The USS Boise overhaul cancellation decision marks the end of a costly U.S. Navy repair effort after expenses climbed to nearly $3 billion for a submarine that has remained pier-side since 2015.
Navy Secretary John Phelan said the Los Angeles-class attack submarine had already cost about $800 million, with another $1.9 billion needed to complete the project. He said the vessel had only about 20 per cent of its lifespan left, making further investment difficult to justify.
The USS Boise was last deployed in 2015 and was later scheduled for a routine overhaul. However, delays at Navy shipyards stalled the project, leaving the submarine effectively sidelined for years.
The vessel lost its full operational certification in 2016. By 2017, it had also lost its ability to dive, ending its combat role for nearly a decade.
Phelan told Fox News Digital that the Navy had reached a point where continuing the work no longer made sense. “At some point, you just cut losses and move on,” he said.
That calculation appears to have centred on cost, timing and remaining value. Even if repairs moved ahead, the work was not expected to finish until 2029. That would have left the submarine out of action for roughly 15 years.
Under the Biden administration, the first rework contract made in 2024 was estimated at around $1.2 billion. Still, the overall cost picture worsened as the project moved forward.
Completing the overhaul would have cost nearly $3 billion. For a submarine nearing the end of its service life, that made the project increasingly hard to defend.
The cancellation highlights the pressure facing the Navy as it balances aging vessels, repair backlogs and rising maintenance costs. It also draws attention to long-running shipyard delays that can leave critical assets unavailable for years.
For the USS Boise, the decision closes the chapter on a repair effort that never returned the submarine to active service.
