Last week, the Navy said interim seismic mitigation work was finished at the Trident Refit Delta Pier in Bangor, Wash., following similar work at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF),
In January, the Navy announced four dry docks were being closed due to concerns they could not withstand earthquakes following a seismic assessment as part of the decades-long Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP) refurbishment effort. Then, by February, the Navy had started mitigation efforts at one dry dock at PSNS & IMF and one at the Trident Refit Facility.
In March, senior Navy officials told congressional panels the interim work to address seismic concerns was due to be finished by June (Defense Daily, March 30)
In May the Navy announced it completed the interim work at Dry Dock 4 at PSNS & IMF and two more still had to be finished. Once Dry Dock 4 was finished and certified, the USS Pennsylvania (SSBN-735) docked for its extended refit period (Defense Daily, May 17).
Now on Aug. 18 the Navy announced it installed mitigations and recertified the Trident Refit Facility’s Delta Pier. This is the third dry dock with interim mitigation complete and recertified to perform work again, following PSNS & IMF’s Dry Dock 5 and Dry Dock 4.
The Trident Repair Facility’s dry dock is used for hull maintenance on ballistic missile submarines.
“For the past six months, thousands of personnel have dedicated themselves to ensuring all three dry docks were safely and efficiently brought back into operation, so we could continue our mission. I am incredibly grateful to the team of experts who helped us reach this objective and ensure the readiness and resilience of the Navy’s fleet,” Capt. JD Crinklaw, commander of PSNS & IMF, said in a statement.
The Navy said mitigation construction efforts included installing anchors inside the dry dock walls “to enhance structural integrity,” as well as improving early-warning employee notification systems in the dry docks and updating existing emergency response plans to better address the possibility of a catastrophic earthquake.
“The upgrades done at Delta Pier will provide the Navy with critical sustainment operations, for our submarines, in the years ahead. When I look at the amount of work done over the last few months, the precision of that work, and the speed and efficiency of the professionals involved, I am amazed at the capabilities of the Navy to conduct our national security mission,” Capt. Mike Eberlein, commanding officer of Trident Refit Facility-Bangor, added.
The upgrades were planned and incremented by a team of experts from private industry, Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Facilities Engineering System Command, Trident Refit Facility- Bangor and PSNS & IMF.
In March, the Navy awarded the Kiewit–Alberici joint venture a $71 million modification to install and construct risk mitigation measures at Dry Docks 4 and 5 at PSNS & IMF and the TRF dry dock, added on top of a previous $76 million task order for work at these three dry docks (Defense Daily, March 10).
The Navy said given planned future improvements to PSNS & IMF Dry Dock 6 and differences in ship design and size of aircraft carriers it decided immediate mitigations were not needed there.
Otherwise, the Navy previously said the need for mitigations for remaining docks at the PSNS & IMF will be determined once all the initial work was complete.