Navy to mothball USS Boise, capping off years of maintenance challenges
WASHINGTON—The Navy in the present day unveiled plans to inactivate the Los Angeles-class attack submarine Boisewhich hasn’t operated at sea in over a decade and has been plagued with a collection of maintenance delays.
The resolution to mothball the Boise aligns with a broader, “data-driven initiative” that goals to improve the composition of the Navy’s fleet, and assure that funds are “invested in capabilities that directly contribute to maintaining a decisive warfighting advantage,” the Navy stated in a information launch.
“This strategic move allows us to reallocate America’s highly-skilled workforce to our highest priorities: delivering new Virginia and Columbia-class submarines and improving the readiness of the current fleet,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle stated within the assertion, which characterised inactivation plans as a “tough but necessary decision.”
“We owe it to our Sailors and the nation to make these tough calls to build a more capable and ready Navy,” Caudle stated.
It’s not instantly clear when the Boise, which was commissioned in 1992 and misplaced its dive certification in 2017, will begin present process the inactivation course of.
Caudle, who beforehand served because the Navy’s prime operational submariner, declared in July 2025 throughout his Senate affirmation listening to that he would consider whether or not to “walk away” from the Boise. Likewise, he described maintenance delays affiliated with the vessel “a dagger in my heart as a submarine officer.”
While the general public shipyards usually full maintenance on nuclear submarines, maintenance backlogs prevented the Boise from present process an prolonged engineering overhaul at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in FY16 as initially deliberate.
Ultimately, the Navy awarded HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding a $1.2 billion contract in 2024 to full an engineering overhaul on the submarine. The contract estimated maintenance on the vessel would conclude in 2029.
Todd Corillo, a spokesperson for HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division, stated that HII had been notified of plans to discontinue maintenance on the Boise and would proceed to work with the Navy to “execute this decision in an efficient, cost-effective way.”
“We anticipate there will be no impact to our workforce and will transition shipbuilders currently assigned to USS Boise to other work underway at Newport News Shipbuilding,” Corillo stated in a press release to Breaking Defense. “We understand the importance of a strong submarine force to our national security. While our work on USS Boise will end, our commitment to ensuring our nation maintains our undersea maritime supremacy will not.”
The announcement to nix work on the Boise comes because the Navy is in search of to bolster US shipbuilding. In complete, the service is asking for $65.8 billion for shipbuilding in its FY27 finances request — up from the FY26 enacted finances that allotted $27.2 billion to shipbuilding. The Navy’s request contains $11.4 billion for 2 new Virginia-class submarines, and $10.5 billion for one Columbia-class submarine.
