Hartford Courant: Two Submarines A Year

A healthy submarine industry in Connecticut is good for the state's economy and the nation's defense. Both will benefit from President Bush's signature this week on the defense appropriations bill, which includes funding to double the number of attack submarines built every year to two.

Considering that the Pentagon had tried (and failed) only two years ago to close the Groton submarine base, expanding the submarine program represents quite a victory for the state's congressional delegation.

Give much of the credit to Rep. Joe Courtney, whose district includes the Groton submarine base and who inserted the $588 million request in the bill. Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, the chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, has stood in Connecticut's corner. He passed the bill with Mr. Courtney's request intact.

The $588 million amounts to about 25 percent of what it will cost to build the first of the two-a-year submarines by about 2010.

Most of that money will go to purchase the reactor, engine and propulsion parts of the submarine. But about $70 million of it will pay for parts that are manufactured at Electric Boat in Groton.

In subsequent years, more of the money will be directed to Electric Boat, which will thus preserve its highly skilled work force.

The submarine fleet, considered a crucial component of the nation's military forces, will be able to maintain a competitive edge over those of Russia and China and others.

After a rough two years, Connecticut can boast that it is back in the saddle of the submarine-building business.

Hartford Courant, Editorial, 11/16/07

Norwich Bulletin: Courtney, Murtha Key in Getting Sub Funding

A freshman Democratic congressman and an ex-Marine from Pennsylvania's landlocked 12th District are receiving credit for securing seed money for an anticipated doubling of submarine production at Electric Boat.

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, had made building two Virginia-class submarines per year a priority, seeking $588 million for advance procurement of parts and components. Tuesday morning, President Bush signed the bill into law.

Even Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell credited the congressman.

“This is great news for Connecticut’s defense industry, and I applaud the successful efforts of Congressman Courtney,” Rell said. “This funding impacts thousands of jobs in southeastern Connecticut and throughout the state. An increase in submarine production is important for Connecticut’s economy, and it is important for the nation’s military readiness.”

When the Senate bill appropriated $100 million less, Courtney credited U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, with delivering.

“The $588 million was definitely the better number for Groton,” Courtney said. “John Murtha showed he is a staunch ally of our district by holding the line in the (House-Senate) conference committee.”

“I wholeheartedly support increasing our Navy’s shipbuilding program, and in particular the successful Virginia-class submarine,” Murtha said Tuesday. “Our military needs a 300-ship Navy, and I believe that producing two submarines per year is good for our nation, good for our Navy and good for our domestic industrial base.”

Murtha visited EB along with Courtney and U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-1st District, in April.

“When I visited Electric Boat with Congressmen Courtney and Larson, I saw firsthand Groton’s capability, innovation and enthusiasm,” Murtha said. “From this visit, along with discussions with both the Navy and Joe Courtney, I became convinced that we must increase our submarine production, and that we must start immediately.”

Norwich Bulletin, by Michael Gannon, 11/14/07

The Day: Bush Signs Measure for Sub Funding

Millions in federal dollars will be available for the local submarine industry to build more Virginia-class submarines now that the president has signed a defense spending bill.


"We've turned the corner on the decline of America's submarine fleet," U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, said Tuesday. “For over a decade, we've been limping along at one submarine a year despite the fact that the fleet size is declining at a faster pace than that. And this year, with the new Congress, we are taking action to stop that harmful trend.”

President Bush Tuesday morning signed into law the fiscal 2008 Department of Defense Appropriations Bill, which includes $588 million for the advanced procurement of nuclear reactor components and main propulsion components for an additional Virginia-class submarine prior to 2012.

Electric Boat President John P. Casey said, “I've been waiting to be ecstatic for a long time, and now I really am.

“This is the first critical and concrete evidence we've had that will allow us to begin building two submarines a year. We've been working on this for almost a decade, so it's very exciting news.”

Bush said the spending bill was not perfect and includes some unnecessary spending, but he signed it to “make sure our military has the full support of the federal government,” according to a transcript of a speech he made Tuesday in New Albany, Ind.

The Army's modernization program, called Future Combat Systems, and the missile-defense budget were the two primary areas that were cut, freeing up funding for other endeavors, including the Virginia-class production increase, Courtney said.

“The funding for a second submarine has been an extended battle for Connecticut, and today we declare victory,” Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., said in a statement. “The additional submarine will fortify Connecticut jobs and will make the entire country safer.”

