Maritime Administration Awards Nearly $20m to Strengthen US Shipyards

BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE  04-27-2021 03:57:04 

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced $19.6 million in grant awards to 31 small shipyards in 15 states through the Small Shipyard Grant Program. The funds will help awardees modernize, increase productivity, and expand local employment opportunities while competing in the global marketplace. Since 2008, MARAD’s Small Shipyard Grant Program has awarded $262.5 million to nearly 300 shipyards in 32 states and territories throughout the U.S.  

“Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy, and small shipyards play a critical role in America’s maritime industry,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. “These grants go directly to small shipyards across the country and will help protect and create local jobs, strengthen America’s maritime industry, and bolster our economic security.”  

Small shipyards are essential parts of our maritime industrial base and employ thousands of Americans. They strengthen communities along and near our nation’s ports and waterways. Many small shipyards are family-run businesses—and they are all enterprises in which small investments can make big differences. MARAD’s Small Shipyard Grant Program supports economic competitiveness through grants that can be used to purchase equipment or train employees. In addition, the purchase of American-made manufacturing equipment made possible by Small Shipyard grants supports a wide range of jobs throughout our Nation’s manufacturing base.  

“These grants will help small businesses do what they do best: build essential infrastructure while creating long-term jobs for American workers,” said Lucinda Lessley, Acting Maritime Administrator. “Better equipment means increased productivity and more ships moving through our small shipyards—and more ships mean more local jobs.” 

A complete list of shipyard grant recipients follows:  

ALABAMA 

Master Boat Builders, Inc. of Coden, AL, will receive $497,464 to support the purchase of two 30-ton mobile cranes and two extendable boom forklifts.

Steiner Shipbuilding, Inc., of Bayou La Batre, AL, a 3rd generation family-owned and operated business, will receive $419,507 to support the purchase of a forklift, 300-ton press brake, manlift, and other equipment that will improve the efficiency of ship construction and repair activities at the facility. 

ALASKA 

JAG Alaska, Inc. Seward Shipyard, located in Seward, AK, will receive $639,712 for a 100-ton grove hydraulic crane. 

CALIFORNIA 

Bay City Marine of National City, CA, which has provided ship and boat repair and fabrication services for over 50 years, will receive $738,990 to support the purchase of a mobile crane. 

Bay Ship & Yacht, Co., one of Alameda, CA's largest maritime sector employers, will receive $759,419 to support the purchase of a mobile crane, welding equipment, and electric boom lifts.  

Marine Group Boat Works LLC, a family-owned business in Chula Vista, CA, will receive $524,058 to purchase air compressors and launch an in-house welder training program.  

CONNECTICUT 

The Thames Shipyard & Repair Company Inc. of New London, CT, a family-owned company, will receive $438,690 to support the purchase of surface preparation equipment and air compressors.   

FLORIDA 

Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc., of Panama City, FL, will receive $522,318. These funds will support the purchase of several pieces of equipment that will improve the efficiency of ship construction and repair activities at the facility.  

St. Johns Boat Company of Jacksonville, FL, will receive $221,175 to support the acquisition and installation of a hybrid blast and paint building manlift. 

St. Johns Ship Building, Inc. of Palatka, FL, will receive $1,342,724 to support the construction of a 2000-ton drydock.

LOUISIANA 

Bollinger Marine Fabricators of Amelia, LA, part of a family-owned and operated business since 1946, will receive $1,122,216 to support the purchase of a Blast and Paint Plate Preservation Line Machine. 

C&C Marine and Repair, LLC of Belle Chasse, LA, will receive $748,959 in funding to support the purchase of welding enhancements and additional forklifts.  

Conrad Shipyard, located in Amelia, LA, will receive $432,376 to support the purchase of two portable shelters for a Fabrication/Pipe work area and a Blast/Paint work area.

Gulf Island Shipyards, LLC, of Houma, LA, will receive $312,802 in funding to add automated pipe spool welding to its pipe spooling/fabrication shop. 

MASSACHUSETTS 

Blue Atlantic Fabricators Inc., a family-owned shipyard in Boston, MA, will receive $692,826 to support the purchase of an abrasive blast machine and conveyor, electrical upgrades, paint booth, and two gantry cranes.  

Boston Ship Repair, a full-service shipyard located in an Economically Distressed Area in South Boston, MA, will receive $598,200 to support the upgrade of power distribution equipment. 

MISSISSIPPI 

Omega Shipyard, Inc., of Moss Point, MS, will receive $126,105 to support the purchase of a telescoping forklift and blasting pot.   

NEW JERSEY 

Hughes Bros. Inc. of Edison, NJ, a family-owned and operated business since 1894, will receive $264,510 to support the purchase of two welding machines and power sources, a 6000-lb vertical mast forklift, four 10,000-lb capacity mega pipe rollers and several other equipment pieces.  

NEW YORK 

Metalcraft Marine US, Inc, of Watertown, NY, will receive $554,237 to support the purchase of a computer numerical control (CNC) Cutting Table, three rotating jig positions, and a blasting booth. 

PENNSYLVANNIA 

Heartland Fabrication, LLC, of Brownsville, PA, will receive $982,954 to support the purchase of a robotic welding system creating new job opportunities for robotic welding technicians. 

Philly Shipyard, Inc. of Philadelphia, PA, will receive $720,000 to support the resumption of a comprehensive 3-year apprentice training program that will strengthen its workforce and increase the efficiency of shipbuilding operations. 

SOUTH CAROLINA 

Stevens Towing Co. Inc., of Yonges Island, SC, a family-owned business since 1913, will receive $1,378,575 to support the purchase of an 820-metric ton travelift allowing the shipyard to expand work in their new zero-emissions North Yard. 

TEXAS 

MBLH Marine LLC, dba Vessel Repair of Port Arthur, TX will receive $588,812 to support the purchase of a 110-ton crawler crane. 

VIRGINIA 

Lyon Shipyard of Norfolk, VA, a family-owned and operated company since 1928, will receive $958,695 to support the purchase of a 15-ton bridge crane, twelve electrical substations, two waterproof switchboards, and other electrical upgrades and equipment. 

Marine Hydraulics International, LLC, of Norfolk, VA, will receive $897,853 to support the purchase of a 100-ton telescopic boom hydraulic truck mounted crane and a waterjet cutting table.

