HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division has delivered the first Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine stern to General Dynamics Electric Boat. (Ashley Cowan/HII)

The first Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine stern has arrived at General Dynamics Electric Boat in Rhode Island.

Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division in Virginia on Wednesday delivered the stern for the USS District of Columbia to Electric Boat’s Quonset Point facility, HII announced in a news release. Newport News Shipbuilding is under contract to construct and deliver six module sections per Columbia-class submarine to Electric Boat, the release said.

The Columbia class is slated to replace the Navy’s fleet of Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines as the nation’s sea-based nuclear deterrent. The service wants to build 12 Columbia-class submarines at a cost of about $132 billion, Stars and Stripes reported in January 2023.

Construction on the USS District of Columbia, the lead submarine in the Columbia class, began in October 2020, Stars and Stripes previously reported.