After hearing the news, John C. Markowicz, chairman of the Subase Realignment Coalition, said “hallelujah” and then added a “thank you” to Bush.

Currently, Electric Boat's Groton shipyard and Northrop Grumman Newport News in Virginia produce one $2.5 billion submarine a year, a production schedule the Navy had planned to step up to two submarines a year starting in fiscal 2012.

“As this year has worn on, my confidence has grown each step of the way,” Casey said. “When we started to see visits from senior people and various questions from staff members on key committees, I became increasingly optimistic that this would actually occur this year.”

U.S. Rep. John Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who chairs the Appropriations defense subcommittee, visited EB in April. On Tuesday he said he “became convinced that we must increase our submarine production, and that we must start immediately.”

“I believe that producing two submarines per year is good for our nation, good for our Navy and good for our domestic industrial base,” Murtha said in a statement.

The Navy is now expected to revise its shipbuilding plan to take into account the $588 million.

EB will share the construction workload under a teaming agreement with Newport News, meaning that one submarine a year will be delivered from the Groton yard. Casey said this will allow the company to “stabilize employment and accurately predict manning levels.”

“An increase in submarine production is important for Connecticut's economy and it's important for the nation's military readiness,” Gov. M. Jodi Rell said in a statement.

Members of the state's congressional delegation have said they hope the work will begin at EB in 2010.

“The submarine is finally getting the credit it deserves as a critical component of our nation's defense,” Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said in a statement. “This bill is a vote of confidence in the workers of Connecticut, who make the equipment that our military depends on to keep our nation safe.”

The spending bill also includes $5 million secured by the state's delegation to begin initial conceptual-design work on the next-generation ballistic-missile submarine.

The Day, by Jennifer Grogan, 11/14/07

The Day: A Sub-Stantial Victory

Congress has finally done what it should have done years ago- provide the money to ramp up Virginia-class submarine production to two per year.

The just-approved $471 billion defense spending bill for 2008 includes $3.1 billion for attack submarines, including $588 million above the president's request to begin advance purchases that could lead to increased submarine production by 2010, rather than 2012 as currently planned. The spending bill still needs President Bush's signature, but a veto appears unlikely, despite the administration's opposition to speeding up submarine construction, now just one per year.

On Thursday the bill passed overwhelmingly in the House and on a voice vote in the Senate.
Increasing the production of the attack submarines is the right thing to do both from a defense standpoint and in the interest of keeping the expert work force at Electric Boat in Groton in place.

The U.S. will face a growing Chinese Navy in coming years. The slow pace of U.S. submarine construction threatened to drop force levels to 40 submarines or less sometime in the next decade, a level many military experts felt was insufficient to assure the nation's naval superiority.

And submarines have proved their merit in the war on terrorism. They have tremendous intelligence gathering ability and can furtively deliver special operation forces where needed.

With the increased funding EB will be able to maintain the 2,500 tradesmen and managers who build submarines. The industry risked losing that expertise if EB continued to build only one submarine every other year. Currently Newport News, Va. also delivers a submarine every other year to meet the current one-per-year program.

During the administration of President Clinton it was projected that by 2002 two Virginia-class submarines a year would be built, but that target has been continually pushed back as the Navy shifted money elsewhere, often to construction programs operating far less efficiently than submarine production. Submarines have been built on time and within budget. Adjusted for inflation, production costs are actually dropping.

Freshman Democrat Rep. Joe Courtney deserves credit for pushing the measure through the U.S. House. While Rep. Courtney presented a compelling argument, politics certainly played a role. The Democrats took control of the Congress in the November 2006 election. Rep. Courtney's 2nd District seat is absolutely one the party's leadership would like to hold on to. So when the freshman came asking, he found a sympathetic ear.

The Republican most likely to challenge Rep. Courtney in 2008 is Sean Sullivan, who happens to be the former commander of the Naval Submarine Base in Groton. By supporting Rep. Courtney in his quest to speed up EB submarine construction, congressional Democrats have neutralized what could have been among Mr. Sullivan's strongest issues.

The fight is not over. It never is. It costs about $2 billion to build an attack submarine, so the $588 million is a down payment of sorts. Support for submarine production will have to continue in future defense-spending bills.

But there is no question Thursday's vote was a significant victory for national security and for the future of southeastern Connecticut's economy.

The Day, Editorial, 11/10/07