Navy picks arch-rival Ingalls over BIW to repair USS Fitzgerald

Courtesy / U.S. Navy USS Fitzgerald, a guided-missile destroyer severely damaged in a collision with a merchant ship off Japan on June 17, will be transported from its current dry dock location in Japan to the Huntington Ingalls Industries' shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., for its repairs.

Write a Comment

By Staff

The U.S. Navy chose to give the repair contract for the damaged USS Fitzgerald to Huntington Ingalls Industries’ shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., instead of Bath Iron Works, where the guided-missile destroyer was built and launched in 1994.

The Fitzgerald was severely damaged in a collision with a merchant ship off Japan on June 17 that claimed the lives of seven sailors. It will be transported by a heavy-lift carrier from its current location at a dry dock in Yokosuka, Japan, to Ingalls shipyard on the Gulf Coast for its repairs.

The U.S. Naval Institute News reported that the contract award for repairing the destroyer won’t be known until the full scope of required work has been determined.

USNI News reported the ship could leave Yokosuka as early as next month.

Naval Sea Systems Command Office of Corporate Communications in announcing the award acknowledged that the only shipyards considered capable of doing the work had been BIW and Ingalls.

“The Navy chose this course of action following a review of the capabilities and workload of new construction and repair shipyards,” USNI News reported. “Given the complexity of the work and the significant unknowns of the restoration, the Navy determined that only an Arleigh Burke-class shipbuilder could perform the effort. Only Huntington Ingalls Industries has the available capacity to restore USS Fitzgerald to full operational status in the shortest period of time with minimal disruption to ongoing repair and new construction work.”

“Ingalls and all of its employees regret the tragic circumstances that will bring the ship to Pascagoula,” said Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian Cuccias, “but it is an honor and a privilege to work with the Navy to return the ship to the fleet in the shortest time possible.”

USNI News reported that repairing the USS Fitzgerald could top $500 million, based on damage estimates and upgrades that would be included in an overhaul to modernize the vessel.