Photo by Newport News Shipbuilding
On Friday, January 4, 2019, the U.S. Navy announced that it had assigned the post-shakedown maintenance availability (PSA) for the USS Delaware (SSN 791) to Electric Boat. EB will perform the early maintenance work for the Delaware, which is estimated to start in late 2019 or early 2020 and is expected to sustain about 300 jobs at the Groton shipyard.
The Delaware was christened at Newport News Shipbuilding on October 20, 2018, the very same day that Vermont (SSN 792) was christened at EB’s Groton shipyard. In October, EB completed the PSA on the Colorado (SSN 788) and began the PSA on Indiana (SSN 789) in November. The opportunity to perform the post-shakedown availability for the submarine Delaware will support Electric Boat’s effort to stabilize the waterfront workload and sustain the skills and capabilities of the shipbuilders.
Following the announcement, Congressman Joe Courtney made the following statement. “This announcement isn’t just good news for Electric Boat, its good news for our submarine force. Recent reports from the CBO and the GAO have underscored the urgent and growing need for the Navy to better utilize our private sector shipyards to ensure that our submarines – both new boats like Delaware and the existing fleet – get the timely maintenance and modernization they need. As demand for undersea capabilities continue to grow, it is more important than ever that the Navy use every tool at its disposal to get submarines the maintenance they need – and back out to see as quickly as possible. I will continue to press the Navy to fully utilize our public and private shipyards to reduce submarine idle time, eliminate repair delays, and help the industrial base as it ramps up to construction on the new Columbia class.”
