Lessons learned: Trident submarine program intent on avoiding past shipbuilding pitfalls.

• Author: Jean, Grace V.
• Position: Submarines

As the Navy begins to design its next ballistic-missile submarine, officials caution that the service must avoid shipbuilding practices of the past that have led to cost overruns and delays.

Although the first of the Navy's fleet of ballistic missile submarines won't retire for another 17 years, the time to start the design work is now, said Vice Adm. Jay Donnelly. "This is the right time for the Navy to commence efforts to replace the Ohio-class SSBN. It's not too early," said Donnelly, who is the commander of the Navy's submarine force.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The oldest of the nuclear-powered submarines have reached the mid-point of their service lives and are expected to remain in service for at least another 20 years. Although the Defense Department already has approved funding for the new submarine, Navy officials are under pressure to get the program on the right track in order to ensure long-term support for the program.

"We must start this work in earnest now in order to avoid a gap" and to sustain the industrial base, said Rear Adm. Cecil Haney, director of the submarine warfare division in the office of the chief of naval operations.

It takes an average of 20 years to design and build a new-generation submarine. "Anything as complex as a submarine takes time to get it right, and then to allow us to utilize it for 42 years," he said at the Naval Submarine League's annual symposium in McLean, Va.

The Navy operates 14 Ohio-class ballistic submarines. They also are known as Trident submarines because each carries up to 24 long-range Trident missiles. The oldest hull of the class will begin to decommission in 2027, officials said.

"We have extended it to as far as we can go," said Haney.

In the President's 2010 budget, about $495 million has been set aside to fund research and development efforts for the Ohio replacement submarine.

This down payment will help scientists develop stealth and other technologies that future boats will require, said Haney. "This platform has to be effective from 2029 all the way out to 2080," he said.

In an interview at the conference, Haney said the Navy has learned its lessons from previous programs. "You want to get a certain percentage of that detailed design complete before you start bending metal."

Submarine program officers understandably are concerned. In recent years, Navy leaders have been under political fire as a result of overruns and delays in its littoral combat ship, which underwent design...