U.S. Navy and Shipbuilding

The Navy has canceled a Biden‑era overhaul contract for the Los Angeles‑class attack submarine USS Boise after projected costs neared $3 billion, with War Secretary John Phelan saying the repair 'no longer made financial or strategic sense.' In an interview with Fox News, Phelan said the Boise has already consumed roughly $800 million in work that is only about 22% complete and would require another $1.9 billion to finish, even though the boat has only about 20% of its service life left after sitting pier‑side since 2015 and losing dive certification in 2017. The original overhaul contract, awarded in 2024 under the Biden administration at about $1.2 billion, was meant to return the submarine to service by around 2029 but instead became a symbol of the Navy’s chronic shipyard delays, workforce shortages and dry‑dock bottlenecks. Navy leaders now plan to redirect money and scarce shipyard labor to building newer Virginia‑ and Columbia‑class submarines as they face mounting pressure to expand the undersea fleet and keep pace with China’s rapidly growing navy. The move underscores how badly U.S. maintenance backlogs can gut front‑line combat power and will fuel debate over whether the Navy’s public and private shipyards are structurally capable of sustaining the fleet size both parties say they want.