- The US Navy’s oldest active submarine is back for operations in the Pacific after a three-year maintenance period.
- The USS Ohio is a first-in-class nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine.
- The repairs were major, including interior work and modernization efforts.
The US Navy’s oldest submarine still in active service has returned to the fleet after three years of maintenance.
The USS Ohio finished major repairs last month and is now certified for unrestricted operations in the Indo-Pacific region, a priority theater where more than half the US Navy submarine fleet is positioned to respond to regional threats.
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Bremerton, Washington, announced the completion last week, writing in a release that the nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine had undergone interior mechanical repairs and shaft replacement.
The main ballast tanks and superstructure were also fixed, and the submarine underwent several modernization tweaks, including torpedo tube upgrades.
US Navy photo by Wendy Hallmark
The Ohio was commissioned in 1981 as a ballistic missile sub, part of the fleet of so-called “boomers” that make up the strategic undersea leg of the US nuclear triad, before it was converted to a guided-missile sub packed with cruise missiles.
During the recently concluded maintenance, its age meant that the team faced hurdles in overcoming some obsolete materials and designs.
Restoring the Ohio was a top Navy priority. Rear Adm. Thomas Wall, commander, Submarine Group Nine, said the submarine’s “operational readiness plays a direct role in our undersea warfighter’s continued ability to achieve peace through strength.”
The Ohio will now be returning to the Pacific. The region is significant in US force posturing amid concerns about China, which is building up its naval forces by leveraging its massive shipbuilding juggernaut.
US Navy Photo by Wendy Hallmark
Nuclear-powered guided-missile subs, also known as SSGNs, like the Ohio are critical to US undersea capabilities. As a boomer, or SSBN, the Ohio conducted strategic deterrence patrols with nuclear-armed Trident submarine-launched ballistic missiles. After it underwent an overhaul between 2002 and 2006, it was equipped to carry 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles.
As an SSGN, the Ohio has been a part of a number of notable deployments, though not always highly publicized. In June 2010, it was one of the three Ohio-class submarines to surface simultaneously in different parts of the Indo-Pacific, a surprisingly visible event that sent a message to China.
Although the Ohio has rejoined the fleet, its future remains unclear. The Navy’s shipbuilding plan would retire it and the USS Florida in 2026, as well as the USS Michigan and USS Georgia in 2028, severely depleting the submarine force’s capabilities.
Improvements to Virginia-class attack submarines are expected to replace the lost Ohio-class SSGN capabilities, but delays have hamstrung related submarine projects, including new Columbia-class submarines, as the Navy grapples with a range of shipbuilding challenges that have set top programs back by years.
