Shipyards speed up submarine production amid concerns about Navy's future budgets.

• Author: Jean, Grace V.

GROTON, Conn.--Building 260 is better known as the lime-green hangar-like structure visible to drivers on Interstate 95 heading eastbound across the Thames River. Inside the 140-foot tall facility at General Dynamics Electric Boat, workers assemble the Navy's newest attack submarines, the Virginia class.

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Beginning next year, the Navy plans to double the production rate to two submarines per year for $2.5 billion apiece. The work is split between Electric Boat and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding-Newport News in Virginia.

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The Navy intends to build a class of 30 ships to replace the aging Los Angeles-class attack submarines. In the next 30 years, the plan is to buy 25 at a cost of $63 billion.

The production ramp-up of the Virginia class is being closely watched as it is happening amid growing concerns about the Navy's ability to finance big-ticket programs over the long term.

The Virginia class, as well as most ship programs, will be competing for funds within what is expected to be a flat budget. Adding to the fiscal challenges are plans to begin building yet another new submarine to replace the Ohio-class ballistic missile boomers. This ship potentially could wreck the Navy's budget, analysts predict. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the lead ship of the Ohio replacement class in 2019 will cost $13 billion, with the total cost for the 12-ship class reaching $99 billion. That may leave scant room in the Navy's already-stretched shipbuilding budgets to afford other vessels in the Navy's wish list.

Mindful of the political and fiscal pressures that surround the program, Virginia-class managers and shipbuilders are pushing ahead to keep the project on track.

The 377-foot Virginia is being constructed in four 2,000-ton modules--fully outfitted sections of the ship that are connected and welded together in final assembly. At any given time, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman have about six submarines between them in various stages of construction.

Final assembly of Electric Boat-led submarines takes place in Building 260, where two of the bays have been rebuilt to accommodate the faster construction cycle of the Virginia class. The facility recently received a $19.2 million upgrade.

New multi-story fixed platforms stretch alongside the submarine to give workers and utilities easier access to the ship. Before, builders had to erect scaffolding and temporary work platforms to climb into the...