Delivery of two new U.S. Navy attack submarines to counter China’s growing surface fleet is running as much as two years late, according to service budget documents.
The USS Idaho was given a ceremonial launch on March 16, complete with the breaking of a bottle of waters from Idaho lakes next to its bow. But it’s not actually scheduled for delivery until September 2025, more than two years after a June 2023 goal that was outlined in 2020, according to the documents.
Similarly, the USS New Jersey — which the Navy projected would be delivered in January 2022 and then in September 2023 — is now scheduled for this September, according to Rep. Joe Courtney of Connecticut, one of the House’s top submarine advocates. Construction contracts for both vessels were awarded in April 2014. The USS Hyman G. Rickover was delivered in October, at least nine months late.