What would it cost to reactivate a Los Angeles-class submarine? This video works it out from three real cases: a submarine rebuilt with her sister's bow, the last 688 ever built getting a second reactor core, and USS Boise, the attack sub the Navy gave up on in April 2026 after spending about $800 million on her overhaul. The U.S. Navy commissioned 62 Los Angeles-class (SSN-688) attack submarines between 1976 and 1996. By the start of fiscal 2026, 42 had been retired, while the attack submarine force stood at 49 against a goal of 66 and new Virginia-class boats were arriving at a little over one a year. The video follows what happens to a 688 at every stage, from a refueling overhaul to the reactor compartment's final barge trip to the Hanford Site in Washington state. What's covered in this video: • Why the first 31 boats needed new reactor cores halfway through their lives, why some were retired early instead, and Rear Admiral Al Konetzni's 1999 "Save Our Subs" letter. • USS San Francisco's 2005 collision with an undersea mountain near Guam, and how Puget Sound Naval Shipyard rebuilt her with USS Honolulu's bow for about $134 million. • USS Cheyenne's engineered refueling overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard from 2021 to 2025, the published cost estimates, and the Navy's plan to refuel up to seven boats. • USS Boise: a shipyard slot that never came, lost dive certification in 2017, three tows, a $1.2 billion contract in 2024 and the April 2026 decision to inactivate her. • What happens to a retired boat: USS Dallas from The Hunt for Red October, the reactor compartment's barge route up the Columbia River, and Hanford's Trench 94. • The only two retired 688s with working reactors, La Jolla and San Francisco, now moored training ships in Charleston. • The price of a comeback in each case, and a verdict on the Boise decision. Common questions answered: Can the Navy reactivate a retired Los Angeles-class submarine? Once a boat is defueled and her reactor compartment has gone to Hanford, there is nothing left to reactivate. How much did USS Boise's overhaul cost? About $800 million had been spent when the Navy stopped, with roughly $1.9 billion more needed to finish. How many Los Angeles-class submarines are left? Twenty were in service at the start of fiscal 2026, out of 62 built. Mentioned in this video: USS Boise (SSN-764), USS Cheyenne (SSN-773), USS San Francisco (SSN-711), USS Honolulu (SSN-718), USS Baltimore (SSN-704), USS Dallas (SSN-700), USS San Juan (SSN-751), USS La Jolla (SSN-701), USS Vicksburg (CG-69), Navy Secretary John Phelan, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle, Sen. Mike Rounds, Bryan Clark (Hudson Institute), Rear Adm. Al Konetzni, Machinist's Mate 2nd Class Joseph Ashley, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Newport News Shipbuilding (HII), Hanford Site, Trench 94, Columbia River, Port of Benton, Nuclear Power Training Unit Charleston, Virginia-class submarine, GAO, Congressional Research Service. My verdict: the Navy was right to walk away from Boise in 2026, and wrong to leave a working attack submarine waiting at the pier for a decade before that. Would you have finished her anyway? Tell me in the comments. New forgotten-warship stories most weeks. Subscribe so you don't miss the next one: / @akdnguyen05 #USNavy #Submarine #LosAngelesClass #USSBoise #NavalHistory #NuclearSubmarine #ColdWar #Hanford #MilitaryHistory #Reactivation
Source: What Would It Cost to Reactivate a Los Angeles – Class Submarine?
