(See) SSBN(X) - Columbia-Klasse

[Schneemann]

First Columbia Ballistic Missile Submarine Begins to Take Shape

NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. – The backbone of the Navy’s next nuclear ballistic missile submarine is starting to take shape in a series of understated white buildings on the edge of Narragansett Bay. Building-sized sections of the future USS Columbia (SSBN-826) have been under construction at the General Dynamics Electric Boat facility at Quonset Point, under cover from the Rhode Island winter and largely unseen due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [...] While carrying eight fewer nuclear missiles than its predecessor, Columbia will be longer, heavier and feature a complex electric drive propulsion system and associated technology to keep the class relevant for the 50-year lifespan of the boomer.

“Columbia is a 20,000-ton submarine. It’s the largest, most complex submarine that’s ever been built,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday told USNI News in an interview en route to the construction facility.

The $110 billion Columbia program and the VPM addition are refining techniques EB developed for the construction of the early Virginia-class submarines to maximize the efficiency of assembling the complex hulls under the pressure of a timeline with razor-thin margins.

https://news.usni.org/2022/03/08/first-c...take-shape

Schneemann