Tecnico Corporation of Chesapeake, VA, an employee-owned company that has grown from 30 to over 500 employees in the past 30 years, will receive $573,940 to support the purchase of a telescopic boom hydraulic truck crane and other equipment that will increase overall shipyard productivity. 

WASHINGTON 

BRIX Marine, a family-owned company in Port Angeles, WA, will receive $342,318 in funding to purchase a CNC router table and support equipment. 

Everett Ship Repair LLC, of Everett, WA, will receive $731,385 to support the purchase of a new drydocks containment system, water blasting equipment and air compressors.  

Lake Union Drydock Co. one of Seattle’s oldest shipyard and a family-owned company since 1945, will receive $684,127 to support the construction of a new drydock basin passageway and the acquisition of an additional air compressor, air dryer and large capacity forklift.  

Pacific Fishermen Shipyard and Electric, LLC, located in Seattle, WA, will receive $556,308 to support rail enhancement, lift dock conversions, and paint area improvements. 

Stabbert Marine & Industrial, LLC, of Seattle, WA, will receive $228,745 to support the purchase of an 8-ton heavy-duty forklift, articulated boom lift, welding equipment and other equipment that will significantly improve the efficiency of ship construction and repair activities at their facility. 

The products and services herein described in this press release are not endorsed by The Maritime Executive.

Congressional Budget Office Analysis of the Navy’s December 2020 Shipbuilding Plan

April 23, 2021 8:31 AM • Updated: April 23, 2021 2:34 PM

USNI.org

The following is the April 22, 2021 Congressional Budget Service report, An Analysis of the Navy’s December 2020 Shipbuilding Plan.

From the report

Each year, as directed by the Congress, the Navy submits a report with the President’s budget describing the planned inventory, purchases, deliveries, and retirements of the ships in its fleet for the next 30 years. The Navy did not submit its 30-year shipbuilding plan with the fiscal year 2021 budget, but the Department of Defense submitted a plan to the Congress on December 9, 2020, that covers the period 2022 to 2051. In this report, the Congressional Budget Office analyzes that shipbuilding plan and estimates the costs of implementing it.

• Cost. The December 2020 plan would require average annual shipbuilding appropriations almost 50 percent larger than the average over the past five years. CBO estimates that total shipbuilding costs, including costs for nuclear refueling and unmanned systems, would average about $34 billion per year (in 2021 dollars), 10 percent more than the Navy estimates. Annual operation and support costs for the fleet would grow from $74 billion today to $113 billion by 2051. The Navy’s total budget would increase from about $200 billion today to $279 billion (in 2021 dollars) by 2051.

• Purchasing Plan. The Navy plans to purchase 404 new ships between 2022 and 2051—300 combat ships and 104 logistics and support ships. The Navy also plans to purchase 223 unmanned undersea and surface vehicles to supplement its fleet.

• Fleet Size. If the Navy adhered to the schedule for purchases and ship retirements outlined in its December 2020 plan, the inventory of manned ships would rise from about 300 today to about 400 by 2038. The force of unmanned systems would rise from just a few prototypes today to about 140 by 2045.

The Navy’s annual shipbuilding plan would cost more than double what has been appropriated over the past 30 years and 24 percent more than annual appropriations during the Cold War. In the 2040s, funding for submarines alone would exceed average overall funding from 1992 to 2021. CBO Graphic

LCS: The USA’s Littoral Combat Ships

Apr 23, 2021 04:56 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff

April 23/21: USS Mobile The future USS Mobile, the US Navy’s next Independence-class littoral combat ship, will be commissioned on May 27, the Navy announced. The ceremony, restricted because of COVID-19 concerns but scheduled to be livestreamed, will be held in Mobile, Ala., where the ship was built by Austal USA. The vessel will be the 13th Independence variant in the Navy fleet. Littoral combat ships are fast, agile, focused-mission platforms designed for operation in near-shore environments but capable of open-ocean operation, Austral USA said.

VIDEO: Navy Commissions USS Oakland in California

By: Mallory Shelbourne

April 16, 2021 4:59 PM • Updated: April 18, 2021 10:21 AM

USNI.org

USS Oakland (LCS-24) moored pierside during the commissioning ceremony on April 17, 2021. US Navy Photo

The Navy commissioned a new Littoral Combat Ship on Saturday in Oakland, Calif.

The service commissioned USS Oakland (LCS-24), an Independence-class LCS, in a virtual ceremony broadcast from the pier.

“We now have a finished warship behind us that is ready to be placed into commission,” said acting Navy Secretary Thomas Harker speaking at the ceremony. “This ship is a marvel of engineering, which will extend our capabilities for any mission across the blue water, from shoreline to shoreline.”

Naval Academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Sean Buck, Program Executive Office Rear Adm. Casey Moton, Austal USA Vice President Larry Ryder and Mayor of Oakland Libby Schaaf also spoke at the ceremony

“Kate Brandt, Google’s sustainability officer and the ship’s sponsor, delivered the time-honored Navy order to Oakland’s crew to ‘Man our ship and bring her to life!’,” the service said in a statement.

The ship will be based out of Naval Base San Diego, according to the Pentagon.

“The USS Oakland crew is excited and ready to bring our ship to life and join the fleet,” Cmdr. Francisco Garza, the future Oakland’s commanding officer, said in the release. “We are privileged to be a part of this ship and embody the spirit of the people of Oakland. As plank owners and future crew members build a positive legacy for this ship, the city of Oakland will experience those successes with us.”

Austal USA built Oakland at the company’s Alabama shipyard. The Navy last June announced that it had taken delivery of Oakland.

Navy ‘Struggling’ to Modernize Aging Cruiser Fleet As Tight Budgets Push Pentagon to Shed Legacy Platforms

By: Megan Eckstein

April 5, 2021 2:43 PM • Updated: April 5, 2021 6:44 PM

USNI.org

Guided-missile cruiser USS Hué City (CG-66) was inducted into the Cruiser Modernization program on Oct. 3, 2019. US Navy Photo

This post has been updated to clarify the timeline for the Flight III DDGs’ entry to the fleet.

A plan to keep the Navy’s guided-missile cruiser fleet operating through the end of the 2030s is struggling as the ships show there’s a very real cost in time and money to keep old platforms around for the sake of having a larger fleet.

