United States Navy Adm. Richard Correll, Commander of U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), said recently that he will “continue to advocate for additional capability at sea” for the forthcoming Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), which the U.S. Navy plans to deliver in 2028. The submarines will replace the Ohio class that began service in the early 1980s.
“The existing capability we have includes 14 Ohio-class boats with 20 [launch] tubes. So that’s 280. … The program of record is a minimum of 12 Columbia with 16 tubes for each [Trident II D5LE missile], and that’s 192,” Adm. Correll told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) in March 2026, according to news website Defense One. “Additional capacity and capability [are] very beneficial from my perspective.”
Adm. Correll’s remarks came after lawmakers asked how USSTRATCOM would benefit if the U.S. Congress could fund 16 Columbia-class submarines instead of the planned 12. He said four additional Columbia-class new SSBNs would maximize “flexibility and options to present to the president should the need arise.”
Many experts consider the SSBNs the most survivable leg of the U.S. nuclear triad. The U.S. Navy and prime contractor General Dynamics Electric Boat (GDEB) designed the Columbia class to improve on stealth, time at sea and sustainability of the Ohio-class boats, including a life-of-the-ship reactor. The U.S. Navy says the Columbia class will ensure continuous deterrence into the 2080s.
“The importance to our deterring capability, I can’t overstate that,” Adm. Correll told the SASC of the next-generation submarines. “All three legs [of the nuclear triad] are vitally important. They complement each other, and the sum of the parts are much greater than the whole. For the SSBN, that assured second-strike capability that’s always at sea, always ready to respond, deters effectively. And I see that in the intel reporting record.”
Adm. Correll also said the U.S. Navy has a maintenance plan to extend the operational life of the Ohio-class submarines to bridge any gap as the Columbia class enters service. “There’s high confidence … that we can manage the risk of sustaining the capability we have to bridge to the Columbia class and the new capability,” Adm. Correll said, according to Defense One.
The U.S. seeks to boost its defense industrial base to speed up submarine production. It has made recent strides in manufacturing because of increased funding and partnerships between the U.S. Navy and defense technology companies:
- Leonardo DRS opened a South Carolina factory in January 2026 to produce components that support electric power and propulsion for vessels that include the Columbia-class submarines.
- In March 2026, the service awarded GDEB a $15.38 billion modification for work that supports industrial-base development and includes additional Columbia-class design and shipyard support.
- The U.S. Navy began a new public-private partnership with Hadrian, opening a facility in Alabama in March 2026 that will make components for both the Columbia-class SSBNs and fast attack Virginia-class boats. Hadrian built a 2.2 million-square-foot, highly automated factory that is the first of a planned three.
“This is a different model,” U.S. Navy Secretary John Phelan said of the Hadrian factory, according to news website Business Insider. “They build integrated production systems: raw material in, test-ready hardware out. A single system doing what used to require dozens of suppliers.”