Courtney Responds to GAO Report on Submarine Repairs

NORWICH, CT – Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02), Ranking Member of the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, issued the following statement after sending a letter to his colleagues on the Armed Services Committee in response to the recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on Navy submarine repairs. Read Courtney’s letter here.

“I agree that the past track record of submarine repairs is unsatisfactory and that GAO’s recommendation to create more efficient ways to decommission submarines without interfering with maintenance of operational submarines is extremely helpful,” Courtney said. “My letter to my colleagues on the Armed Services Committee includes more up-to-date information regarding of the latest inventory of Virginia-class submarines and corrects the report’s omission of Seawolf submarines, which, as the original follow-on to the Los Angeles-class fleet, are a premier cohort the U.S submarine attack fleet. 

“My letter also noted that because of Congress’ swift authorization of the AUKUS security agreement, the U.S. Navy’s submarine fleet will have new intermediate repair capacity forward-deployed in the Indo-Pacific at a new repair facility in Western Australia. That capacity is joined by an $8.5 billion Australian investment in repair availability for Virginia-class submarines and the future SSN-AUKUS submarines,” Courtney continued. “It is indisputable that the Navy needs to organize a submarine repair plan that achieves its stated goal of 80% availability. Congress and the Navy’s commitment of over $21 billion to upgrade public shipyards through Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program will go a long way to help achieve this goal.”

###