The Navy’s Ticonderoga-class cruisers pack a punch with their 122 vertical launching system cells packed with guided missiles, but today their most important role is hosting a carrier strike group’s air defense commander and staff during carrier strike group deployments.

The Navy has for almost two decades struggled to figure out what kind of platforms should replace these CGs as the air defense command ship for the carrier strike group, and several efforts have been canceled or postponed along the way. To buy more time to find a replacement, the Navy modernized 10 cruisers beginning in the 2000s to extend their lives and give them the newest combat capabilities. A second cruiser modernization program that began in 2015 aimed to do the same to seven more.

Now, cruisers in that first group are showing their age, becoming more expensive and difficult to maintain and less reliable to operate as their material condition declines. Those in the second group, five of which are currently in the cruiser modernization program, are also having issues as they require more repair work than the Navy expected – calling into question whether the Navy should keep them for the sake of having a larger fleet or decommission them due to their declining state.

In a budget environment where the military services are increasingly looking to “divest to invest,” or rid themselves of legacy gear to free up money for new equipment aimed at a high-end future fight, the cruiser fleet may not see much support in the upcoming budget cycle, two admirals told USNI News.

Cruiser Modernization Program Challenges

Gas Turbine Systems Technician (Mechanical) 3rd Class Brayan Ramirez changes filters on a diesel generator aboard the guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf (CG-72) on April 15, 2020. US Navy Photo

Vice Adm. Bill Galinis, the commander of Naval Sea Systems Command, told USNI News on Friday that five cruisers are currently in the modernization program, and the three that are furthest along have not gone smoothly.

The cruiser modernization program was broken into three phases that could be competed to industry separately, he said. The move was made partly to introduce competition and lower cost in the process and spread the work throughout a private shipyard sector that had been facing an overwhelming workload when the process began. The cruiser mod program has two shorter availabilities – one to rip out equipment and systems, the second to do structural repairs on the ship, especially in the aluminum deck house area – and then a longer availability to modernize the ships.

The ships in that third availability are “struggling,” Galinis said.

“We started these (longer availabilities) back in the October 2018 time frame with USS Cowpens (CG-63) being the first one out in San Diego, followed by USS Vicksburg (CG-69) and USS Gettysburg (CG-64) – in March ’19 for Gettysburg, and then Vicksburg was started in January ’20,” Galinis said.
“What we found in some cases, in particular for the first three ships, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Cowpens, was that a lot of the structural work was not – in some cases all the structural work – was not completed during that second availability, which cascaded into the third, into the larger modernization availability. So from a strategic standpoint, we brought in more work than initially planned when we started the program into that last modernization availability. That being said, all three of those ships right now, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Cowpens, are in that modernization availability – and I will tell you, they’re struggling through the production phase right now.”

The COVID-19 pandemic is one reason that third and largest availability is running behind, but the poor material condition of the ships and the inability of the workforce to do the repair and reactivation work have also been problems, he said.

An MH-60S Knight Hawk helicopter transports supplies over the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG-64) in the Middle East. US Navy Photo

“Number one is the amount of change that we have pushed into the availability, driven principally by, in some cases, the condition of the [hull, mechanical and electrical] plant, the hull in particular. So a lot more structural work than initially anticipated as we got into tanks in some cases that had not been opened for quite some time. Some additional work on the underwater hull portion, including the running gear – and again, in some cases, these ships had not been docked for an extended period of time, so there was more work in that area than initially planned. And then we had some challenges with the main propulsion plant and some additional work in that area. So new and growth work was one of the key drivers,” Galinis said.

On the performance side, Galinis said new construction yards have teams of experts who specialize in getting brand new systems up and running for the first time before handing them over to a ship crew, but maintenance yards don’t have that expertise on hand. Typically a repair yard turns the ship back over to the crew for reactivation, since the crew knows the ship better than anyone else, having sailed it into the repair yard in the first place. However, because the cruiser mod program is so lengthy, with the three-part repair and modernization process, the crews currently assigned to the cruisers have never actually touched the ships’ systems before, and the repair yard doesn’t have the expertise to get the ships reactivated either.

Galinis said Cowpens and Gettysburg are in the reactivation phase now and have been struggling. Some of their hull, mechanical and electrical systems have been down for five years, and it’s been harder than expected to get them back up and running after the modernization availability. Galinis said “there’s a pretty proven process on the sequence of how we actually reactivate these systems” that the Navy and its contractors are going through now, but the repair yards don’t have the in-house expertise they need to successfully execute that work.

Guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64), returns to Naval Station Mayport after a nine-month deployment to the U.S. 5th and 6th Fleet on April 18, 2014. US Navy Photo

NAVSEA created a four-pronged approach to help get Cowpens and Gettysburg back online. New construction yards are working closely with the ships’ crews to share their expertise. Fleet introduction teams have been deployed, sending senior enlisted sailors in engineering and combat system ranks to help out the crews that have never actually operated these ship systems before. Third-party contractors have been hired to help with smaller repair tasks during the modernization availability, and the regional maintenance centers are sharing their intermediate-level maintenance experts, too.

Galinis did not name which companies were helping out in the reactivation process or as third-party contractors, but USNI News understands that Ingalls Shipbuilding, which built 19 of the 27 Ticonderoga-class cruisers, is assisting in the cruiser mod program.

Galinis said the Navy had learned quite a bit in the first three cruiser mods that could help out with the next two ships in line.

“The fourth ship, USS Chosin (CG-65), which is at Vigor in Seattle, is actually doing quite well. So we have been able to roll a lot of lessons learned – she lagged the first three ships by a period of time, so there was an opportunity to roll some lessons learned, and we’re seeing learning on the fourth ship out at Vigor. And USS Cape St. George (CG-71) really hasn’t gotten into the production phase yet,” he said, referring to that third availability.

Despite lessons learned helping the Chosin availability go better than the first three, two additional cruisers are in reduced readiness status today awaiting the start of their production phase, and the difficulties of the first three ships may lead the Navy to retire USS Anzio (CG-68) and USS Hue City (CG-66) instead of finish modernizing them.

Both ships were included in a list of ships set for decommissioning when the Navy released its long-range shipbuilding plan in December, in the final weeks of the Trump administration.

