House of cards (Opinion)
USS West Virginia departs Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, following a refuelling and overhaul. (Photo: USN)
On 13 August, US Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command awarded a $1.7 billion contract to expand and reconfigure a dry-dock complex at one of the USN’s four public shipyards — the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine.
The work will allow Dry Dock 1 at Portsmouth to receive Virginia-class submarines, as it is currently only large enough to support Los Angeles-class boats. The work is part of the USN’s broader Shipyard Infrastructure Optimisation Program (SIOP), which aims to modernise crumbling infrastructure and cut the time it takes to maintain its ships and submarines.
USN leaders have publicly acknowledged the problem of maintenance capacity to address
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