A series of upgrades and modernizations at Pearl Harbor are preparing the Honolulu Naval Base for all three hypersonic-armed Zumwalt-class destroyers and up to three hypersonic-armed Virginia-class nuclear attack submarines. The move is a significant relocation of the U.S. Navy’s hypersonic equipped combatant force for a potential war with China.

A coordinated modernization effort is underway across Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam to bring the naval station up to spec for a large number of new ships and submarines that will homeport in Hawaii beginning in mid-2028.

Construction efforts by NAFVAC at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam are preparing berth space and drydock capabilities to base and repair Zumwalt-class destroyers and Virginia-class attack submarines, according to several documents published by the service and viewed by Naval News.

Modernization of Wharfs M1, M2, B26 and B24 will provide space and power requirements for the full complement of Zumwalt-class surface combatants when they arrive in mid-2028. Additional construction to support drydocking and maintenance efforts at the joint base are also expected to begin in coming months.

General Berth Mike 1/2 is already receiving electrical upgrades to support the 4160-volt power delivery requirement needed for the Zumwalt-class. A Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center (NAVFAC EXWC) Mobile Utilities Support Equipment (MUSE) substation was installed at the wharf in May. All three wharves will eventually have a permanently installed 4160-volt power delivery capability.

Additional construction to support the ships is expected to begin in March 2026 with completion scheduled for June 2028 when the ships arrive in Hawaii.

Construction requirements were outlined by NAVSEA in a sources sought notice for contractors that could support maintenance, modernization, and drydocking of the three Zumwalt-class ships at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard (PHNSY). Work related to that is expected to begin in late 2026 at the time of contract award. Contractor will include opening or renovating facilities to store spare parts and long lead time material for the ship class.

In all, NAVSEA wants facilities and contractors ready to support all three ships’ homeport changes by mid-2028.

Two Zumwalt-class destroyers are currently being modernized to field the U.S. Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic missiles. A third ship is expected to head into Huntington Ingalls Industries in Pascagoula, Mississippi for modernization in 2026.

Work on the lead ship USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) is expected to be complete by May 2026, and work on USS Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG 1002) began early this year when it was drydocked at Huntington Ingalls Pascagoula. Naval News covered the Lyndon B. Johnson‘s drydocking at the Surface Navy Association’s 2025 conference.

The Zumwalt-class destroyers will carry a combined 36 CPS missiles across three ships of the class, giving the fleet a time-sensitive inshore land attack capability that is not delivered by any other weapon system currently fielded. Development work to integrate a terminal seeker for anti-ship capability is ongoing.

All three ships will also receive a new signals intelligence suite, a new naval datalink platform, and SM-6 integration for area air defense capability. The U.S. Navy views these destroyers as “an independent forward deployed strike platform, with longer range, shorter time of flight, and higher survivability against enemy defenses compared to current capabilities.”

Pearl Harbor is also slated to receive several more Virginia-class attack submarines as part of its shipyard infrastructure modernization plan, all due by 2030. According to the fleet, two or three of the submarines shifted to Pearl Harbor will be equipped with the Virginia Payload Module (VPM) that adds an additional 28 Tomahawk cruise missiles or 12 CPS missiles to each submarine.

USS Arizona (SSN 803) is slated to be the first VPM-equipped Virginia-class attack submarine, with an expected commissioning in 2027. USS Barb (SSN 804) will follow. Arizona is named after USS Arizona (BB-39), a battleship sunk during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Barb is named after USS Barb (SS-220), a storied World War II submarine credited with sinking 17 enemy vessels in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, including one aircraft carrier in the Pacific.

Based on aforementioned U.S. Navy planning, it is likely that both will homeport in Hawaii.

To meet the demand of additional Virginia-class submarines, the U.S. Navy is modernizing Dry Dock 3 and constructing Dry Dock 5 to accommodate all blocks of the Virginia-class as well as the fleet’s next-generation attack submarine, designated SSN(X). Without the replacement, PHNSY would not be able to work on Virginia-class attack submarines. Modernization will enable intermediate and depot-level modernization requirements for all block variants of Pearl Harbor’s Virginia-class attack submarines.

With at least five CPS-armed ships and submarines based in Hawaii by 2030, the majority of the U.S. Navy’s principal time-sensitive strike force will be positioned to move on China in wartime scenarios, cutting down transit time to the Indo-Pacific by several days compared to homeported ships and submarines in San Diego.