Two Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines have traded coasts. USS Pennsylvania (SSBN 735) arrived at its new homeport of Kings Bay, Georgia, on Oct. 2, 2026, while USS Wyoming (SSBN 742) arrived the same day at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Washington. The Navy calls the move a planned hull swap that puts the newer of the two boats in the Pacific Northwest ahead of the Columbia class.
The boats moved; the people did not. The Navy kept both submarines’ crews and their families at their existing homeports rather than sending them across the country with the hulls.
Commander, Submarine Forces Public Affairs announced the arrivals in a release dated Oct. 5, 2026, which Seapower magazine published on Oct. 6, 2026. The release describes the exchange as “a planned component of the Navy’s long-term fleet modernization strategy to position the newer ballistic missile submarines at Naval Base Kitsap” and to prepare “for the introduction of the future Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines.” “By keeping the crews and their families at their current homeports, the Navy maintains stability for our Sailors, their families, and the communities they call home,” the release states.
Pennsylvania returns to Kings Bay
For USS Pennsylvania, Georgia is familiar water. The boat’s own command history page on the Navy’s submarine force website says it is “the 10th submarine of the Ohio class of ballistic missile submarines” and that it “was commissioned on Sept. 9, 1989 at Groton, Conn.”
The same page records the move it has now reversed: “Pennsylvania spent the first 13 years of her service life based at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Ga., before shifting her homeport to Naval Submarine Base Bangor, Wash., in October 2002.” The history also notes that after its 50th patrol in July 2005 the boat received U.S. Strategic Command’s 2004 Omaha Trophy for excellence in strategic deterrence, and that it finished sea trials on Sept. 19, 2012, after an engineered refueling overhaul at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
The boat went into commission with two crews, according to the same history, with Capt. Richard M. Camp commanding the Blue Crew and Capt. A. Lee Edwards the Gold Crew. Under the release’s terms, the crews based at Bangor stay in Washington while the hull they had been taking to sea now operates from Georgia.
Wyoming moves to the Pacific
USS Wyoming is seven years younger. The Wyoming command page on the Submarine Force Atlantic website records that the boat was laid down on Aug. 8, 1991, at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics in Groton, Connecticut, launched on July 15, 1995, and commissioned on July 13, 1996.
That page still lists the submarine as “assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, and homeported at Kings Bay, GA.” With the Oct. 2 arrival at Bangor, that line describes the boat’s past assignment. The swap moves a hull commissioned in 1996 to Washington and returns one commissioned in 1989 to Georgia, which matches the Navy’s stated aim of putting the newer boats at Kitsap.
The Columbia class behind the move
The swap is groundwork for a new class of submarine. The Government Accountability Office reported on Sept. 30, 2024, in GAO-24-107732, that “The Navy plans to spend $130 billion to acquire 12 Columbia class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines.” The same report said “Timely delivery of these submarines is critical for the nation’s nuclear deterrence,” and estimated that the lead boat would be delivered 12 to 16 months after its originally planned date, between October 2028 and February 2029.
The Navy’s program office has since offered its own schedule. USNI News reporter Sam LaGrone wrote on Feb. 11, 2026, that the lead boat, District of Columbia (SSBN 826), was “about 65 percent complete,” and that General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding were working to deliver it in 2028, according to Rear Adm. Todd Weeks, Program Executive Officer Strategic Submarines, speaking at the WEST 2026 conference.
The Commander, Submarine Forces release does not say which base will receive the first Columbia-class boats or when the next Ohio-class hull moves will happen. As of the Oct. 2, 2026, arrivals, Pennsylvania is homeported in Kings Bay and Wyoming in Bangor, each crewed by sailors who stayed put while the submarines changed oceans.
Top image: USS Pennsylvania (SSBN 735) returns to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Washington, after a strategic deterrence patrol on July 28, 2015, before its move to Kings Bay. Image Credit: U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Amanda Gray — Public domain / Wikimedia Commons
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Combat Rated editors prior to publication.