Taipei [Taiwan], July 19 : The USS Connecticut, a Seawolf-class nuclear-powered attack submarine of the US Navy, is expected to return to service by the end of 2026, nearly five years after colliding with an underwater seamount in the South China Sea, The Eurasian Times reported.
According to The Eurasian Times, the submarine struck the uncharted seamount on October 2, 2021, while on a classified mission in the northern South China Sea. The incident caused extensive damage to the vessel's bow, sonar dome, and underside components. Despite this, the crew managed to surface and limp the submarine to Guam, before it later made its way to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington State for major repairs.
The submarine entered an Extended Docking Selected Restricted Availability (EDSRA) in February 2023, initially scheduled for 31 months, with a planned return to service by September 2025. However, delays due to dock upgrades, limited spare parts for the Seawolf class, and shipyard backlog have pushed the completion date to late 2026.
Only three Seawolf-class subs were ever built, complicating repair efforts because replacement parts, such as bow domes, are not readily available and require years to procure. The rarity of the vessel class intensifies the challenge of restoring it, The Eurasian Times added.
Diana Maurer of the U.S. Government Accountability Office warned that the USS Connecticut's repair struggle exposes weaknesses in the Navy's repair surge capacity. "That, in turn, raises questions about how the Navy would execute battle damage repairs in the event of a conflict," she stated, according to The Eurasian Times.
The Puget Sound facility itself faced delays after seismic strengthening work delayed Connecticut's entry into dry dock until July 2023. These infrastructure bottlenecks have further delayed progress.
Repair cost estimates vary: Congress initially approved about $50 million for emergency repairs and a bow dome in 2021, but the total repair bill has been estimated at around $80 million, according to Bloomberg and cited by The Eurasian Times.
The USS Connecticut's prolonged absence has reduced the operational availability of one of the Navy's most advanced attack submarines, raising concerns as tensions increase in the Indo-Pacific. Meanwhile, delays in the SSN(X) successor program, now pushed into the 2040s, underscore the urgency of restoring Connecticut to full operational status.