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Navy tells House subcommittee Columbia remains top priority; members press for faster Virginia-class cadence and workforce support
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Summary
At a House Armed Services Subcommittee hearing, Navy witnesses said the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine is the department’s highest acquisition priority while members pressed for higher Virginia-class build rates and continued workforce and wage initiatives to sustain the submarine industrial base.
Navy witnesses told the House Armed Services Subcommittee on June 4 that the Columbia-class submarine program remains the Department of the Navy’s top acquisition priority, and lawmakers pressed for stronger steps to increase Virginia-class production and address shipyard workforce shortages.
Admiral Pitts, the Navy’s deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting requirements and capabilities, said the Navy’s priorities include to “fully fund the Columbia class submarine, the Department of Navy’s highest acquisition priority.” Representative Rob Wittman and other members raised concerns about the current Virginia-class production rate, which one member said stood at about 1.1 boats per year and is “not where it needs to be.”
Why it matters: Lawmakers said submarine production cadence is central to deterrence and to avoiding a net decline in undersea platforms. Representative Whitman and others noted Congress has appropriated funds in recent years to expand production capacity; they pressed witnesses for an accounting of how those funds were used and whether the Navy expects to accelerate Virginia-class buys in the fiscal 2026 proposal.
Witnesses described where earlier industrial-base investments were applied. Admiral Pitts told the subcommittee that congressional funding for the submarine industrial base has been used for workforce hiring and retention, supply-chain resiliency, yard modernization, strategic outsourcing and infrastructure. He said those investments are producing measurable improvements in workforce and supply-chain metrics, but cautioned that ships take time to build and that the tail effects of investments are not immediate.
Members raised recent layoffs at some yards. Admiral Pitts acknowledged layoffs reported at Newport News Shipbuilding and reiterated the need for predictable work to sustain employment.
Representative Courtney and other members also credited recent appropriations that increased shipyard wages; Courtney said shipyard workers “are gonna see their paychecks go up as a result of that funding” and that wage increases are a necessary step but must be sustained beyond a single year to reset the labor market.
No final production decisions were issued at the hearing. Witnesses said final determinations on program buys will depend on the FY26 budget request and any reconciliation allocations; several lawmakers asked for follow-up material and for detailed responses for the record about how prior congressional funds were applied and what is required to move to higher production rates.
The submarine discussion was part of a broader panel examination of shipbuilding, aviation and unmanned systems during the Navy’s posture hearing.