A new plan will be released in conjunction with the Biden administration’s Fiscal Year 2022 budget request, but Vice Adm. Jim Kilby, the deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting requirements and capabilities (OPNAV N9), suggested it would be hard to find support in the budget for an old ship that’s increasingly hard and expensive to maintain and operate.

“This job is more complex than I think the Navy anticipated for all the reasons Adm. Galinis laid out. So I would have to think hard about inducting more cruisers here because of what we’ve seen so far,” he said during the same interview on Friday.
“I do agree with Adm. Galinis that we’re going to get better, but I think it’s in this overall balance as I’m trying to produce the best Navy for the money that’s provided to us that we can, if that makes sense.”

Why the Navy Needs Cruisers

Artists rendering of the first planned Flight III Arleigh Burke destroyer, Jack H. Lucas. HII Photo

The Navy tried and failed in the late 2000s to develop a cruiser replacement program, and upon the cancelation of the next-generation cruiser CG(X) program. In 2010 the Navy decided instead to use the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to serve as the platform to host air defense commander. The Navy has in recent years tried to pursue a large surface combatant – at times called LSC, then DDG Next and now DDG(X) – that could be optimized for that role as well, but those efforts too have run into trouble and seen several delays.

Kilby told USNI News that, first and foremost, he owed the fleet commanders enough ready ships and trained crews so that each carrier strike group could have an air defense commander in its team of escorts. Though that’s an operational requirement, there’s also not much support for hanging on to an old ship that’s declining in reliability and increasing in cost to maintain and operate, so the Navy could well see its fleet of 22 CGs drop to 11 quickly – the Trump administration’s plan saw six decommissioning in 2022, two in 2023, two in 2024 and one in 2026, which would put the fleet at 11 five years from now, matching the congressionally required 11-carrier fleet.

“I guess I’d opine that the conversation we had in December about the shipbuilding plan that was created in conjunction with the last administration: we had an opportunity to make some decisions, to create a force structure that was what I determined the most lethal and robust that we could balance. And that’s my job as the N9, is to try to look at all the capabilities and say, ‘how do we balance that?’” Kilby said.
“So as the budget gets more restrictive, we’ll make similar decisions. Ultimately though, I want to make sure we do one thing, which is to provide an air and missile defense command ship and a trained crew to go execute that mission for our strike groups. So to me, that’s the central theme here, and I’m always going to look for the best ship to do that based on its combat systems and the capability that comes with that.”

The Biden administration is expected to give the Defense Department overall, as the country focuses on health and economic spending related to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as other priorities such as infrastructure. It’s unclear within DoD whether the Navy under this administration will receive any greater a share of the defense budget than the other services.

Due to a series of decisions by the Navy and Congress, the current plan calls for the air defense commander role to be filled today by one group of 10 cruisers that went through a combat system modernization effort in the late 2000s and now carry the latest and greatest combat system. They are nearing the end of their services lives now – which was extended beyond the original 30 years they were designed for – and though the Navy had considered extending their lives even further, some of these ships are among the first that would be decommissioned under the plan released in December.

USS Vella Gulf (CG-72) transits the Aegean Sea on July, 6 2014. US Navy Photo

As these ships decommission, the plan was to replace them with the ships coming out of the cruiser mod program, which would then carry out the air defense commander role until the first Flight III DDGs join the fleet and are ready to begin operations at the end of this decade.

However, the oldest cruisers are seeing material readiness issues, including USS Vella Gulf (CG-72), which had to return to its homeport in Norfolk, Va., just days after deploying with the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group in February due to a cracked fuel tank. During the pier-side repairs, a second cracked tank was discovered. And when the ship tried to depart Norfolk after the tanks were fixed, another issue was discovered in its shaft seal, Galinis explained.

“And so it just shows you that we really need to work on maintaining these ships going forward. I think we can do that to a point, but they are more expensive to maintain than some of our newer ships, as they show their age,” Galinis said.
“And that goes back to one of Adm. Kilby’s earlier points and what the [chief of naval operations] has said, is to really take a look at the force structure that we have now and where we need to divest legacy systems to recapitalize the fleet going forward. And again, this is a hardship class to maintain, principally because of the HM&E infrastructure.”

Kilby said during the interview that “the first cruisers to be modernized have our latest combat system on it. So even though those ships are, in some cases, older than 35 years, they have a Baseline 9 combat system which allows them to perform the air and missile defense commander role exquisitely. However, the ships are old. So at some point, like many of our older systems, we’re paying a lot of money to keep them online and keep them current. So I think that’s the balance piece of it. As long as we meet the requirement to have a ship and a crew that’s trained … to do that air and missile defense commander role, I think that’s certainly something we must do [ahead of the] arrival of the Flight III DDG, which is going to bring a new radar which will allow that air and missile defense commander to be perhaps better in that role because of the new capability that radar brings. That’s my view. So I think the trades, as we move forward, are how much top line do we have? What is our global force management schedule look like? Do we have the cruisers online and the crews trained and aligned to those ships to do that mission? That’s what we’ll have to look at and balance what’s coming down in the Flight III and making sure that we’ve got that lined up. Because that’s going to be what’s in the trade space of future budgets.”

As recently as December, the Navy was considering further extending the service lives of as many as five of the cruisers in that first group of 10 to go through a life extension program.

Kilby couldn’t say much about the upcoming FY 2022 budget, which is still being worked on. However, he repeatedly suggested coming down on the side of keeping just enough cruiser capacity to meet the needs of deploying carrier strike groups, but no more. Asked about Anzio and Hue City’s previously planned induction into the cruiser mod program, as well as extending the lives of any further cruisers, he said, “I think it’s pre-decisional with the budget, but as we work through the final end game of ’22, we’ll certainly work through that. But I do want to say that there is an understanding on my part as the N9 – and I won’t speak for my bosses – about the complexity of these avails, and the length of time it takes, not only because we’ve adjusted the approach that Adm. Galinis laid out, but we also have to address some unfound things as we get into those ships to make them right and get the service life we need out of them. So to me, there is a definite balance, and we should proceed cautiously with what we know about this program, because it’s been very complex in the delivery of the end state.”

Kilby said the first Flight III DDG would deliver from the builder in 2025 and then go through extensive testing in the fleet through 2027 to ensure the new capability was ready to protect an aircraft carrier from incoming missiles.

