HARTFORD, Conn. — The Navy is evaluating whether it’s worth spending millions of dollars to repair the USS Miami, the nuclear-powered submarine damaged in a fire in a Maine shipyard.
If the submarine is scrapped, the fleet could feel the effects for years. The number of attack submarines like the Miami is projected to drop as they are deactivated faster than they are replaced, and Navy leaders already have been trying to find new ways to keep up with demands from combatant commanders.
“It’s strained now,” said Rep. Joe Courtney, a Democrat whose eastern Connecticut district includes the Miami’s home port of Groton. “With one less boat, it’s just going to aggravate that strain.”
The Miami was in dry dock at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, for an overhaul when the fire broke out May 23, damaging the torpedo room and command area inside the sub’s forward compartment. The cause is under investigation. Navy officials say it will be about two weeks before an announcement on whether the submarine will sail again.
The Navy has been counting on the Los Angeles-class submarine to provide another nine or so years of service. Built for $900 million and commissioned in 1990, it is among the older boats in a fleet of about 54 U.S. attack submarines, which are used to launch missiles, gather intelligence and support other Navy vessels.
As the number of attack subs has declined since the end of the Cold War, the Navy has been exploring several options to wring more service from each submarine. Deployments that typically last six months have been stretched in some cases to seven, and the force has been looking into repositioning submarines around the globe to reduce transit times and pressing builders to reduce maintenance periods.
Ronald O’Rourke, a naval affairs specialist with the Congressional Research Service, said the loss of the Miami would put slightly more pressure on the remaining submarines to meet mission demands.
“The Navy might respond to this in part by increasing the number of instances in which attack submarines are deployed for seven months rather than six months,” O’Rourke said.
Officials say the decision on whether to salvage the Miami may be a difficult one. The fire did not damage any nuclear components, but the intensity of the blaze, which burned for 10 hours, has raised concerns about potential damage to the hull.
“I know this submarine can be repaired. The only issue is cost at a time of very tight fiscal constraints,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who said preliminary estimates suggest repairing the sub could cost as much as $1 billion. “The question for the Navy will be whether repairs are cost-effective, worth the wait and the capabilities that the submarine brings to the fleet.”
The fleet would not feel any impact in the near term because the Miami was three months into an overhaul that was scheduled to take 20 months, said Jan van Tol, a retired Navy captain and a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington. He said that any ripple effects beyond that would be minimal, but that an episode like this would have greater consequences for the force as it grows smaller.
The U.S. fleet of attack submarines, which peaked at 98 boats in the late 1980s, is expected to bottom out at 43 boats in the late 2020s. The Navy says its force-level goal is 48 attack submarines.
Under a building plan that will eventually reverse the decline, Navy contractors are stepping up production of the new generation of attack submarines — the larger, more sophisticated Virginia-class boats, which cost $2.6 billion apiece. Shipyards in Groton, Conn., and Newport News, Va., are teaming up to build two of these submarines a year, although the Obama administration’s budget funds one submarine, rather than two, in 2014.
Courtney, a member of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, said the fire on the Miami highlights the importance of building two submarines a year.
“If anything, the impact of this incident reinforces very powerfully the need for making sure that we don’t lose sight of the fleet impact of even the smallest diminution of attack subs,” Courtney said.
Tough job of fire fighting. Glad it was only the sub that sustained substantial damage and not the firemen.
But if they scrap it, what will protect us from the giant squids, those treacherous denizens of Atlantis and the Soviet Union?
Gee – instead of waging a stupid war based on Bush/GOP Lies about WMD in Iraq – at a cost of a trillion dollars we borrowed from the Chinese – we coulda built a bunch of Virginia Class boats.
GOP National Security and Fiscal Responsibility Fail.
Yessah
Why bothered to had built any if that’s your point of view? So tied of listening to “Bush lied” some four years after he’s out of office. Why don’t you focus on the current “Liar in Chief “, who has essentially bankrupted the county!
Actually, Reagan and W. bankrupted the country. Reagan tripled the national debt and W. doubled it. So far, Obama’s contribution to the debt is less than either R or W.
Obama has outspent and increased the national debt more than the last several presidents. It’s people like you that put out garbage like that, and the liberal cover up media, that keeps him and his regime on track to destroy this country.
Thank goodness there is someone that has an ounce of common sense around here!
You don’t have to like the President, but the facts on this one are easy to find. Reagan and W. were the true big spenders. That’s just the truth. It’s easy to find the facts. Do the research.
I have, and so have many others. The facts are there, and no matter how much the Obama regime tries to distort them, your still wrong. Wake up before its too late.
No you have not seen the facts. You are seeing what you want to see. Fact: Reagan tripled the national debt and W. doubled it! Don’t forget what Cheney said “Reagan proved it – deficits don’t matter” and then he and W. spent like drunken sailors.
You don’t have to like the President, but facts are facts and you won’t find them on Fox news or with Rush.
We are not, and our enemies will not, miss one less submarine. If they’re being deactivated anyway then this one moves to the top of the line for deactivation.
And your position in the Pentagon is what?
By the tone of your reply you must think we don’t have enough overpriced military hardware. You really think one missing submarine will change the world order? You must believe in the tooth fairy, too.
Subject: [bdn] Re: Submarine fire could have ripple effects for Navy fleet
Actually what I think really doesn’t matter to you based on the “tone” of your email. My point is that it is really easy to be an arm chair quarterback when you have not a clue what’s going on.
Shoulda paid that insurance to da Godfather . . .
Tough decision. Good luck to the yard.