Navy awards $3.1 million contract for Fitzgerald heavy lift

Navy determined that extent of repairs needed to Fitzgerald Navy meant that only an Arleigh Burke-class shipbuilder could perform the work

AUGUST 28, 2017 — The U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command has awarded a $3.1 million firm, fixed-price contract for the heavy lift of USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62).

Patriot Shipping, based out of Houston, TX, has been awarded the contract to move Fitzgerald from Yokosuka, Japan, to Pascagoula, MS, where the ship will be repaired by Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding division.

The heavy lift will be completed by November 2017.

The USS Fitzgerald suffered damage on her starboard side above and below the waterline in its June 17 deadly collision with the Philippine-flagged merchant vessel ACX Crystal. Seven Navy sailors were killed in the incident. The collision damaged two berthing spaces, a radio room, a machinery space, and various lockers, passageways, and access trunks.

The Navy decided to heavy lift the ship to Ingalls following a review of the capabilities and workload of new construction and repair shipyards. 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.

The Navy said last we week that “only HII 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.”

In addition to the restoration effort, the Navy intends to incorporate previously planned modernization efforts into the availability that were to have taken place at SRF-JRMC Yokosuka in 2019.