The Navy on Wednesday awarded General Dynamics [GD] Electric Boat a contract worth $76.6 billion to build nine Virginia-class Block VI attack submarines (SSNs) and five Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) after years of delays. Bloomberg first reported on Tuesday that Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition Michael Duffey certified a proposed fixed-price deal for nine submarines meets all legal requirements in a letter sent to the House Armed Services Committee this week. The Navy has been negotiating this deal with…