Shipyard in Pearl Harbor is working on three top-class submarines

The fast attack submarine USS North Carolina recently entered a maintenance facility in Pearl Harbor, an unprecedented situation that is expected to become more common in the future.

The North Carolina, which arrived Sept. 4, joined two other Virginia-class submarines at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility. Shipyard officials said this is the first time that three of the Navy's newest class of submarines have been in dry dock there at the same time.

The facility has four dry docks for ship and submarine maintenance, one of which dates back to 1942 and is too small and shallow to service Virginia-class submarines, which the Navy continues to acquire to replace older Los Angeles-class submarines as part of its effort to modernize a larger portion of the U.S. fleet, which includes about a dozen submarines based at Pearl Harbor.

To accommodate this shift, contractors selected by the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command are in the early stages of a $3.4 billion expansion of the shipyard. A new dry dock is expected to be completed in 2028.

“To maintain the number of Virginia-class ships at Pearl Harbor, all four dry docks must be fully utilized for proper maintenance in the coming years,” said Capt. Richard Jones, then-commander of the shipyard, in February as major construction began on the edge of the new dry dock in the water next to the aging dry dock that will close after the last Los Angeles-class submarine is decommissioned.

Captain Ryan McCrillis, the shipyard's current director, said in a statement that the scope of the current maintenance work is due to the planned requirements of the warships and underscores the facility's claim to be the best.

“This is where the No Ka Oi Shipyard's mission comes to life,” he said. “Our shipyard team of civilians and sailors, working with each ship's crew, do whatever it takes to keep the fleet combat-ready.”

Work is being conducted on the North Carolina, SSN 777, in Dry Dock 1. Work is being conducted on two other Virginia-class submarines, the USS Illinois and the USS Colorado, in Dry Dock 2.

Dry Dock 4 also houses an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, USS Hopper, DDG 70.

Dry Dock 3 remains operational but cannot accommodate Virginia-class submarines or larger surface ships.

The duration of the work varies depending on the vessel, but averages two to three years and often includes structural inspections and repairs, replacement of complex mechanical and electrical systems, work on nuclear engineering, and new paint or other coatings.

Illinois, SSN 786, was commissioned in 2016 and homeported at Pearl Harbor in 2017. She entered dry dock in late 2023 after seven months of deployment to the Indo-Pacific, completing approximately 35,000 nautical miles submerged. The cost of the work on this ship is estimated at $443 million.

Colorado, SSN 788, was commissioned in 2018 and was previously homeported in Connecticut. The two-year overhaul at the Pearl Harbor shipyard began in June and is expected to cost $370 million.

Of the three submarines at the shipyard, the recently arrived North Carolina is the oldest. It was commissioned in 2008. Its overhaul is expected to cost $465 million.

According to the Navy's press office, the North Carolina has been involved in three deployments to the Pacific in the past six years and is approaching middle age.

“The North Carolina is approaching the halfway point of her planned life cycle and it is critical to complete state-of-the-art repairs and upgrades to ensure she remains combat-ready and equipped to perform all assigned missions well into the 2030s,” Commander Tad Robbins, North Carolina's commanding officer, said in a statement.

The Navy's press office also stated that during peak periods, more than 600 workers will be involved in the North Carolina every day.

The Pearl Harbor Shipyard is the state's largest industrial employer, with over 6,000 employees.

The dry dock expansion is expected to create around 2,500 jobs by the time it is completed in 2028.

Meanwhile, the Navy continues to expand its inventory of Virginia-class submarines. The first was commissioned in 2004, and today about 22 of them are part of the U.S. fleet. About a dozen more are being built, each costing about $4.5 billion, according to an August report from the Congressional Research Service.

According to the report, the US submarine force is something that the Navy and Pentagon leadership see as one of America's greatest advantages over adversaries such as China and Russia and that can be used to deter aggression.

In the Pacific, China is embroiled in bitter disputes with neighboring countries over maritime territorial and shipping rights. One point of contention is the South China Sea, a busy waterway through which up to a third of all international trade passes and where tensions have sometimes escalated into violent clashes.

Despite China's objections, the U.S. military conducts almost continuous “freedom of navigation” operations in the Pacific. These operations place heavy demands on the Navy's fleets, and the Pearl Harbor shipyard is increasingly viewed as a key repair and logistics center to keep submarines and ships running.