smaller Virginia class. The Seawolf class cost about $3 billion per unit, making it the most expensive United States Navy fast attack submarine and second most expensive submarine ever, after the French Triomphant-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines.
The Virginia class, or the SSN-774 class, is the latest class of nuclear-powered cruise missile fast-attack submarines in service with the United States Navy. Designed by General Dynamics Electric Boat (EB) and Huntington Ingalls Industries, the Virginia class incorporates the latest in stealth, intelligence gathering, and weapons systems.
A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine capable of deploying submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads. The United States Navy's hull classification symbols for ballistic missile submarines are SSB and SSBN – the SS denotes submarine, the B denotes ballistic missile, and the N denotes that the submarine is nuclear powered. These submarines became a major weapon system in the Cold War because of their nuclear deterrence capability. They can fire missiles thousands of kilometers from their targets, and acoustic quieting makes them difficult to detect, thus making them a survivable deterrent in the event of a first strike and a key element of the mutual assured destruction policy of nuclear deterrence.
USS Ohio (SSBN-726/SSGN-726), the lead boat of her class of nuclear-powered fleet ballistic missile submarines (SSBN), is the fourth vessel of the United States Navy to be named for the U.S. state of Ohio. She was commissioned with the hull designation of SSBN-726, and with her conversion to a guided missile submarine she was re-designated SSGN-726.
USS Louisiana (SSBN-743) is the 18th and last ship of the United States Navy's Ohio class of nuclear-powered fleet ballistic missile submarines. She carries Trident ballistic missiles and has been in commission since 1997. She is the fourth commissioned ship to bear the name of the U.S. state of Louisiana.
USS Maine (SSBN-741) is a United States Navy Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine in commission since 1995. She is the fourth U.S. Navy ship authorized, and the third commissioned, to be named in honor of the state of Maine. She has the capability to carry 24 nuclear armed Trident ballistic missiles.
The George Washington class was a class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines deployed by the United States Navy. George Washington, along with the later Ethan Allen, Lafayette, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin classes, comprised the "41 for Freedom" group of submarines that represented the Navy's main contribution to the nuclear deterrent force through the late 1980s.
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