“So the challenge will be to manage this group of ships (the oldest cruisers), to finish the availabilities that Adm. Galinis laid out and get those ships out of modernization so they can replace those earlier ships, and then align that schedule with the global force management schedule for the fleet. And that’s what we’re going to work on,” he said.

Congressional Challenges

USS San Jacinto (CG-56) transits beside the guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG-60) during a photo exercise on March 21, 2020. US Navy Photo

Congress will get the final say in the matter. If the Navy under the previous administration was leaning more in the direction of doing whatever it took to grow the Navy, and the services under the Biden administration are leaning more in the divest to invest direction, Congress has made clear in recent years it believes the Navy needs a higher ship count. The sentiment appears on both sides of the aisle, and even last month Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) specifically called out the cruisers as an example of an older ship that should be further extended until the Navy can bring newer small and unmanned combatants into the fleet.

The Navy and Congress have sparred over the fate of the cruisers for the better part of a decade now. After the 2011 sequestration’s across-the-board budget cuts, the Navy hoped to achieve some savings by putting 11 of the 22 cruisers into a reduced operating status, operating the modernized half of the fleet, and then upgrading the laid-up ships to achieve a just-in-time replacement model as the first 11 aged out of service. Congress said no.

The two ultimately agreed on a 2-4-6 cruiser mod plan, where two cruisers a year would be inducted into the modernization program, which would last no more than four years per ship, and no more than six ships would be in the program at any given time. A small number were allowed to be put into reduced operating status until their induction in the program, keeping more ships available to the fleet and limiting the cost-savings the Navy had hoped to see.

Last spring, the Navy asked to retire four cruisers and the first four Littoral Combat Ships early, in a bid to divest the least capable ships in the fleet to invest that money elsewhere – and Congress was similarly opposed to shedding capacity during a time they wanted to see the fleet grow.

Though the Trump administration released a FY 2022 budget proposal and shipbuilding plan in December, in a move to lay down a final marker to compare its priorities to the incoming Biden administration’s, it will ultimately be the Biden team that sends a proposal to the Hill this spring with its pitch on the cruisers and other legacy systems. Though lawmakers have shown little appetite for allowing a short-term drop in fleet size even if it means freeing up funds for the development of the small combatants, unmanned systems, hypersonic weapons and more that will be the heart of the future fleet, Kilby and Galinis offered something of an opening argument for allowing the Navy to finally rid itself of the legacy CGs.

“Being a former cruiser sailor myself, we have had an increasing number of challenges with our tanks, our fuel service tanks and our compensating tanks. So to me, that’s something we’ve got to watch carefully and make sure we know that they work,” Kilby said.
“On my last deployment in 2017, my cruiser had to take several stops for voyage repairs to fix that system to ensure that we were confident in it. So I think we really have to be aware of the HM&E status of those ships and pace them accordingly. That’s my N9 (and) former cruiser sailor answer.”

“I would tell you on the surface combatant force that we have right now, the cruisers are hands down the most difficult platform to maintain. And they’re hard to maintain because of the HM&E infrastructure,” Galinis said.
“As Adm. Kilby indicated, they bring an incredible combat capability to the fleet with that air defense mission commander capability and what they provide in the force. But from a maintenance perspective, the hull structure, and in particular the deckhouse structure, is worn.”

Rep Luria Letter to President Biden on Maritime-centric National Defense Strategy

April 1, 2021 9:29 AM

USNI.org

The following is a March 26, 2021 letter from Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) to President Joe Biden calling for a maritime-focused national defense strategy. Luria is a former surface warfare officer and is currently the vice-chair of the House Armed Services Committee.

March 26, 2021
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Biden,

I write at a critical juncture in our nation’s history, as we find ourselves again engaged in a great power competition with two nations who have demonstrated overt hostile intent towards our interests and those values such as individual liberty and human rights that we hold most dear. Because each of the major powers involved in this new era of competition is equipped with strategic nuclear weapons, the focus of these competitive interactions has moved towards open “global commons” such as space, cyber-space, and, I believe, most importantly the world’s oceans. I am writing you to request that your administration develop a National Defense Strategy, that acknowledges and prioritizes the maritime nature of the current strategic environment.

I read with great anticipation your March 2021 Interim National Security Strategic Guidance. While I appreciated the overarching theme of diplomacy first and foremost, I am reminded of the words of Theodore Roosevelt, “Speak softly and carry a big stick – you will go far.” Many have interpreted this phrase as a call to prepare for war, but Roosevelt intended its use as a prelude to diplomacy. As he noted, “We lay equal emphasis on the fact that it is necessary to speak softly; in other words, that it is necessary to be respectful toward all people and scrupulously to refrain from wrongdoing them, while at the same time keeping ourselves in condition to prevent wrong being done to us.”

Since our founding we have been and remain today a maritime nation—a people who understand the connection between the movement of trade and ideas to the betterment of humanity. The authors of the Constitution charged the Congress “to provide and maintain a navy,” an order to provide permanent support and protection for key values such as free trade, free movement on the seas, and the defense of individual liberty. Across the span of our history, we have defended free trade, the rights of seamen, and have declared war more than once when those rights have been trampled upon.

It is no accident that the ascendency of the US Navy to global primacy following World War II marked the beginning of a seventy-year era which saw the greatest rise in global economic

output and the sharpest decline in illiteracy and extreme poverty in the recorded history of humanity. Because we spoke softly through our support of ideals, even as we first built and maintained our naval “big stick,” the world was interconnected in a manner never imagined.

Today, however, those connections have begun to fray and in no small part because in the thirty years following the Cold War our participation in counter-terrorism campaigns distracted the nation strategically, and we have allowed our naval force to shrink, its readiness to decline, and our supporting industrial infrastructure to rust, and these facts were noticed by those who oppose our values and look to exploit our vulnerabilities. As we decreased our battleforce from 592 ships in 1989 to 375 in 1997 and dropping below the 300-ship barrier in 2003, we also reduced our daily global maritime presence from 150 ships to just over 100 across the same period. Meanwhile, China and Russia rushed to fill the vacuum we created. Piracy, the enemy of free trade, has been on the rise and the two rising competitors, seeking to take advantage of our weakened state, have advanced broad, expansive territorial waters claims over the South China Sea, the East China Sea and the Arctic Ocean. Such claims, if allowed to stand, could create a “cascade failure” of the interconnected global trading system where today, in an 80-plus trillion-dollar global economy, 80% of trade by volume and 70% by value travels upon the sea and a vast majority of data in our information-driven economy travels under the sea via cables. The U.S. and its allies must understand that Mare Liberum, the free sea, is a fragile, all-or-nothing, concept that must be uniformly supported if it is to survive and continue to benefit all of mankind through the dramatic economic growth, prosperity, and improvement of the human condition it has enabled.

