_is_turned_by_tug_boats.jpg){kind=link}
Fourteen submarine orders announced July 29, 2026, set a substantial workload for the Navy’s two-yard nuclear-submarine building team: five Columbia-class ballistic-missile boats and nine Virginia-class attack boats.
General Dynamics said Electric Boat had received $29.5 billion for the Columbias and $42.1 billion for the Virginias. The companies described a broader $76.6 billion package that also included shipyard infrastructure support.
The two construction amounts add to $71.6 billion. The larger package includes work beyond building the boats, and dividing it by fourteen would not produce a meaningful standard price for two different submarine classes.
Columbia carries the sea-based strategic-deterrent role, while Virginia is the attack-submarine program. Their industrial demands overlap even though their operational assignments differ.
Electric Boat said the contracts gave the company and its suppliers the demand certainty needed for hiring and capacity investment. A longer order book can support those decisions by showing manufacturers what work is coming.
Construction moves through a shared production system: modules and components made at different locations must meet before final assembly, testing and delivery. An assignment as delivery yard therefore does not mean one yard makes the whole submarine.
HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding identified its part in that division of work. It would deliver six of the nine Virginia Block VI submarines and build six module sections for each Columbia Build II boat.