Navy chief accepts sub from Electric Boat

The chief of Naval operations accepted a new attack submarine on behalf of the U.S. military Wednesday and praised the builders for delivering it a year ahead of schedule and under budget.

On a visit to the Groton shipyard of General Dynamic Corp.'s Electric Boat, Adm. Jonathan Greenert described the construction of Virginia-class attack submarines as "probably our best program out there."

Greenert also toured the submarine, which will be commissioned as the USS Mississippi in June, and pinned submarine badges known as "dolphins" on crew members' uniforms.

The Mississippi is the ninth of the Virginia-class submarines, which are built in partnership between Groton-based Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries-Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia at a cost of about $2.6 billion each.

"This company, this shipbuilding team, between here and down in Newport News, are giving us submarines earlier every time," Greenert said.

It was a proud moment for a submarine community that still faces clouds of uncertainty as the Pentagon looks to trim costs.

Since the administration of President Barack Obama raised the specter of a new round of base closings in January, officials including the governor have been mobilizing to protect the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, which was nearly closed in 2005. U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, a Democrat who accompanied Greenert on the tour, said it looks like no such process will take place this year but officials need to remain vigilant.

"I feel very strongly that we've got a very powerful case in terms of the synergy with EB, among others, that this is a base that really should be of enduring value," Courtney told reporters.

Asked for his perspective on how the Groton base might fare before a Base Realignment and Closure Commission, Greenert was more reserved.

"It's hard to say when you say you're going to have a BRAC round. It's a very deliberate process," the four-star admiral said. Still, he said the base has added value as a training center for the submarine force. "A lot of people don't talk about that piece of it."

The Navy has also proposed pushing back the construction timetable for a new class of ballistic missile submarines to replace the aging Ohio-class submarines, which form part of the U.S. nuclear deterrence strategy. The military's latest budget delays procurement of the first sub by two years until fiscal year 2012 -- a decision that Greenert said is driven partly by budget considerations.

Engineers already are working on the design for the Ohio replacements at Electric Boat, a division of General Dynamics Corp., and Greenert said he discussed the proposed delay with company executives.

"We need to look at it closely and make sure what we're doing is right and is sustainable, and right now I think it is," he said.

Construction of the Mississippi began in February 2007, and it took just over five years to complete -- roughly two years less than the first submarine in the class. It will be commissioned on June 2 in a ceremony in Pascagoula, Miss.

Greenert said the efforts of local contractors and sailors helped the Navy to dominate "the undersea domain."

"We do have the best submarine force in the world," he said.