I suggest urgency, Mr. President, because the threat to our nation and its interests— on the seas— is proximate and real. Both the outgoing and incoming Indo-Pacific commanders have testified that China may move militarily in the Pacific within the next six years. Before we focus on a Battleforce 2045 plan, we need a Battleforce 2025 plan—and we need it now.

The looming naval crisis in the Pacific will be an all-hands-on deck effort and every available ship will be needed. We must quickly determine what manned and unmanned ships we can build and identify where within our shipbuilding industrial base they can be built—starting tomorrow. Additionally, we should identify which of the soon-to-be-decommissioned ships within our current fleet can be extended and furthermore, evaluate those ships that can be reactivated to provide critical capabilities and naval presence. This will require significant infrastructure investments in our current repair shipyards, and even the identification of additional repair capacity elsewhere within our industrial base.

Now is not the time to cut our defense spending—reality requires that we spend more to meet our defense needs. Today’s defense spending as a percentage of GDP does not approach the levels of the 1980s, when we built our fleet to nearly 600 ships—ultimately providing a credible, convincing deterrent to the Soviet Union. In May of 1982, President Reagan signed National Security Decision Directive 32 which succinctly laid out the National Security Strategy of the United States vis-a-vis the Soviet Union and ultimately contributing to its collapse. This directive formed the foundation of the 1984 Maritime Strategy, which is arguably the most successful naval strategy since World War II. A similar, clearly delineated and actionable plan is necessary today.

Today, our fleet of just less than 300 ships is stretched to its limits, yet the demand for naval presence to meet these global threats is as great or greater than in the 1980s. Naval presence is the foundation of our conventional deterrent and we must act rapidly to ensure that we can maintain our maritime supremacy—or else we will cede it to those who do not share our values and the freedoms we uphold. We must be present protecting critical sea-lanes, providing a credible deterrent, and persistently operating in their backyard; China and Russia must understand that if clearly delineated red lines are violated, we will act to defend our allies, interests, and ultimately our values—over theirs.

Samuel Huntington noted in his 1954 article National Policy and the Transoceanic Navy, “The fundamental element of a military service is its purpose or role in implementing national policy… If a military does not possess such a concept, it becomes purposeless, it wallows about amid a variety of conflicting and confusing goals…” I ask you to provide this guidance through a clear and unambiguous National Defense Strategy that is maritime in its focus, designed to protect our broad national interests, backed by the appropriate resources, and anchored by full support of our nation in order to protect the values and freedoms that define us. John Adams once described the Navy as “the shield of the Republic.” Mr. President, we must act now if it is to remain so.

[signed]

Elaine Luria

Austal USA Expanding to Make Steel Ships; Yard Looks to Bid on Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Cutter, Navy Light Amphib Programs

By: Megan Eckstein

March 29, 2021 12:32 PM

USNI.org

Austal USA rendering of steel facility at its Alabama shipyard. Austal USA Image

The Austal USA shipyard in Alabama that specializes in aluminum ship construction is officially on its way to also offering steel ships, breaking ground on a new facility on Friday meant to open up new business opportunities with the Navy and Coast Guard in the short term.

By April 2022, the yard will be transformed to have separate production lines and facilities for aluminum ships and steel ships – the former continuing to build Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport ships (EPFs), the company hopes, and the latter building the Offshore Patrol Cutter, the Light Amphibious Warship or eventually the Constellation-class frigate, Larry Ryder, the company’s new vice president of business development and external affairs, told USNI News on Friday.

“We’ve been a great builder of aluminum ships; we want to become the Navy’s premier builder of these mid-sized steel ships going forward,” Ryder said.

The company’s module manufacturing facility will be split in half, with a wall dividing the steel side and aluminum side to keep components and tools in their proper areas. The yard will also build a paint and blast facility and a panel line – but despite working with a new material, Ryder said the company’s manufacturing processes, employee training and other qualities will carry through to the new business line.

“We just want to continue to build ships for the Navy, and whatever the requirements are – if they want aluminum ships, they want steel ships – we’re going to be able to do both down here at the yard in Mobile. I think we’re making a pretty significant investment in the company and in expanding our capabilities going forward, and that’s our intent. We’ve continued to grow throughout our history, and this is just the latest step in that evolution of our capabilities,” Ryder said.

USNS Burlington (T-EPF-10)
roll-out on Feb. 28, 2018, at the Austal USA yard in Mobile, Ala. Austal photo

Austal USA received $50 million last year as part of the COVID-19 pandemic economic recovery measure, in an effort to stimulate the local economy with jobs at the yard and in the construction companies that will be building the new facilities. Austal USA matched that investment, for a total of $100 million going towards bringing another steel shipbuilding capability to the Gulf Coast. Ryder said some employees will be trained to work on steel ships, and some new personnel will be hired to bring new skillsets to the yard to support the new work.

“Our focus in the near term is on the Navy’s light amphibious warship program, LAW, and the Coast Gard’s offshore patrol cutter, OPC. We think both of those programs are really in the sweet spot of the size of ship that our yard is optimized for,” Ryder said of the kind of work they hope to tackle first.
“So we’re driving hard to have this project complete and to be competing for those two programs. And down the road, as you’re well aware, we weren’t successful in our bid for the frigate, but our plan is to be the Navy’s follow yard when they compete that program for the frigate design. So we’ll be ready to build the Fincantieri steel monohull frigate down here in the next few years when the Navy goes forward with that plan.”

Ryder said those three ships represent not just the size ship Austal USA is optimized for, but the complexity in terms of the modules that would be built.

“Whereas the DDG is a little too big for us, the frigate and the OPC and the LAW fall into the footprint of what we can handle down here and what we’re best at producing,” he said.

The OPC is being competed now. The LAW program has six companies working with Naval Sea Systems Command on initial design concepts, with the Navy and Marine Corps hoping to compete the program next year and buy the first vessel in late FY 2022, USNI News has previously reported.

