laststandonzombieisland

The Los Angeles (SSN-688) class submarine is a thing of joy.

Sixty-two mother beautiful 7,000-ton 30-ish knot hunter killers that can carry a mixture of 37 torpedo/TLAM/Harpoon/Mines in their hull, with the latter half also having 12 VLS cells for a little added “room to boom.”

They were a big reason that, when coupled with the older Sturgeon-class “fish boats,” the Navy had 83 SSNs on the list in 1995, a fleet likely never surpassed in human history in terms of cutting-edge hunter killers.

Designed to run 30+ years with a midlife Refueling and Complex Overhaul (RCOH) that can take 2-4 years, done at about the 15-19 year mark, the 688s have a very long life planned. The preceding Sturgeons followed a shorter lifecycle, sans refueling but with a less comprehensive mid-life overhaul, but most still served 25 or more years in commission.

However, in the interest of saving a buck or billion, between 1995 and 2008, the Navy elected to lay up 11 of these dedicated underwater Swiss army knives at their midlife point, sending Los Angeles class sisters USS Baton Rouge, Omaha, Cincinnati, Groton, Birmingham, New York City, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Boston, Baltimore, and Atlanta to recycling after just 15 or so years in operation rather than springing for a RCOH. Another six boats (USS Portsmouth, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Rickover, Augusta, Honolulu, and Salt Lake City) inside the same period were retired in their early 20s–a full decade early– due to their previously planned RCOH cancelled.

So 17 of 62, just over one-quarter of the class, were given the pink slip while there was still work to be done. That works out to 225~ planned submarine years that just evaporated, and that is a lowball estimate. These were 225 years that were already promised by previous SECNAVs and CNOs, Congresses, and Presidents. On hulls that were already paid for by the taxpayers.

This left those 688s still on the payroll to work longer and harder. The two most recently decommissioned, USS Key West (SSN-722) and Helena (SSN-725), were in commission just over 38 years.

Sure, sure, you can argue that the billions saved by scrapping 17 gently used SSNs helped make the current 26 Virginia-class subs (which started construction in 2000) more affordable, but that program buildout is running behind schedule, and, counting both the 688s that were commissioned early and those that weren’t, 36 Los Angeles-class boats have been retired.

Today, the Navy just has 50-52 SSNs in service, with the force skewing to slightly more Virginias (24 commissioned, two delivered pending commissioning), followed by 23 remaining 688s, and three super secret duty Seawolves. This is expected to decline to around 40 or so as the 688s are being retired faster than the Viginias are being built (and Australia also wants some SSNs of their own)

Thus, you see the shortfall in SSN hulls available.

But wait, the Navy has pulled a tiny rabbit out of the hat by extending the service life of up to five Los Angeles SSNs to help mitigate the gap.

To that aim, USS Cheyenne (SSN 773), a Block III 688i and the last Los Angeles-class boat commissioned in 1996, last week completed its Engineered Refueling Overhaul availability as the first submarine to undergo an overhaul as part of the Service Life Extension Program — extending her total service life beyond 44 years.

The Cheyenne Project Team, encompassing various trade workers, engineers, and material support personnel at PNSY, worked alongside the ship’s crew to return Cheyenne back to the fleet as a battle-ready Navy asset — an achievement that advances the effort to close the gap in ready attack submarines. This milestone ensures the U.S. Submarine Force remains the most lethal, capable, and feared combat force in the world.

Make it make sense that the same Navy that killed 15-year-old members of Cheyenne’s class now wants her to keep prowling well past her 40s.

Different times and suffering from different crimes, I suppose.