General Dynamics Electric Boat (GDEB), a U.S. Navy shipyard, plans to hire 8,000 new employees in 2026 at its shipyards in Groton, Connecticut and Cape Quandette, Rhode Island, to meet the U.S. Navy’s needs for building Columbia-class and Virginia-class nuclear submarines.
General Dynamics Electric Boat, a subsidiary of the U.S. defense giant General Dynamics, is currently collaborating with Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) on the construction of the two types of nuclear submarines mentioned above.
General Dynamics Electric Boat is the prime contractor for the Columbia-class strategic nuclear submarines, responsible for their design and construction. This class of submarines will replace the Ohio-class nuclear submarines, which will begin retiring in 2027, and will be the largest submarine ever built by the United States, 2.5 times the size of the currently serving Virginia-class submarines.
In January of this year, General Dynamics Electric Boat’s new floating dock officially began operations. Named “Atlas,” the dock, manufactured by the U.S.-based shipyard Bollinger Shipyards, is scheduled for delivery in October 2025. Measuring 618 feet x 140 feet (188 meters x 43 meters), it will primarily be responsible for the construction, maintenance, and long-term support of the U.S. Navy’s Columbia-class submarines. This recruitment target of 8,000 workers will significantly expand the shipyard’s capacity, which has been struggling due to labor shortages.
The news was first reported by local Connecticut media and subsequently confirmed by Joe Courtney (a Connecticut Democrat), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection of Force under the House Armed Services Committee. Courtney emphasized that Congress has provided more than $10 billion in funding to the shipbuilding industry over the past few years, and his district is home to the headquarters of General Dynamics Electric Boat.
Officials from the U.S. Navy’s Maritime Industrial Base program office estimated last year that the U.S. shipbuilding industry would need to add 250,000 skilled workers over the next decade to meet the growing demand in submarine and surface ship production and maintenance. This capacity expansion target was reiterated last month at the Surface Navy Association National Symposium in Washington.
The current U.S. submarine construction capacity is far below the target set by the U.S. Navy, which requires the delivery of one Columbia-class nuclear submarine and at least two Virginia-class nuclear submarines per year by the early 2030s.
During the year-end earnings call in January, General Dynamics executives said the company would increase capital expenditures by $900 million over the next year, with the majority of the investment going toward supporting shipbuilding-related businesses at General Dynamics Electric Boat, Bath Iron Works, and General Dynamics NASSCO.