Light Amphibious Warship concept.

For Austal, it would be important for the yard to win one of those programs to avoid any disruptions to the workforce. The yard currently builds EPFs and Littoral Combat Ships for the Navy –the Navy has ended LCS acquisition and moved on to the frigate in Fiscal Year 2020, but Austal still has four LCSs in various phases of construction and two final ships on contract before the production line ends.

On the EPF side, the yard was supposed to get funding for EPF-15 in the FY 2020 budget, but that ship was taken out of the budget. It was included in FY 2021, so “that’s helped stabilize us. We’re looking forward – the 30-year plan included six EPFs, two in FY ‘22, so we’re expecting to see that in the budget. So the award of those two EPFs would really help stabilize the workforce and production of the aluminum ships and serve as a bridge as we complete the steel capital investment and compete for those programs. So, we’re going to have a little bit of a valley here that we’re trying to stabilize, and then we’ll start growing with the award of some steel ships.”

“The timeline of being done next April – and the whole schedule’s built around that – is focused on the fact that the Coast Guard’s offshore patrol program is in competition now. We are bidding on that, and I think this investment we’re making is intended to show the Coast Guard that we’re serious. It’s over $100 million in investment being made to be a steel shipbuilder, premiere steel shipbuilder, so that’s the Coast Guard. And same with the Navy, that light amphibius warship program is moving along – it’ll come in behind timeline-wise, it’s a little after the OPC – so we’ll be ready.”

On the aluminum ship side, the company is eyeing several opportunities to leverage the EPF program going forward – including using it as the entry point to building medical-focused ships and autonomous ships.

The EPF program started out as a 10-ship program and has continued to grow as the fleet finds more and more uses for it – moving people and logistics around locally, in line with its original intra-theater lift mission, as well as serving as an LCS tender in U.S. 4th Fleet and a command ship in U.S. 7th Fleet.

Beginning with EPF-14, Austal is moving to a Flight II EPF design with an enhanced medical capability that includes a medical ward with resuscitative care capability and a limited Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capability. This design change is not meant to dictate what role the ship would play or take away from other missions – it wouldn’t have to just work as an ambulance ship; it would still have the same ability to be an LCS tender, for example – but it could be leveraged by fleet commanders if there were casualties after combat or a natural disaster.

An artist’s conception of Eastern Shipbuilding’s Offshore Patrol Cutter design.

Still, the focus on medical services and the Navy’s need for distributed medical capability around the globe has led Austal to pitch a new hospital ship design to the service. It would be a catamaran designed from the keel up to have all the capability of the aging USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) and USNS Comfort (T-AH-20), with somewhat less capacity – but it would be easier to operate and maintain and could sail much faster, Ryder said. As the Navy looks at a more distributed footprint across the globe in the future, with smaller groups of sailors and Marines scattered among islands or in small ship formations, Austal is hoping to continue its talks with the Navy about what this hospital ship design could bring to the force.

What’s certain to be included in the future fleet is unmanned surface vessels. Ryder said the EPF was built with significant hull, mechanical and electrical (HM&E) autonomy to allow for a smaller crew and would therefore be a good starting point for a Large USV design. He said it could accommodate any of the missions the Navy has kicked around for LUSV, including unmanned logistics delivery or even offensive strike if the design was modified to include vertical launching system cells.

Congress added funding in FY 2021 to turn an EPF already in the production line into an LUSV prototype for fleet testing. Ryder said Austal is working with the Navy now to accomplish that and get the vessel to the fleet for experimentation with a craft that would be much larger than the Sea Hunter Medium USV that the fleet has the most familiarity with.

Though Ryder said EPF makes for a great testbed for LUSV experimentation, “our focus is designing the ships from the keel up to be unmanned or optionally manned, however the Navy defines its requirements, and optimizing what we know best, which is the hull, the HM&E portion of that, the HM&E controls, and plugging that into the … the autonomy mission software, navigation software provided by others.”

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Fincantieri and Enel to Develop Electric-Powered Port Infrastructure

Italy's Port of Genoa (file photo)

BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE  03-24-2021 05:05:47 

Fincantieri and the Italian energy technology company Enel X will work together to build and deploy new technologies to support improving the environmental performance and operations to port infrastructure with electricity-powered solutions for ground logistics services. The move comes as the Italian shipbuilder seeks new growth business and opportunities to expand its infrastructure and non-shipbuilding revenues.

The collaboration between Enel X and Fincantieri will seek to accelerate the implementation of electricity-based solutions and decarbonization at ports. In its first stage of the effort will be dedicated to projects with a national scope and specifically targeting providing a shoreside power source known as cold ironing for docked ships. They will also focus on the management and optimization of energy exchanges in the new infrastructure, electricity storage, and production systems that use renewable sources and fuel cells.

“Ninety percent of Europe's ports are located in metropolitan areas, and public opinion in many cities has decried the pollution, noise, and vibrations caused by the engines of docked ships,” said Eliano Russo, Head of e-Industries at Enel X. “Development of cold ironing infrastructure will prevent this, as docked ships will have an electrical connection onshore. Today, digitalization, sustainability, and innovation allow us to offer smart, efficient technologies that will reboot Europe's port and maritime sectors."

It is estimated that CO2 emissions from the maritime sector amount to 940 million tons every year, or 2.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions the companies said. With pending EU regulations and the overall drive to reduce ports’ environmental impact, the companies believe a growing number of ports and docks in Italy, and subsequently in other European countries, will offer cold ironing. They believe that their collaboration will lead to the creation of a far-reaching European cold ironing network.

“Developing smart, integrated infrastructures and safeguarding the region would catapult the national port system to a new level characterized by sustainability principles,” says Laura Luigia Martini, CEO Business Advisor and Executive Vice President of Corporate Business Development for Fincantieri. “Through the agreements with Enel X, we will make our skillset available to a highly innovative program, laying the foundation for an authentically digital and green transition that will reverberate throughout Italy's maritime economy, and beyond.” 

The partnership will also ensure that initiatives rolled out in Italy can be replicated in other countries, such as Spain, Portugal, and Greece. 
 

