Shakedown availability waived for submarine USS Massachusetts as vessel joins US Navy fleet

USS Massachusetts, shown here under construction, completed shakedown trials and is joining the fleet. (Janes/Michael Fabey)

The US Navy (USN) has opted to waive the usual new-ship post-shakedown availability (PSA) for Virginia-class attack submarine USS Massachusetts (SSN 798) following the boat's shakedown trials due to the “operational quality of the ship during trials and the urgency” for the submarine to join the fleet now, the USN confirmed on 17 August in a statement.

Noting the boat's “superb material condition and combat readiness” following the trials, the USN said in the statement the submarine is now ready for fleet tasking without the PSA.

Waiving the PSA shows the USN's “determination to deliver combat-ready capability faster”, Admiral Daryl Caudle, chief of Naval Operations (CNO), said in the statement.

Foregoing the PSA also makes it possible for the shipbuilding workforce for focus on building more submarines, Adm Caudle noted.

Noting that waiving the PSA is a “calculated risk”, Vice Admiral Robert Gaucher, USN director of Submarine Programmes, said in the statement the decision does not compromise sailors' safety or submarine quality.

Massachusetts is the seventh Block IV Virginia-class submarine.

For more, please see: Interview: Vice Admiral Robert Gaucher, Pentagon Director Reporting Portfolio Manager Submarines /US Navy Director of Submarine Programmes and Program Acquisition Executive (PAE) Undersea