DDG-51 Flight III build schedule — Bath Iron Works

**Response to QFR from Sen. Ashcombe — Submarine Industrial Base** (a) The Navy is pursuing a coordinated set of actions to stabilize the submarine supplier base and support increased Virginia-class output while ramping Columbia-class construction.¹ These include multi-year procurement and advance-procurement structures that provide a stable demand signal to vendors,² targeted investments in the submarine industrial base to expand critical supplier capacity, and continued emphasis on a predictable build cadence.³ The Department remains committed to strengthening the maritime industrial base through a stable, predictable demand signal.⁴ (b) The Navy assesses the effect of workforce-development investments through throughput and hiring-and-retention metrics at the shipyards and key suppliers, and correlates those measures with production milestones.¹ Prior-year reporting on maintenance and construction throughput informs this assessment and provides year-over-year traceability.⁵