BIW president quits without warning or why, after Navy names new supervisor

Courtesy / General Dynamics Bath Iron Works Dirk Lesko, shown here discussing the pandemic in a 2020 YouTube video, has resigned as president of BIW.

Write a Comment

By William Hall

Abruptly and without explanation — but less than two weeks after the start of a new Navy overseer — the president of shipbuilder Bath Iron Works, Dirk Lesko, has resigned.

BIW late Thursday provided a two-sentence statement on the exit of Lesko, age 55, who had helmed the company since November 2016 and began work there in 1990.

An executive vice president with parent company General Dynamics Corp., Robert E. Smith, "has assumed direct responsibility for Bath Iron Works pending appointment of a permanent replacement," said the employee memo shared with Mainebiz by BIW spokesman David Hench.

The shake-up follows a change of command by the Navy, which on March 25 installed Capt. David Hart as its supervisor of shipbuilding at BIW. Hart is part of a Naval Sea Systems Command branch that oversees design and construction of Navy ships at commercial yards in Bath, San Diego and Marinette, Wis.

Hart's previous posts include serving onsite at BIW from 2013 to 2017 as a Navy program managers representative, supervising construction of Zumwalt-class destroyers in Bath.

Lesko held multiple roles at BIW, including program manager for those warships.

In 2008, he signed BIW's $1.4 billion contract to build USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000), the first of the three guided-missile "stealth" ships in the class. The 610-foot vessel launched in 2016.

The Department of Defense originally planned 32 of the high-tech ships when they were planned almost 20 years ago. But over the years, budget constraints and changes in naval strategy reduced the number to three. BIW launched the second, USS Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001), in 2018, and sent the final member of the class, the future USS Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG 1002), to sea trials last year.

At roughly $4.2 billion apiece, the Zumwalt destroyers are more than twice the cost of the Navy’s slightly smaller Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, which have been the staple of BIW’s shipbuilding since the 1980s.

In 2018, Mainebiz cited reports that the Zumwalt program had been plagued by cost overruns and production delays that had driven its overall cost, including research and development, to $24 billion.

General Dynamics spokesman Jeff Davis on Friday declined to comment about Lesko's resignation, whether it was related to Hart's appointment, or if the transition reflects other changes within the company. The Naval Sea Systems Command did not respond immediately to questions from Mainebiz, and attempts to reach Lesko directly were not successful.

In 2020, Lesko steered BIW through a contentious, 62-day strike by its largest union, the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers Local S6. It represents about two-thirds of the company's 6,500 employees.

Bath Iron Works, founded in 1884, was acquired in 1995 by Reston, Va.-based General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), one of the largest defense contractors in the world. In 2021, the company reported $38.5 billion in revenue.