By Geoff Fein
The Navy competed repairs on the USS San Antonio (LPD-17) on Monday, after the ship was sidelined in Bahrain due to a main propulsion lube oil system leak.
The repairs took 25 days and have been attributed to weld joint failures, Patricia Dolan, a Navy spokeswoman, told Defense Daily yesterday.
The weld joint failures may be attributed to inadequate piping support, poor welding, material selection or insufficient quality assurance, Dolan said.
The repair cost $1.4 million, she added.
The lube oil leaks occurred in the forward and aft machinery space (Defense Daily, Nov. 20).
Technical representatives from Norfolk Naval Shipyard Mid Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center are still onboard San Antonio conducting vibration tests and propulsion control adjustments, Dolan said. Once those tests have been completed, the reps will depart, she added.
“Failed material analysis, vibration testing, and system flexibility analysis are still ongoing,” Dolan said. “This analysis and a detailed review of design requirements and quality assurance processes will assist the Navy in determining the cause and develop a design change if required.”
The Navy is also continuing its class-wide review of the main propulsion lube oil system, Dolan added.