Huntington Ingalls Starts Construction on Columbia-Class Subs

Huntington
Ingalls Industries hosted a ceremonial first-cut-of-steel event today at its
Newport News Shipbuilding division to mark the start of advance construction
for the Columbia-class submarine program, the company
announced in a press release. The event also marked the first class of
submarines that will be built using fully digital blueprints.

“Today is a
historic day,” said Jason Ward, Newport News’ vice president for Columbia-class construction. “It has been a half century
since Newport News Shipbuilding has constructed a ballistic submarine. Today,
we celebrate the decade-plus effort spent working with Electric Boat on the
design of this new class of submarine as we formally transition from design to
material procurement and now to construction execution.”

The Columbia-class boats will replace the fleet of Ohio-class nuclear ballistic submarines. Newport News is
starting its work three weeks ahead of schedule to support its advance
construction efforts, according to the release.

“The first cut
of steel is a major construction milestone that signifies our shipyard and
submarine industrial base are ready to move forward with production,” Ward
said. “We have worked to engage the submarine industrial base and leveraged
lessons learned from the successful Virginia-class
program to building the Columbia-class
submarines in the most efficient and affordable manner to provide the best
value to the Navy.”

Ceremony
participants included Newport News Shipbuilding President Jennifer Boykin; Rear
Adm. Scott Pappano, Columbia’s program executive officer; Capt. Jon Rucker, Columbia’s
program manager; Will Lennon, vice president of the Columbia-class
submarine program for General Dynamics Electric Boat; and shipbuilders.

Construction
of the 12-boat Columbia class will take place in
Virginia, Rhode Island and Connecticut, with Electric Boat assembling and
delivering all of the submarines. The lead boat is scheduled to be delivered to
the Navy in 2027.