After nine long years of waiting, the US Navy's Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Boise (SSN-764) has finally seen the light of day. According to the U.S. Navy Association (USNI) on Feb. 27, private giant Newport News Shipbuilding won a share worth up to $11A $700 million nuclear submarine repair contract that includes a complete repair of the much-talked-about submarine. 
The fate of the USS Boise has been full of twists and turns, not only becoming a microcosm of the U.S. Navy's predicament for war over the past decade, but also described by the USNI as a "tragedy." Its predicament of not being repaired for a long time has exposed the serious backlog of maintenance tasks for US nuclear submarines. During this long wait, the "Boise" even experienced the embarrassing situation of changing commanders and still could not go to sea. Under the terms of the contract, Newport News Shipbuilding's Virginia shipyard in James River will be tasked with carrying out a complete repair of the Boise, a daunting task that is expected to be completed in 2029. The repair work covers a wide range of tasks, from hull structures, pontoons, propulsion systems, power generation systems, auxiliary systems, to the maintenance and repair of ** and internal facilities, and many other modifications, which is a severe test for Newport News Shipbuilding's technical team. 
Since it was officially put into operation in 1992, the "Boise" has always been the leader of the later models of the US Navy's "Los Angeles" class nuclear submarines, and is also one of the main forces of the US nuclear submarine force in the new century. However, since 2015, it has been unable to get into the water. It was originally planned to be sent to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for overhaul in fiscal 2016, but due to the aging equipment and insufficient personnel of the Norfolk Naval Yard, the maintenance work was seriously overstocked, and it was not possible to invest manpower and material resources in time to make repairs. This made the "Boise" lose its diving certification in 2017, which is undoubtedly a huge blow for a nuclear submarine. 
Faced with this dilemma, the US Navy decided in July 2018 to transfer the USS Boise and several other nuclear submarines awaiting repairs to the private Newport News shipyard for repairs. However, the Newport News Shipyard, despite its extensive experience in building new nuclear submarines, had not repaired nuclear submarines for a decade, so it needed to rebuild a professional maintenance workforce. In order to meet this challenge, Newport News Shipbuilding not only needed to re-recruit and train professional maintenance technicians, but also needed to re-establish a comprehensive nuclear submarine maintenance system. Now, repair work has finally begun on the Boise, a full nine years have passed since its last launch, and the nuclear submarine will have to wait five years before returning to active service!
Although the U.S. Navy still has the world's largest and most advanced nuclear submarine force, the problem of the replacement and maintenance backlog of its nuclear submarines is becoming increasingly prominent, and the long maintenance process of the "Boise" nuclear submarine is only the tip of the iceberg. At present, the total number of attack nuclear submarines in service in the US military has reached 52, of which 27 are Los Angeles-class attack nuclear submarines in service between 1976 and 1996. Another 22 were Virginia-class attack nuclear submarines built after the turn of the millennium, and three state-of-the-art Seawolf-class nuclear submarines left over from the Cold War. 
According to the U.S. military's equipment renewal plan, starting in 2026, the U.S. military will begin to phase out a number of nuclear submarines that have been in service for a long time at a rate of more than two per year. Although the number of two nuclear submarines decommissioned each year is far from meeting the needs of the Navy's surface ships to be renewed, this rate is enough to maintain the current scale of nuclear submarine equipment of the US Navy. Last November, Rear Admiral Jonathan Lack, executive officer of the U.S. Navy's attack submarine program, revealed that the Navy was working to reduce the number of days of delays in repairs for attack submarines. While the number of days of repair delays for U.S. nuclear submarines was delayed by an average of 1,500 to 1,600 days in fiscal year 2019, it has shrunk to 1,100 days in fiscal year 2022. "Since 2019, we have reduced the number of days of repair delays on attack submarines by more than 30 percent," Rear Admiral Lack said. Although we are not yet ideal, we are moving in the right direction. However, for a submarine like the Boise, the road to restoration remains long and challenging. 
In response to this challenge, the Newport News shipyard in the United States released a recruitment promotional video, making it clear that it plans to recruit a large number of skilled workers to participate in the construction of nuclear submarines. "In order to achieve a revival of shipbuilding, both globally and domestically, we must add 10,000 skilled shipbuilders each year, which is essential to maintain our strong nuclear submarine force," the shipyard's recruitment** reads. "This initiative not only highlights the importance that the U.S. Navy attaches to the repair and renewal of nuclear submarines, but also reveals the talent shortage and technical challenges it faces. 
Moreover, this trend reflects the U.S. Navy's determination and commitment to maintaining its global maritime supremacy. Despite the severe test of upgrading and maintenance backlogs, the U.S. Navy is still struggling to maintain the size and sophistication of its nuclear submarine force to ensure strategic interests and security on a global scale. However, with the continuous development of nuclear submarine technology and the increasing need for maintenance of old submarines, the U.S. Navy still needs to increase investment and improve efficiency to meet more challenges and opportunities in the future.