The Navy has awarded a $94-million contract to General Dynamics [GD] to begin advanced planning and procurement for repairing the USS Miami (SSN-755), the Los Angeles-class (SSN-688) attack submarine that caught fire earlier this year in a suspected case of arson.
“With this contract, the Navy and its shipbuilding and maintenance partners will be able to develop a repair plan that gets this warship back to the fleet where it belongs.” Vice Adm. Kevin J. McCoy, Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), said in a statement Friday.
The contract will allow General Dynamics Electric Boat teamed with Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] to provide design and planning, repair material ordering, and pre-fabrication efforts required to restore the Miami, NAVSEA said.
The Miami was allegedly set on fire May 23 at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in southern Maine, where it was undergoing scheduled maintenance and overhaul. A 24-year-old civilian worker at the shipyard was arrested in July and subsequently charged in connection to the blaze as well as a second one in the yard.
The Navy recently estimated the cost of repairing the ship, along with absorbing the shifting of maintenance schedules on other ships to accommodate the extra work in Miami, will be about $450 million.
The Navy expects the Miami to be completed by April 2015. The service has continued overhaul work on the sub in areas unaffected by the fire.