WASHINGTON — Delivering the first Columbia-class submarine by the Navy’s 2028 goal is doable — although not an “easy” task, the Pentagon’s first-ever submarine czar said today, seemingly offering a more optimistic outlook on his previously shared view of the goal.
Vice Adm. Rob Gaucher, the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager (DPRM) for Submarines, said in April that hitting the 2028 target would amount to a “wicked heavy lift.” Today, however, he said the goal is “absolutely achievable” amid an increase in operations in recent months.
“To be clear, delivering District of Columbia in 2028 is still not easy, so it does remain a heavy lift, and we have plenty of work to do,” Gaucher said during the Submarine League Annual Symposium today. “But it is absolutely achievable. My confidence grows each week as we review deck plate performance, align on goals, improve our production planning, and address day-to-day production bottlenecks.”
This is a more optimistic view of the goal from April when Gaucher said they still needed to work through “hiccups” since the submarine had never been operated before. He further said at the time that a 2028 delivery time would not be met if it meant long-term consequences for the program.
Although the first Columbia-class submarine, the District of Columbia, was first slated for delivery in 2027, Navy leaders said in 2025 that the delivery date could shift to 2029 amid supplier issues. Even so, Navy leaders have consistently said this year that they are aiming for a 2028 delivery date for the submarine.
That estimate comes after the Navy and its shipbuilding partners who are building the District of Columbia, General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding, established an acceleration plan in 2025 to deliver all modules for the Columbia-class submarine to the final assembly yard at General Dynamic Electric Boat in Groton, Conn., by the end of 2025.
Rear Adm. Todd Weeks, then the program executive officer for strategic submarines, said at the WEST 2026 conference in February that the acceleration plan had resulted in a construction “ramp-up” for the Columbia-class, and that full-rate construction of the vessel was slated for the early 2030s.
Weeks, who is now the portfolio acquisition executive for industrial operations, said at the time that the District of Columbia was approximately 65 percent complete, and that the second Columbia-class submarine, the future Wisconsin, was roughly 35 percent complete.
The Navy initially stated in 2024 that several shipbuilding programs were suffering from delays due to shipyard workforce and supply chain challenges, and as a result, reported that the District of Columbia was expected to face a 12 to 16-month delivery delay.
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