A new Navy program office plans to revamp and fix four public shipyards to meet the fleet's future aircraft carrier and submarine depot maintenance and inactivation requirements.
The $21 billion naval shipyard modernization effort, led by the Naval Sea Systems Command Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Plan Program Office, includes dry dock repairs, restoring and optimizing shipyard facilities, and replacing outdated equipment, according to an April 4 NAVSEA release.
The overhaul will help ensure the shipyards can meet the service’s mission requirements through 2040, said NAVSEA Commander Vice Adm. Tom Moore.
"The Navy relies on NAVSEA to deliver combat-ready ships and submarines out of planned maintenance availabilities on time," he said. "Modernizing our four naval shipyards — a massive task under any circumstance — is critical because it's the only way we will be able to meet our future mission requirements."
The Navy's four public shipyards are located in Portsmouth, Virginia; Bremerton, Washington; and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. First built in the 19th and 20th centuries, they lack the configurations to maintain and modernize today’s and tomorrow’s nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines, NAVSEA said.