The Navy awarded HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding a $1.2 billion deal to begin maintenance overhaul on attack submarine Boise, which hasn’t operated at sea since 2015. The work is expected to be completed by September 2029.
Boise has faced fits and starts over a decade of overhaul work between Newport News and Naval Station Norfolk due to lack of space and funding, representing submarine community readiness issues.
The 31-year-old submarine, last operated in 2015, was supposed to undergo an engineering overhaul at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, but faced delays due to backlog and priorities at the shipyard.
In September 2020, the Navy paid Newport News $351.8 million for initial planning work. Contract announcement in April 2021 will finally allow overhaul work to begin.
Newport News Shipbuilding says they are prepared for the engineering overhaul of USS Boise, as they have reconstituted their submarine repair business over the past seven years.
He added that the yard has already done early production work to “de-risk” the Boise overhaul since the submarine arrived at the yard in 2020.
