Heavily Damaged Submarine USS Connecticut Now Won’t Return To Service Until 2027

By Joseph Trevithick , Howard Altman

Published Sep 28, 2026 6:44 PM EDT

The U.S. Navy’s schedule for getting USS Connecticut , one of its prized Seawolf class nuclear attack submarines, back into service has slipped into next summer. The boat suffered severe damage, especially to its bow , in a collision with an underwater seamount in the South China Sea in 2021. The service had previously hoped that repairs would be finished before the end of this year , and planning is also now underway for the submarine’s retirement in 2031. This would mean it could serve for just four years before being pulled from service once and for all.

“USS Connecticut (SSN 22) is currently undergoing a complex Extended Docking Selected Restricted Availability (EDSRA) at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility. Current work consists of structural and systems restoration and required lifecycle maintenance,” a Navy official told TWZ today. “The Navy’s target completion date for the availability is the summer of 2027. PSNS & IMF is dedicated to executing this work with the highest standards of safety, technical accuracy, and craftsmanship to ensure the ship returns to the fleet ready to take its place at the tip of the spear in defense of our nation’s interests.”

The USS Connecticut seen at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in 2023. USN

USS Connecticut is the second of just three Seawolf class submarines commissioned between 1997 and 2005, the others being USS Seawolf and USS Jimmy Carter . The Jimmy Carter , which came last, is a one-of-a-kind subvariant of the design that is optimized for underwater espionage missions . However, the Seawolf and Connecticut also feature advanced capabilities compared to other submarines in the Navy’s inventory today, and the service utilizes all three for a variety of specialized tasks , for which they are in very high demand.

After USS Connecticut hit the seamount in October 2021, the submarine first limped to Guam , and then made its way to San Diego in southern California. From there, it headed north to the Puget Sound area, where it has been ever since. The Navy’s investigation into the incident put heavy emphasis on how a weak command environment and lax attitudes toward the performance of key tasks had put the submarine on a path to the accident, as you can read more about in detail here .

The EDSRA formally began in February 2023. At that time, the Navy projected that the repairs would be completed in September 2025. By July 2023, the schedule had already shifted to early 2026, according to Naval News . In July 2025, the service confirmed to TWZ that the timeline had moved again to the right, to late 2026.

Another view of USS Connecticut at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in 2023. This picture offers a good sense of the extent of the damage to its bow. USN

The exact reasons for the delays are unclear. TWZ has stressed the particular complexities of major repairs to any of the Navy’s trio of Seawolf class submarines in our past reporting on Connecticut . As we wrote in 2023 around the start of the EDSRA:

“As for the USS Connecticut, as the images show, her state remains relatively the same, at least in terms of what is visible, compared to when she arrived over a year and a half ago. Her sonar dome is still missing and, clearly, the boat has been idle for some time, with huge sections of its anechoic coating missing from its sail.”

“Major repairs to the submarine’s bow, sonar, and other underside structure components will be challenging as the Seawolf class is long out of production. On top of that, just three boats were ever built, with one being a heavily modified sub-type in its own right, the highly secretive USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23) . In the past, similar damage has been fixed by leveraging spare parts and entire sections of decommissioned submarines of the same class. That simply is not an option in this case.”

The Navy’s 2025 Fiscal Year budget proposal highlighted exactly these broader issues in seeking funds for spare bow domes “for use in the event replacement is required,” separate from the incident with the USS Connecticut . The original sustainment strategy for the Seawolf class did not include these items, which have a “three plus year lead time” to produce.

With the EDRSA, the Navy is also taking the opportunity to conduct a deep overhaul of USS Connecticut , which could include the integration of various upgrades. The Navy’s budget documents have long highlighted efforts to modernize key systems on all three Seawolf class submarines, some of which were first designed in the 1970s.

USS Connecticut underway in 2009. USN

How much the repairs and accompanying overhaul will cost is also not clear. In 2021, Congress approved $40 million for “emergency repairs” for Connecticut and an additional $10 million for a new bow dome, but the full price tag is expected to be far steeper . The Seawolf class submarines were extremely expensive to procure in the first place, costing approximately $3.1 billion apiece in 1983, or some $10.6 billion in 2026 dollars. This was due in large part to the truncated order, from 29 down to three, as a result of post-Cold War drawdowns.

Depending on when repairs to the USS Connecticut are actually finished, the Navy could find itself for at least a time with just one Seawolf class submarine in active service. USS Seawolf is currently scheduled to start a routine maintenance availability next May, which will then run through February 2030, per Navy budget documents . As mentioned, the Navy is now also planning to inactivate USS Connecticut in 2031, making it the first Seawolf class submarine to be retired, per its most recent annual shipbuilding plan .

The service still has plans to acquire a new class of attack submarines, which has been discussed in the past as something closer to a true successor to the Seawolf class than the Virginia class boats being procured now. However, these new submarines, currently referred to as SSN(X), are not expected to arrive until the mid-2040s at the earliest. Between now and then, the Navy is set to acquire a one-of-a-kind seabed warfare version of the Virginia , which could well take over for the USS Jimmy Carter , as you can read more about here . In August, the service announced that stretched Block IV and V Virginia class submarines with Virginia Payload Modules (VPM) will now be categorized as guided-missile types (SSGN), as well.

