Courtney Applauds Groton – the Submarine Capital of the World – Ahead of USS IDAHO (SSN 799) Commissioning

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02), Ranking Member of the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, marked the upcoming commissioning of the USS IDAHO (SSN 799), the 26^th Virginia-class submarine. This Saturday, April 25^th, the U.S. Navy and Electric Boat will celebrate the commissioning of the USS IDAHO at a ceremony in Groton, Connecticut. The USS IDAHO was delivered to the Navy by Groton shipbuilders in December 2025.

"[The USS IDAHO] is a technological marvel, weighing 7,800 tons, and the product of a workforce at the Electric Boat shipyard of 26,000 hardworking, talented people," Courtney said.

"[Saturday's commissioning] will also be a strong reaffirmation at the Groton Sub Base, America's oldest submarine base, that the men and women who work at Electric Boat have once again demonstrated to our nation and the world that Groton is still and always will be the Submarine Capital of the World," Courtney continued.

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FULL TRANSCRIPT

Mr. Speaker,

I rise to draw the attention of the House to another milestone in the extraordinary history of the Submarine Capital of the World, Groton, Connecticut, where this Saturday, USS IDAHO SSN 799 will be commissioned.

IDAHO is the 26th Virginia-class attack submarine delivered to the U.S. Navy, and the seventh such vessel built by the U.S. submarine industrial base in the last 4 years. It is a technological marvel, weighing 7,800 tons and the product of a workforce at the Electric Boat shipyard of 26,000 hardworking, talented people.

Building a submarine is an extremely complex enterprise - submarines operate in an environment that does not support human life, with a crew of 135 sailors. The boat is powered by a nuclear reactor and is armed with an to carry out its mission of deterrence: so, important to our national security. Needless to say, there is no margin for error in its construction.

The good news is as the output of the Virginia-class has grown, the proficiency of a new generation of shipyard workers has accelerated over the last ten years, and the submarine quality scores by the Navy during submarine sea trials have steadily improved. In the case of USS IDAHO, the Navy recorded the highest score in the history of the Virginia program.

Mr. Speaker, this successful commissioning is happening at a time when the volume of production is also reaching hitting historic highs and hiring has been sharply growing over the last ten years. This poster, produced by the U.S. Navy, depicts the volume of submarine construction yard tonnage in the U.S. submarine program starting in 1952, to my far right, through the present, and into the future of 2054.

The orange bar represents tonnage in 2026, which is on par with the peak of high-rate production in the midst of the Cold War. There is no question, Mr. Speaker, that Groton, Connecticut is the Submarine Capitol of The World, full stop, period. It is not, as some are trying to say, is "reclaiming" its title.

Indeed, after IDAHO's commissioning on Saturday, Electric Boat and its teaming partner Huntington Ingalls are hard at work delivering the USS ARKANSAS SSN 800, which now in the water performing sea trials, and USS Utah SSN 801, which I just visited in Groton with Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Daryl Caudle a few days ago, soon to be floated off to join ARKANSAS for at sea testing. They will be the 27th and 28th Virginia class submarines to be delivered to the fleet, as soon as the end of this calendar year.

At the same time, Mr. Speaker, Groton is the yard where the first of the Columbia-class SSBNs, USS DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, is the final stage of production and assembly. Columbia submarines weigh 21,000 tons; two-and-a-half times the size of a Virginia. And once again, the EB workforce defied the skeptics and the naysayers when the Navy announced that delivery of that boat is being moved up to calendar year 2028, from 2029, which was the Navy's prior plan.

As Ranking Member of the Seapower Subcommittee on House Armed Services, I cannot overstate how extraordinary it is to have a first-in-class of a program's delivery date to move forward rather than back.

The strong momentum at the Groton shipyard and its sister shipyard at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, received another surge of good news when Electric Boat announced its hiring goal for 2026. The overall goal is 8,000 new workers in 2026: 3,400 in Rhode Island, 4,600 in Groton.

The plan will take the overall workforce from 26,000 to over 30,000 for the first time since the 1980s. Once again, the skeptics are scoffing at this goal, but, as someone who has been directly involved in the adult job training programs and helping equip career and technical schools, as well as regular comprehensive high schools, with apparatus to run metal trades curriculum, I have no doubt whatsoever that Groton will meet its goal.

Indeed, a week ago Saturday, EB held a job fair in Waterford, CT, expecting perhaps a few hundred visits. Instead, 1,800 people showed up. They had to cut off the line a few hours into the event because the H.R. staff was overwhelmed.

Mr. Speaker, on Saturday at the USS IDAHO commissioning, the head of Naval Reactors Admiral Bill Houston, the successor to the Father of the Nuclear Navy, Hyman Rickover, will deliver the keynote remarks and it will be a proud moment for the ship's commanding officer, Commander Chad Guillerault, his crew, and their families.

It will also be a strong reaffirmation at the Groton Sub Base, America's oldest submarine base, that the men and women who work at Electric Boat have once again demonstrated to our nation and the world that Groton is still and always will be the Submarine Capital of the World.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I yield back.

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