New Fast-Attack Nuclear Submarines to be Named Arizona and Oklahoma

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After doing some research, I think we DO have one boat to spare for Australia. The USS Boise suffered a debilitating fire onboard while she was in refit. Now there might be funds to restore her to service. Loan her to the Aussies for a Australian version of Down Periscope but with a nuclear reactor instead of old diesels.
I think you have USS Boise (SSN-764) confused with USS Miami (SSN-755). Boise was out of service for an extended period of time - if she returns to the water this year, she will have been out of action for eight years - but that was due to backlogs in drydock availability. Miami was undergoing a drydock overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine in 2012 when a shipyard worker set a fire onboard. The final damage assessment was $700 million; this was right around the whole sequestration mess so the decision was made to decommission her rather than fix the damage. I don't know where Miami sits in the nuclear ship recycling progam, but she was formally decommissioned in 2014 and her nuclear fuel is listed as having been removed.

All reports are the Australians will be getting three Virginia-class subs with a potential option for two more. By the 2030s the remaining 688s will be on their last few years of hull and reactor life.
 
After doing some research, I think we DO have one boat to spare for Australia. The USS Boise suffered a debilitating fire onboard while she was in refit. Now there might be funds to restore her to service. Loan her to the Aussies for a Australian version of Down Periscope but with a nuclear reactor instead of old diesels.
Boise? Don't think so. Boise is the poster child for incompetence at the public shipyards. Some really bad COs at NNSY lost their bird over that one, and Capt (Now RADM) Wolfson was brought in to NNSY from PSNS to find out. They were able to get the 2 MTS down to Charleston, and now have Boise eyed up to overhaul.

Miami suffered a fire, and the navy chose not to repair her.

Oscar Austin (DDG-79) did as well. That's my ship. She is out doing Navy things today.

Durso'd again.
 
He’s a heck of a self promoter tho.
He's certainly that. He certainly takes all the credit when his physical presence was lacking...
Boise? Don't think so. Boise is the poster child for incompetence at the public shipyards. Some really bad COs at NNSY lost their bird over that one, and Capt (Now RADM) Wolfson was brought in to NNSY from PSNS to find out. They were able to get the 2 MTS down to Charleston, and now have Boise eyed up to overhaul.

Miami suffered a fire, and the navy chose not to repair her.

Oscar Austin (DDG-79) did as well. That's my ship. She is out doing Navy things today.

Durso'd again.
Yeah I got them all mixed up. Bosie, Helena, and Columbia are on the wall apparently due to the budget constraints. I thought they were block I Virginia's, not Los Angeles class.

My home state's boat is looking at being decommissioned too. I read she no longer carries her SLBMs and is just a submerged missile barge with SEALs eating her ice cream all day getting fatter.
 
He's certainly that. He certainly takes all the credit when his physical presence was lacking...

Yeah I got them all mixed up. Bosie, Helena, and Columbia are on the wall apparently due to the budget constraints. I thought they were block I Virginia's, not Los Angeles class.

My home state's boat is looking at being decommissioned too. I read she no longer carries her SLBMs and is just a submerged missile barge with SEALs eating her ice cream all day getting fatter.
The four converted Ohio-class subs (Ohio, Michigan, Florida, and Georgia) are actually the busiest submarines in the fleet (due to demand and unlike the SSNs they still run Blue/Gold crews); once they retire there's going to be something of a scramble to replace their capabilities. Not sure about Michigan, but Ohio is slated to be retired in 2026 (after 45 years of service; she entered the fleet in 1981 and finished her SSGN conversion in 2006). If all of them retire at 45 years, they will be decommissioned one per year after that until Georgia goes in 2029.


The Block V Virginia-class subs on order have an extra hull plug with four payload tubes similar to the ones installed in the Ohio SSGNs (in addition to the two built-in "six shooters" ahead of the sail); there are 10 pf those on order and depending on which version of the shipbuilding plans one looks at (or what day it is in DC) there might be over 20 eventually. What the USN would really like to do though is extend the new Columbia-class SSBN production out past the currently planned 12 hulls and outfit the extras as SSGNs.

As for the SSNs you mention, remember that the 688s are a late 1960s/early 1970s design, with SSN-688 Los Angeles commissioned in 1976 and SSN-773 Cheyenne commissioned in 1996. Nominally speaking the subs have a ~33-year design life on the hull and reactor; the 31 Flight I subs (SSN-688 through SSN-718) entered service between 1976 and 1985 and required a midlife reactor core replacement. Unfortunately for some of those boats, their planned refuelings fell during the 1990s "peace dividend," so some of them simply had their refuelings cancelled and were sent to recycling after just 15-20 years while others went up to 40 years. This is why USS San Francisco (SSN-711) wasn't scrapped after her seamount collision; she had her core replaced just three years earlier and it was less expensive to graft on the bow from USS Honolulu (SSN-718) than refuel Honolulu, despite the latter being four years younger. Aside from the two hulls that were decommissioned and converted to Moored Training Ships (La Jolla and San Francisco), those are all gone now.

The seven Flight II boats came in between 1985 and 1989; they added 12 VLS tubes forward of the sail (theoretically it would have been possible to backfit those onto the Flight I subs, but that was never really considered after the Cold War) and a higher-output reactor core (which was refitted to the Flight I boats that got refueled, hence their longer careers). Those boats are on the way out; the last two are USS Helena (SSN-725) and USS Newport News (SSN-750; the planned and cancelled Ohio-class hulls took the 726-749 numbers), slated to leave in 2025 and 2026 respectively. With the new cores and VLS tubes they were all kept around for > 34 years.

After that you have 23 of what are known as the Flight III/Improved 688/688i boats (which moved the dive planes to the hull and added quieting, sensor, and under-ice operations advancements) that entered service between 1988 and 1996. Some of the earliest hulls like USS San Juan (SSN-751), USS Pasadena (SSN-752), USS Topeka (SSN-754), USS Scranton (SSN-756), and USS Alexandria (SSN-757) are also scheduled to go in 2024-2026. USS Alexandria entered service in 1991; by the time she goes out she'll be 35 years old. Time marches on. I haven't seen anything about USS Colombia (SSN-771) being slated for retirement; as there is a small chance she may still be in commission in 2031 (she entered the fleet in 1995, so that would make her 36 years old) the lead ship of the Colombia-class SSBNs was recently renamed USS District of Colombia (SSBN-826) to avoid the prospect of having two commissioned warships with the same name (there's actually a federal law that forbids that, hence why we can't have a new USS Constitution while the 1797 original is still a commissioned USN vessel).

USS Boise might well wind up being the last of the 688s; since she commissioned in 1992 and sat idle from 2017-2023 she might theoretically leave service in the mid-late 2030s. That's why the RAN will not be getting any 688s under AUKUS; by the time they're ready to start operating nuclear subs only a handful of 688s will be left running on borrowed time.
 
I haven't seen anything about USS Colombia (SSN-771) being slated for retirement;
The Drive had an article about the Boise, Columbia, and Helena on the wall after the navy was facing being "sequestered". I'm kind of put out that D.C. gets a sub named for them. It's kind of against tradition to name a vessel after the capital. Columbia is the patron godess of America which is why it is prevalent in ship naming but not for our capital city.
 
The Drive had an article about the Boise, Columbia, and Helena on the wall after the navy was facing being "sequestered". I'm kind of put out that D.C. gets a sub named for them. It's kind of against tradition to name a vessel after the capital. Columbia is the patron godess of America which is why it is prevalent in ship naming but not for our capital city.

USS Columbia may refer to:
 
USS Columbia may refer to:
USS District of Columbia. That's the hang up.
 

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