The article states that Northrop Grumman is the shipbuilder. That is true. However, NG bought Avondale shipyard (near New Orleans) after Katrina. NG, until recently, owned Newport News Shipbuilding here in VA where they build the aircraft carriers and subs. The Navy doesn’t get lemons from NN. Maybe it’s something to do with NOLA?
NOLA
The construction contract was awarded on 17 December 1996 to Northrop Grumman Ship Systems of New Orleans, Louisiana and the keel was laid down on 9 December 2000. The ship was launched on 12 July 2003 and christened on 19 July by Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. She was originally scheduled to be commissioned 17 July 2002, but was delayed by poor performance at the Avondale shipyard, which resulted in her being towed from New Orleans to the Northrop Grumman shipyard at Pascagoula, Mississippi, in December 2004 for completion. The ship was unable to move under her own power at that time, despite have been christened more than a year earlier.
The crew took delivery and moved aboard three days before Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005. Work was delayed further when the ship became a base for regional relief efforts, including accommodations for some shipyard workers, the National Guard, Navy diving and salvage personnel and government officials. The ship’s final cost was $840 million over budget.[3]
I was on two boats built in NNS&DD. I got offered a slot on the USS Seawolf, but turned it down. Two things I learned in my time:
1. Some ships are just lemons (and NNS&DD built better boats than EB). A boat I will not name, built in EB at the same my first ship was under construction in Virginia, has spent most of the last 20 years giving tours and visiting friendly ports because it is too loud to do any actual submarine work.
2. Never ever go to the first of a class. Some buddies that went to the Seawolf were miserable. They lived in crappy housing, spent half their time in dress uniforms doing dog and pony shows and went way, way behind schedule.