By GREGORY ZELLER //
Some the U.S. Navy’s most technologically advanced submarines – including one not expected to put to sea until the 2030s – will sail through Suffolk County Community College, sort of.
The U.S. Navy’s Submarine Industrial Base Council has awarded Suffolk County Community College’s Advanced Manufacturing Training Center a five-year, $2 million grant to recruit and train the next generation of welders and Computer Numerical Control Machine operators – critical private-workforce contributors to the Navy’s Columbia Class and Virginia Class submarines.
Billed as America’s “newest undersea warfare platform,” the Virginia Class is a nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine class currently in U.S. Navy service, packing a wide range of cruise missiles and technological innovations.
Bright ideas: A student learns to weld in SCCC’s Advanced Manufacturing Training Center.
Designed to replace aging Ohio Class ballistic-missile submarines, the Columbia Class nuclear sub is as cutting-edge as it gets. The Navy is currently constructing No. 1 of 12 budgeted ships (they run about $110 billion apiece) in Connecticut and Rhode Island, with that first ship of the line – the USS Columbia (SSBN-826) – scheduled to sail in 2031.
With lots to do before then, the Navy projects a large and growing workforce need. To that end, the $2 million SCCC grant, which is slated to provide full-tuition scholarships to 100 students per year – 250 welders and 250 CNC Machine operators over the five-year effort.
That will provide big benefits to employers in the regional defense-manufacturing pipeline – which is more than just a shadow of its former “Grumman days” glory, according to SCCC.
Experts required: Complex Columbia Class submarines will need a skilled workforce to stay afloat.
Long Island, in fact, is “one of the densest pockets of manufacturers” for the Navy’s ongoing submarine programs, according to the SUNY college – and with the scholarships slated to kick in this fall, SCCC and its Selden-based Advanced Manufacturing Training Center are honored to once again help fill a skilled-workforce need, according to Suffolk County Community College President Edward Bonahue.
“This investment in our welding and manufacturing certificates will allow us to get more trainees into the workforce more quickly,” Bonahue said. “The need for highly trained technicians in the defense-manufacturing pipeline is a national priority.
“We’re proud that the Navy and the Submarine Industrial Base recognize the critical role Suffolk’s workforce programs play in meeting that need.”
