US Navy/Sgt. Audrey M. C. Rampton
The Navy s most recent 30-year ship-building plan calls for building 404 new vessels and retiring 304 current ones by 2051.
One of the vessels to be retired is USS Ohio, a ballistic-missile sub that was refitted as the Navy s first cruise-missile submarine.
In December, the US Navy released its 30-year ship-building plan, which called for building 404 new vessels to reach a 541-ship fleet by 2051, with 304 current vessels retired over that period.
Fourteen of the vessels to be retired are nuclear-powered and thus need to be recycled as part of the Navy s Ship-Submarine Recycling Program to ensure safe disposal of their nuclear reactors and fuel.