US Navy retires first Ohio-class missile submarine USS Georgia and deepens massive cruise missile gap.

On July 27, 2026, the U.S. Navy guided-missile submarine USS Georgia (SSGN-729) returned to Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia, to begin its official inactivation process after 42 years of active service. The arrival marks the beginning of the phased retirement of all four Ohio-class SSGN conversions, which will remove the largest single concentration of conventionally armed undersea missile payload from the active fleet. This operational drawdown precedes the full fielding of Virginia-class Block V submarines equipped with the Virginia Payload Module, creating an interim undersea strike capacity reduction for the U.S. Navy.

The four converted Ohio-class SSGNs provided the U.S. Navy with a collective theoretical capacity of 616 BGM-109 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles and dedicated facilities for up to 264 special operations personnel. Following USS Georgia's retirement, starting on July 31, 2026, the subsequent inactivations of USS Ohio, USS Florida, and USS Michigan through FY2029 will require 22 Virginia Payload Module-equipped attack submarines to fully restore the lost vertical launch cell count.

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The USS Georgia (SSGN-729) is the newest of the four Ohio SSGN submarines to have been converted for a maximum theoretical load of 154 Tomahawk missiles, but is scheduled to become the first to leave active service. (Picture source: US Navy)

On July 27, 2026, the USS Georgia (SSGN-729) returned to Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay after its final operational deployment, starting the retirement of the U.S. Navy’s four Ohio-class guided missile submarines (SSGNs) and the removal of the largest concentration of conventionally armed undersea missile capacity in the fleet. Commissioned on February 11, 1984 as an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), the USS Georgia completed 65 strategic deterrence patrols before being redesignated as an SSGN on March 1, 2004 and converted at Norfolk Naval Shipyard between 2005 and 2008. The US Navy initially planned to begin formal inactivation on July 31, 2026, but the schedule was revised to keep the submarine at Kings Bay until a homeport change to Norfolk in July 2027.

The USS Ohio is scheduled to follow in FY2027, USS Florida in FY2028, and USS Michigan in FY2029. When the sequence is complete, the US Navy will have eliminated four submarines with a combined maximum capacity of 616 Tomahawk cruise missiles, space for more than 260 special operations personnel across the force and internal volume for command facilities, sensors, unmanned vehicles and alternative payloads. No funded submarine program will replace those capabilities on a one-for-one basis. The Ohio SSGN force was created because the end of the Cold War left the US Navy with more ballistic missile submarines than required for the revised nuclear force structure.

The 1994 Nuclear Posture Review determined that 14 Ohio-class SSBNs were sufficient for strategic deterrence, leaving the four oldest boats, USS Ohio, USS Michigan, USS Florida and USS Georgia, available either for retirement or conversion. Instead of discarding hulls with substantial remaining reactor and structural life, the US Navy converted them into conventional guided missile submarines. The USS Ohio and USS Florida returned to service in 2006, USS Michigan followed later that year, and USS Georgia rejoined the fleet in March 2008. The conversion program therefore extended the operational utility of submarines commissioned between 1981 and 1984 by roughly two additional decades. It also created a new submarine force without requiring the construction of a new class, using existing nuclear propulsion plants, missile compartments and dual-crew arrangements.

That decision produced a large gain in conventional strike capacity at lower cost and on a shorter schedule than designing a new submarine. The current retirement plan reverses that gain without a corresponding replacement program, because Virginia Block V submarines recover only part of the missile capacity and do not reproduce the same internal volume or concentration of missions. The SSGN conversion centered on the 24 large-diameter Trident missile tubes located behind the sail. Twenty-two were modified to accept Multiple All-up-round Canisters, each containing seven Tomahawk cruise missiles, producing a theoretical maximum load of 154 missiles per submarine. The remaining two tubes were converted into swimmer lockout chambers for submerged insertion and recovery of special operations personnel.