When it comes to USS Connecticut , the Navy remains committed to getting the highly capable submarine back to the fleet after being sidelined for nearly five years now. At the same time, the boat has now already entered the twilight of its career, with just four years of active service life left if the current repair schedule holds.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

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作者：约瑟夫·特雷维西克、霍华德·奥特曼

发布于美国东部时间2026年9月28日下午6:44

美国海军原计划让其引以为傲的“海狼”级核动力攻击潜艇之一——“康涅狄格”号重新服役，但时间已推迟至明年夏季。该潜艇于2021年在南海与一座海底山相撞，艇首受损严重。海军此前曾希望在今年年底前完成维修，目前也已开始规划该潜艇于2031年退役。这意味着它可能仅服役四年便彻底退役。

“康涅狄格号核潜艇（SSN 22）目前正在普吉特海湾海军造船厂和中级维修设施进行复杂的长期坞修选择性限制性维护（EDSRA）。目前的工作包括结构和系统修复以及必要的全寿命周期维护，”一位海军官员今天告诉TWZ。“海军的目标完成日期是2027年夏季。普吉特海湾海军造船厂和中级维修设施致力于以最高的安全标准、技术精度和工艺水平完成这项工作，以确保该舰返回舰队时已做好充分准备，随时在捍卫国家利益的前沿发挥作用。”

2023年，康涅狄格号战列舰停泊在普吉特海湾海军造船厂。美国海军

“康涅狄格”号是1997年至2005年间服役的三艘“海狼”级潜艇中的第二艘，另外两艘分别是“海狼”号和“吉米·卡特”号。“吉米·卡特”号是最后服役的一艘，它是该系列潜艇的一个独特子型号，专为水下间谍任务而优化。然而，“海狼”号和“康涅狄格”号与海军现役的其他潜艇相比也拥有先进的性能，海军利用这三艘潜艇执行各种专业任务，因此它们在这些任务中需求量很大。

2021年10月，“康涅狄格”号潜艇撞上海山后，先是艰难地驶往关岛，然后前往南加州的圣地亚哥。之后，它北上前往普吉特海湾地区，并一直停留在那里。海军对该事件的调查重点强调了薄弱的指挥环境和对关键任务执行的懈怠态度如何导致潜艇发生事故，详情请点击此处阅读。

EDSRA项目于2023年2月正式启动。当时，海军预计维修工作将于2025年9月完成。据《海军新闻》报道，到2023年7月，工期已推迟至2026年初。2025年7月，海军向TWZ证实，工期再次延后至2026年底。

这是2023年停泊在普吉特海湾海军造船厂的“康涅狄格”号战列舰的另一张照片。这张照片清晰地展现了其舰艏受损的程度。美国海军

延误的具体原因尚不清楚。TWZ 在过去关于康涅狄格号潜艇的报道中曾强调，海军三艘海狼级潜艇进行重大维修的特殊复杂性。正如我们在 2023 年 EDSRA 项目启动前后所写的那样：

“至于康涅狄格号战列舰，正如图片所示，至少从可见部分来看，它的状态与一年半前刚抵达时相比基本没有变化。它的声呐罩仍然缺失，而且显然这艘船已经闲置了一段时间，其指挥塔上的消声涂层大面积脱落。”

“由于海狼级潜艇早已停产，对潜艇的艏部、声呐和其他底部结构部件进行重大维修将极具挑战性。此外，该级潜艇仅建造了三艘，其中一艘还是经过大幅改装的独立子型号，即高度保密的“吉米·卡特”号（SSN-23）。过去，类似的损坏可以通过利用同级退役潜艇的备件和整个艇体来修复。但这次显然行不通。”

海军2025财年预算提案重点关注了这些更广泛的问题，即寻求资金购买备用舰艏穹顶，“以备不时之需”，这与“康涅狄格”号航母的事故无关。最初的“海狼”级潜艇维护战略并未包含这些部件，而这些部件的生产周期“超过三年”。

通过EDRSA项目，海军还借此机会对“康涅狄格”号潜艇进行深度检修，其中可能包括整合各种升级。海军的预算文件长期以来一直强调要对所有三艘“海狼”级潜艇的关键系统进行现代化改造，其中一些系统最初设计于20世纪70年代。

2009年，康涅狄格号航空母舰航行中。美国海军

维修和后续大修的费用尚不明确。2021年，国会批准了4000万美元用于“康涅狄格”号潜艇的“紧急维修”，并额外拨款1000万美元用于建造新的艇艏穹顶，但预计最终费用将远高于此。“海狼”级潜艇的采购成本原本就极其高昂，1983年每艘造价约为31亿美元，按2026年美元计算约为106亿美元。这主要是由于冷战后裁军导致订单数量从29艘锐减至3艘。

根据“康涅狄格”号潜艇的维修何时完成，海军可能会在一段时间内仅剩一艘“海狼”级潜艇在役。“海狼”号目前计划于明年5月开始例行维护，根据海军预算文件，维护将持续到2030年2月。如前所述，根据海军最新的年度造船计划，海军目前还计划在2031年将“康涅狄格”号退役，使其成为第一艘退役的“海狼”级潜艇。

海军仍计划采购一种新型攻击型潜艇，此前曾有讨论认为，这种潜艇比目前正在采购的弗吉尼亚级潜艇更接近于海狼级潜艇的真正继任者。然而，这些目前被称为SSN(X)的新型潜艇最早也要到2040年代中期才能交付。在此期间，海军将采购一种独一无二的弗吉尼亚级海底作战版本，该版本很可能取代“吉米·卡特”号潜艇，详情请点击此处。今年8月，海军宣布，加长型Block IV和Block V弗吉尼亚级潜艇，加上弗吉尼亚有效载荷模块（VPM），也将被归类为导弹核潜艇（SSGN）。

就“康涅狄格”号潜艇而言，海军仍然致力于让这艘性能卓越的潜艇在停航近五年后重返舰队。与此同时，该艇的服役生涯已步入尾声，如果目前的维修计划得以实施，其剩余的现役寿命仅剩四年。

联系作者：joe@twz.com

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