Percent of US Navy Nuclear Attack Submarines Can't Deploy Because the Yards Can't Fix Them

A U.S. submarine readiness problem tied to maintenance rather than hull numbers is highlighted in a report on the Navy’s nuclear attack fleet. While the Navy needs 66 attack submarines and is trending toward 46, the article argues that the gap is worse because many already owned boats cannot deploy when repair yards fall behind. It cites figures from a June 2023 Congressional Research Service report showing about 37% of the nuclear attack fleet unavailable and worsening, and analysis estimating nearly 40% tied up for maintenance. The delays are measured in “maintenance delay days,” and the Government Accountability Office found 10,363 days of idle time and maintenance delays between fiscal years 2008 and 2018. Since 2014, the article says excess maintenance days have grown to more than 33,700. The bottleneck is attributed to only four public shipyards—Norfolk, Portsmouth, Puget Sound and Pearl Harbor—now required to sustain modern nuclear overhauls in much older facilities.