HMAS STIRLING, Western Australia - Last November, on the edge of the Indian Ocean, just beyond mainland Australia and across the Garden Island Causeway to HMAS Stirling, a U.S. Virginia-class submarine quietly completed the first submarine maintenance period without the support of a U.

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Handout image from South Korea's Navy of the Jang Yeongsil submarine that launched on October 22, 2025 in Geoje, South Korea. - South Korea Navy South Korea wants to join the undersea ...

Summary and Key Points: The U.S. Navy’s undersea dominance is threatened by a shrinking force structure and an overstretched industrial base. While the Virginia-class Block V remains a formidable multi-role asset—restoring strike capacity via the Virginia Payload Module (VPM)—it is a 1990s-era design.