Posted: July 20, 2016 3:11 PM
Navy Schedules 12 Submarines for Retirement, But Will Some Serve Longer?
By RICHARD R. BURGESS, Managing Editor
ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy’s shipbuilding plan lists several attack submarines (SSNs) for retirement over the next five years, but the service is considering squeezing more life out of Los Angeles-class SSNs, including by extending their deployments before their inactivation.
The Navy’s “Report to Congress on the Annual Long-Range Plan for Construction of Naval Vessels for Fiscal Year 2016” notes the planned retirement of 12 Los Angeles SSNS from 2017 through 2021. The SSNs slated for inactivation are USS Dallas, San Francisco and Buffalo in 2017; USS Jacksonville in 2018; USS Bremerton and Pittsburgh in 2019; USS Olympia, Louisville and Helena in 2020; and USS Providence, Oklahoma City and San Juan in 2021. All will be dismantled except for San Francisco, which will be converted to a moored training ship.
The Navy is exploring ways to mitigate the coming shortage of SSNs available to meet the operational demands of regional combatant commanders. The shortage will bottom out at 41 in the late 2020s, well below the current requirement of 48 and the current level of 53 SSNs.
http://www.seapowermagazine.org/stories/20160720-ssn.html
