On Time Columbia-class Delivery is ‘Life or Death Imperative,’ Sub Czar Gaucher Says

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The architects of the Navy’s new shift in building submarines were given the green light by senior Pentagon leaders to “bust things up” to get submarine repair and construction back on track as the service races to deliver the first Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine on time. Vice Adm. Rob Gaucher, the Pentagon’s new submarine czar, described the imperative to deliver the first 21,000-ton Columbia-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine, District of Columbia (SSBN-826), by 2028 as “life or death” during a Tuesday panel at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Symposium. For more than a decade, the Pentagon’s number