Post-Shakedown for SSN-780, As Virginia Class Peels

SSN 780, sea trials(click to view full) Jan 21/11: General Dynamics Electric Boat Corporation in Groton, CT receives a $44.3 million cost-plus-fixed fee contract modification for the Virginia Class Block II fast attack submarine USS Missouri’s [SSN 780] post shakedown availability. PSAs are used to identify and fix remaining issues that are discovered during the ship’s initial “shakedown cruise” with the crew, after all sea trials are done and the ship has been delivered. Work will include long lead time material procurement as well, and will be performed in Groton, CT (99%), and Quonset Point, RI (1%), and is scheduled to be complete by January 2012. The US Navy Supervisor of Shipbuilding Conversion and Repair in Groton, CT manages the contract. The nuclear-powered Virginia Class fast attack boats were designed in the Clinton era as a less expensive alternative to the SSN-21 SeaWolf Class, which nonetheless incorporated key technology advances Seawolf had pioneered. Cheaper is a relative term, of course, and the cost of each sub has been in the $2.5 billion range. A series of design improvement efforts have aimed to fix that, and Block III submarines will have a new bow design, in addition to an array of […]