Navy Looking to Accelerate Effort to Revitalize Public Shipyards Amid Lawmaker Concerns

By: Mallory Shelbourne

March 22, 2021 5:20 PM

USNI.org

The portside anchor of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) is lowered into a dry dock for maintenance. GHWB is currently in Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Va. US Navy Photo

The Navy is evaluating how it can speed up the timeline for its initiative to renovate aging public shipyards amid concern from lawmakers that the current 20-year timeframe is too long.

As the service continues to work its way out of a years-long maintenance backlog and the nuclear-powered fleet is set to grow in the coming years with new ships that will strain outdated yard infrastructure, lawmakers argue the Navy should fast-track the timeline for the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Plan.

While the service has previously said it must be able to renovate the yards, one of which is older than the Declaration of Independence, while still keeping submarine and aircraft carrier maintenance activities on schedule, the Navy is now assessing the potential for a 10-year and a 15-year timeframe for the $21 billion effort.

During a House Armed Services readiness subcommittee hearing on Friday, Naval Sea Systems Command chief Vice Adm. Bill Galinis told lawmakers he directed his team to assess the shorter timelines.

“We kind of notionally rolled out, I’ll say a 20-year plan. I asked them to go back and look at what it would take to do this capitalization in 10 years, in 15 years,” Galinis told the panel.

“And so we’re working through that right now,” he added.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have expressed concerns about the 20-year timeline for the SIOP, including HASC readiness subcommittee chairman Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.).

“I’m concerned that the Navy will not dedicate the necessary resources to prioritize this effort and that the 20-year time horizon is a very long and probably too long to support a very changing fleet,” Garamendi said in his opening statement at Friday’s hearing.

Hull Maintenance Technician Fireman Keriyate Lewis, from New Iberia, La., welds a metal brace aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) on Aug. 14. 2018. US Navy Photo

USNI News previously reported that the Navy and a top lawmaker on the HASC seapower and projection forces subcommittee – ranking member Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) – were at odds over the timeline for the SIOP. Wittman has for months argued 20 years is too long for the plan and recently suggested the service assess a 10-year timeline. Meanwhile, Galinis has voiced trepidations about the Navy’s ability to speed up the effort while also sustaining its maintenance obligations.

In addition to reevaluating the timeline for the SIOP, Galinis said the Navy is working on “a 15-year public sector maintenance plan” as part of the Naval Sustainment System – Shipyards effort, for which the Navy contracted Boston Consulting Group. Galinis said the service expects to complete the shipyard plan “within the next month or so” and then provide briefings to the Navy’s leadership.

The NSS-S effort is modeled after a similar NSS-Aviation initiative meant to recapitalize the service’s aircraft maintenance work. While the SIOP is focused on modernizing the infrastructure in the public shipyards, the NSS-S concentrates on honing best practices and processes for the work performed within the yards.

Galinis said the Navy is looking for ways to improve how it conducts availabilities in the shipyards, including how it handles unplanned work that emerges once maintenance has begun, and finding more effective ways to perform various tasks.

“We are taking a hard look at the work that we are doing inside the shipyards. And as I said, that productive capacity that we’re trying to build – when we’re doing work inside of a public shipyard that maybe we could outsource to industry – so not an entire availability, but as you know we do a lot of work on rotatable pools and repairable items … would that be more efficient to do that work outside in private industry? So maybe not at another private shipyard, but there’s a lot of good machine shops and smaller business that could probably use some of that work. So that’s also part of our strategy to increase that capacity,” Galinis said.

Galinis pointed to unplanned maintenance work as one factor that contributes to the maintenance delays and backlog.

“And just the way we kind of think about when you come up as you work through an availability and you come up with unplanned work, or you have an efficiency item, or something that may cause additional time in there – how do we work our way through that in a very expeditious and efficient manner? And frankly we’ve kind of lost, I’ll say, our edge in that area a little bit,” Galinis said.

Terrance Wells, from San Diego, ties straps for a containment project on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) on Oct. 26, 2020. US Navy Photo

Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), a former Navy nuclear-qualified surface warfare officer who is also the vice chairwoman of the HASC, agreed that the service should fast-track the SIOP timeline. Luria, who represents portions of Norfolk, Va., where one of the four public yards is located, argued the Navy must focus on maintenance work to grow the fleet’s capacity so it can counter threats like China.

“I think we can’t wait any longer to make the investments that we need to in our ship maintenance infrastructure,” Luria said. “Investing [in] both our public and our private yards has the effect of adding increased capacity to our fleet in the near term.”

“I think the ship maintenance resources are absolutely critical to getting our ships out deployed, providing that forward presence that we need to counter [the] Chinese in the Western Pacific,” she added. “And I really feel like we need to shift from that mantra that I feel like we have today where maintenance is driving operations, rather than maintenance is supporting and enabling operations.”

Both Luria and Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), the chairman of the HASC seapower and projection forces subcommittee, asked Galinis what he would need to speed up the SIOP effort. While Galinis said he does not need more authorities from Congress to execute the SIOP, he conceded he may need more resources down the road after his team looks at accelerating the timeline.

“One of the things to doing that is being able to integrate the recapitalization work along with the ship repair work that we need to do,” Galinis said of fast-tracking the timeline.

“And to your point on maintenance driving fleet operations, I agree with you on that. It’s an area [where] we certainly need to get better,” he continued. “Personally, I think it starts with our planning efforts as we build that work package for the ships and the carriers and the submarines going into our public yards.”

Meanwhile, Courtney pointed to a Congressional Budget Office report that concluded performing maintenance on the attack submarines in the private shipyards is not more expensive than doing so in the public yards.

Galinis said the buildup of the submarine force means the Navy will need to turn to the private yards for submarine maintenance in the years to come.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS) and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (IMF) personnel bring the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) into Drydock 6 at PSNS in Bremerton, Wash. PSNS and IMF personnel will work side by side with ship’s force teams to get the ship back in fighting condition and back to the Fleet. US Navy photo.

“The SIOP program is fundamental to what we’re doing to build a productive capacity that we need inside our public shipyards to do the nuclear maintenance” Galinis said. “Even with that being said, I believe given what we see as an increase in force structure – especially in the submarine force – toward the end of the ’20s and into the early ’30s, we are going to need capacity in the private sector to do submarine repair work.”

While the Navy has moved some of its repair work for the Los Angeles-class submarines to the private shipyards, Wittman has pointed to performing more work in the private yards as a way for the Navy to balance the maintenance work with the recapitalization effort.