SUPPORT: Defeating Delay Days Debacle
June 4, 2021:
Since late 2019 the U.S. Navy has been able to reduce “delay-days” for ships overdue for shipyard level maintenance. Over the last 18 months “delay days” were reduced from 7,000 to 1,200. This was the result of applying more money, priority and better use of available shipyards for ships that had been out of service the longest because a shipyard berth was not available for expensive and long-duration work. The best example of this was the Los Angeles class SSN (nuclear attack submarine) Boise, which entered service in 1992 but was sidelined (stayed in port) since 2015 in anticipation of a two-year period in a shipyard for several hundred million dollars’ worth of work. The expected brief wait before beginning the shipyard visit became over five years of idleness. Finally, in 2021, there was space available for Boise to undergo the $355 million refurbishment.