Operational missile loads were often lower than the maximum because tubes could be reassigned to equipment, unmanned systems, supplies, or mission-specific payloads. Even with a load of 100 Tomahawks, however, one Ohio SSGN carried more land attack missiles than most individual U.S. surface combatants could embark without reducing the number of vertical launch cells reserved for air defense, anti-submarine rockets and other weapons. The conversion also integrated the Tomahawk Weapon Control System, new launch control equipment, upgraded satellite communications, expanded intelligence processing spaces and facilities for a joint command staff. In short, the missile compartment became a configurable mission area rather than a fixed ballistic missile magazine.

Depending on the deployment, the submarine could therefore carry a strike-heavy load, a larger special operations package, unmanned underwater vehicles, intelligence sensors or a combination of these systems. The size of the Ohio hull made this flexibility possible. Each submarine is 170.7 meters long, has a beam of 12.8 meters and displaces approximately 18,750 tonnes submerged. A single S8G pressurized-water reactor powers two geared turbines connected to one propulsion shaft, giving the boat an endurance limited mainly by food, crew fatigue and maintenance rather than fuel. The submarine retains four 533 mm torpedo tubes for Mk 48 heavyweight torpedoes, allowing it to conduct self-defense, anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface attacks independently of its cruise missile payload.

Its normal complement is approximately 15 officers and 140 enlisted personnel, while the SSGN configuration can accommodate as many as 66 additional special operations personnel. A fully loaded special operations deployment can therefore raise the embarked population to more than 220. The submarine has the berthing, food storage, planning spaces, communications architecture and environmental control capacity needed to support that force for extended periods. A Virginia-class submarine can also embark special operations personnel, but its smaller hull cannot carry the same combination of personnel, missiles, shelters, command facilities and equipment without displacing other missions. Two Dry Deck Shelters can be mounted aft of the sail and connected to the converted swimmer lockout chambers. These shelters allow Navy SEALs, combat divers and undersea vehicles to deploy while the submarine remains submerged.

They can also support SEAL Delivery Vehicles, the Dry Combat Submersible, diving equipment, weapons and mission stores. This configuration permits covert insertion several kilometers from a coastline while keeping the submarine outside the immediate surveillance area around a harbor or beach. The large missile tubes can also carry unmanned underwater vehicles, unmanned aerial systems, sensors and storage canisters instead of Tomahawks. That made the SSGNs suitable for seabed reconnaissance, hydrographic survey, intelligence collection and the deployment of systems too large for standard torpedo tubes. Their command spaces allowed collected data to be processed aboard the submarine and transmitted to higher headquarters or other forces.

The same submarine could therefore approach a defended region covertly, place special operations personnel ashore, collect intelligence, coordinate other units and launch a large missile strike without returning to port for reconfiguration. The USS Georgia, for instance, was repeatedly assigned to the Middle East because its missile capacity and endurance allowed the US Navy to position substantial conventional firepower near Iran without relying on regional air bases or keeping several surface combatants inside the Persian Gulf. In December 2020, the USS Georgia conducted a rare surfaced transit through the Strait of Hormuz with the cruisers USS Port Royal and USS Philippine Sea. The transit exposed the presence of an SSGN that would normally remain concealed and clearly signaled that more than 100 Tomahawks, special operations personnel, and a submerged command capability had entered the region.

In May 2021, Iranian fast attack craft approached the USS Georgia and its escorts during another transit, leading USCGC Maui to fire warning shots after the boats continued closing. In August 2024, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered the USS Georgia from the Mediterranean toward the Middle East during preparations for a possible Iranian strike against Israel. The submarine is also assessed to have launched more than two dozen Tomahawks against the Isfahan nuclear facility during Operation Midnight Hammer in 2025. A 24-missile salvo would have consumed only 15.6% of the submarine’s theoretical 154-missile load and roughly one quarter of a more typical 100-missile operational load, leaving sufficient weapons for additional strike waves.

The wider SSGN force demonstrated a deployment model that cannot be reproduced simply by spreading missiles across more ships. The USS Florida completed a 727-day deployment in July 2024 after operating across the U.S. 5th, 6th and 7th Fleet areas and traveling more than 60,000 nautical miles. During that deployment, the SSGN submarine supported special operations forces, conducted Dry Deck Shelter activity and launched Tomahawks against Houthi targets in Yemen on January 11, 2024. It also completed an expeditionary weapons reload and maintenance period in Guam with the submarine tender USS Frank Cable. The Blue and Gold crew system allowed the hull to remain forward while personnel rotated, reducing the need to return the submarine to its homeport after every deployment cycle.

