Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Pasadena is seen pierside at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, July 5, 2023. (Courtesy photo by Naval Station Guantanamo Bay)
WASHINGTON — Maintenance delays and “idle time” for Navy attack submarines have cost the service $3.4 billion over the past decade, and the problem is likely to persist for years to come, according to a government watchdog.
“Without mitigation, 15 attack submarines will enter inactive idle time from fiscal year 2026 through fiscal year 2030 — during which time the Navy could incur more than 14,000 days of inactive idle time and $3.1 billion in costs to operate and support these inactive submarines,” the Government Accountability Office wrote in a report published today. “The U.S. Navy has not fully evaluated alternative options to more efficiently decommission attack submarines and develop and implement an inactivation plan that could allow them to reduce inactive idle time for crews and save billions.”
The report, a public version of a classified edition issued in July, said readiness data showed that the Navy has been suffering a significant rise in idle times for boats since 2015 — both for would-be active subs and those destined for decommissioning. GAO offered the example of the USS Pasadena, which entered inactive status on Jan. 1, 2025 in order to be decommissioned, but the actual decommissioning isn’t expected to take place before Nov. 15, 2028 “due to shipyard constraints.”
