“Worst-Case” Scenario – COVID Strikes Navy’s New Submarine Program

Without firing a shot, well maybe unleashing a virus pandemic across the world, China has severely disrupted US Naval operations, from shipbuilding to deployments. 

Breaking Defense reports, the Navy’s USS Columbia nuclear missile submarine (SSBN 826) experienced months of construction delays thanks to virus-related issues.

During lockdowns, the main problem for the build were workers’ absences at a top supplier, which resulted in delayed work on missile tubes. At the moment, the service is struggling to make up for the lost time. 

Navy and Pentagon officials have become alarmed that large-scale work on the first of twelve nuclear-powered Columbia-class submarines, set to officially start in 2021, with deliveries, beginning in 2030, could now be fraught with timeline delays.

Rear Adm. Scott Pappano, executive program officer for the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine program, said “a hiccup” during coronavirus lockdowns led to a serious decline in workers at UK-based Babcock Marine, leading to major delays in the work schedule. 

“There was an interruption in our ability to do work,” Pappano said, calling the several month delays a “worst-case” scenario if no additional measures were taken to speed up the work going forward. 

“We’re analyzing the plan right now,” he added. “Prioritizing what tubes go where and then coming up with mid-term and long-term recovery plans to go deal with that.”

The Navy is now “walking a tightrope on its Virginia and Columbia programs, and any slip on one program will affect the other,” Breaking Defense said.

A major risk developing is that if any of the programs are delayed, it could give China and Russia a leg up in the global arms race. 

While the virus has affected the Navy’s shipbuilding, there were deployment issues due to an outbreak of infections on several vessels. One ship, in particular, was the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which saw at least 1,000 soldiers contract the virus. The aircraft carrier had to divert from its mission in the Western Pacific to treat and isloate crew in Guam. 

And just like that, the Chinese virus has weakened the US Navy — while China’s Navy conducts war drills in the South China Sea.