One Ohio SSGN could therefore maintain presence across several geographic commands, reposition between theaters and support more than one strike operation during the same deployment. Replicating that activity with Virginia-class submarines would require several hulls, several crews and additional maintenance periods. It would also increase the number of submarines committed to land attack at a time when the attack submarine force is already below the US Navy’s stated requirement. The Virginia Payload Module is the US Navy’s principal means of recovering part of the lost strike capacity, but its contribution is smaller and more gradual than a direct replacement. The VPM inserts a 25.6-meter section containing four large-diameter tubes into the Virginia hull.

Each tube can carry seven Tomahawks, adding 28 missile positions to the 12 bow launch positions and raising total vertical-launch capacity to 40. The module lengthens the submarine from 114.9 meters to 140.5 meters and increases submerged displacement from approximately 7,900 tonnes to 10,200 tonnes. It also provides space for future large weapons, including the Intermediate-Range Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic missile. A VPM-equipped Virginia nevertheless carries only 40 missiles, or 26% of the 154-missile Ohio maximum. Four VPM boats are therefore needed to equal one SSGN’s theoretical load, and 16 are required to equal the 616 missiles carried by the four-boat Ohio force. That comparison still overstates the replacement because 12 launch positions already exist on most Virginia submarines.

Since each VPM contributes only 28 additional cells, restoring the 616 extra positions removed with the SSGNs requires 22 VPM-equipped submarines under a strict capacity calculation. The timeline is even more restrictive than the arithmetic. The future USS Oklahoma (SSN-802), the first Block V Virginia, does not include the payload module. The future USS Arizona (SSN-803) is the first VPM-equipped boat, and its delivery has been affected by the same industrial delays slowing the wider Virginia program. Since 2022, U.S. shipyards have completed approximately 1.1 to 1.2 Virginia-class submarines per year against a procurement objective of two. Deliveries are running 24 to 36 months behind previous schedules, while the US Navy states that production must rise to 2.33 submarines annually to support U.S. requirements and AUKUS commitments.

The shortfall reflects shortages of skilled labor, pressure on component suppliers, limited shipyard infrastructure and competition with the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine program. Every Virginia entering service is also needed for anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence collection, special operations, surveillance and carrier group support. Assigning four Virginias to reproduce one Ohio SSGN missile load would consume four attack submarines that would otherwise track Chinese or Russian submarines, monitor naval bases or patrol contested sea lanes. The Ohio-class retirement therefore creates a force structure problem rather than only a reduction in launch cells.

The US Navy will lose 616 potential Tomahawk launchers between 2027 and FY2029, but it will also lose four large undersea command facilities, eight possible Dry Deck Shelter positions, capacity for more than 260 special operations personnel, and four hulls capable of carrying large unmanned systems or alternative payloads. Surface combatants cannot replace this combination because their vertical launch cells must be divided among offensive and defensive weapons, and they cannot reload routinely at sea after a major salvo. Virginia Block V submarines can restore missile capacity only incrementally and must continue performing the full range of attack submarine missions.

Columbia-class submarines will not close the gap because their mission is nuclear deterrence and their missile tubes are reserved for Trident II D5 ballistic missiles. A Columbia-derived large-payload submarine has been considered, but no funded acquisition program exists, and such a vessel would also compete with the US Navy’s highest-priority strategic submarine program for shipyard space, reactor components, and skilled labor. By the end of FY2029, the U.S. Navy will therefore have no submarine capable of carrying more than 100 cruise missiles and no single vessel able to combine the Ohio SSGN’s missile capacity, special operations infrastructure, command spaces and large-payload flexibility at a time when the U.S. has fired more than 850 Tomahawk cruise missiles in four weeks of war with Iran, burning a massive part of its stockpiles.

Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.

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