In general, the U.S. Navy considers submarine operations “Classified Secret”. Therefore, information on submarine repairs remains elusive at best. A search of government contracting websites reveals no (detailed) information on the ordering of parts for the USS Connecticut as of March 2023.
The previous Naval News story had a statement NAVSEA emailed on July 1, 2022.“USS Connecticut (SSN 22) completed a short docking at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility earlier this year to undergo a thorough assessment of the damage sustained when it grounded on Oct. 2, 2021. Shipyard personnel documented the damage, which is located in the bow of the ship and the lower portion of the rudder. The assessment confirmed the ship can be fully restored for unrestricted operations.
The damage is expected to be repaired during a scheduled Extended Docking Selected Restricted Availability starting in February 2023. Planning for the availability is ongoing. The Navy has not yet determined if a longer dry-docking period will be required to complete the repairs. The cost to repair the damage is being calculated.”
NAVSEA replied to the Naval News’ latest inquiry on March 14, 2023 with the following statement:
“The repair schedule will be included in the FY23 Extended Docking Selected Restricted Availability (EDSRA). This EDSRA is notionally sized at 31 months duration, at which time USS Connecticut would return to service.”
NAVSEA Spokesperson
That would place the USS Connecticut’s return to service around September, 2025 if the full 31 months are required.
Naval News sent a follow-up email to NAVSEA asking about the cost of repairs, but NAVSEA has yet to reply with that information. According to Forbes in December 2021, Congress has authorized an initial $50 million for repairs: “$10 million for a `spare Seawolf class bow dome’ (page 1815) and $40 million for `USS Connecticut emergent repairs’ (page 1850)” although it is not immediately clear if the costs will rise and by how much as of FY2023.
According to Kitsap Sun, reporting from Bremerton, USS Connecticut entered Dry Dock 5 for damage assessment on February 8, 2022.
However, potentially complicating SSN 22’s repair issue is USNI News’ January 2023 story that dry docks at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, were closed for investigation due to the risk of extensive damage and safety issues in the event of a major earthquake in that area. According to USNI, “The Navy established PNSY in 1901, with the oldest of the six dry docks originally built in 1906. The dry docks the service has closed are four of the newest ones. Dry Dock 4 and 5 were both built in the early 1940s, while Dry Dock 6 – used for aircraft carrier overhauls – was completed in 1962.” The USNI News story shows the location of Dry Dock 5 in the moving GoogleMap.
A scan of Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on GoogleMaps imagery dated 2023 shows two submarines in Dry Dock 5, but their sailfins (or sailfin shadow) are clearly evident in the satellite photo and the USS Connecticut does not have any horizontal triangular fins on its vertical sail. A scan of the rest of Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in 2023 does not reveal a submarine with a sheared off bow as most of the parked submarines have sailfins. There is a submarine under extensive white tents and tarps backed into Dry Dock 2, but the intact bow in the satellite photo appears very evident and it is unknown if this is SSN 22 although it would seem highly unlikely that a new bow can be installed in a month’s time from February 2023.
Thus, SSN 22’s exact repair location remains unknown as of 2023, and one can only speculate if Connecticut is indeed in Dry Dock 2 as that submarine’s sail does not appear to have fins. However, bear in mind that there are three Seawolf-class nuclear-powered attack submarines, USS Seawolf (SSN 21), USS Connecticut (SSN 22—damaged), and USS Jimmy Carter (SSN 23) and that submarine operations are Classified Secret so it is possible that another Seawolf submarine is in Dry Dock 2 undergoing maintenance. Or it is possible that the submarine in Dry Dock 2 is a Virginia-class submarine, also devoid of sailfins.