Posted on 06/06/2019 4:40:02 AM PDT by robowombat
USS Oscar Austin Fire Damage Repairs Will Stretch into 2022
By: Ben Werner June 4, 2019 4:49 PM • Updated: June 4, 2019 6:59 PM
171117-N-VC599-559 The guided-missile destroyer USS Oscar Austin (DDG-79) arrives at homeport Naval Station Norfolk. Navy photo.
The guided-missile destroyer damaged in a fire in a Norfolk maintenance yard last year won’t rejoin the fleet until at least 2022, USNI News has learned.
USS Oscar Austin (DDG-79) will undergo repairs caused by the fire at least into the first quarter of 2022, according to an unclassified Navy maintenance summary reviewed by USNI News. The summary included a request from the Navy’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center for more time to repair the ship that suffered extensive damage from an accidental fire.
The repairs are needed to fix damage caused by a devastating electrical fire aboard Oscar Austin on Nov. 10., “caused by BAE hot-work,” according to a Navy fire investigation. Around 30 sailors from the ship and the nearby USS Cole (DDG-67) were needed to extinguish the fire, according to a Norfolk Fire Marshal’s incident report, obtained by USNI News.
BAE and the Navy halted the maintenance period, and Oscar Austin now requires significant repair work to make the ship ready for sea duty.
A BAE spokesman referred all questions about Oscar Austin to Naval Sea System Command.
Naval Sea Systems Command did not acknowledge the timeline when contacted by USNI News on Tuesday. However, it did issue its most complete summary of the damage to date suffered to by the ship in a Tuesday statement.
“There was significant fire and smoke damage as well as water damage from the fire-fighting efforts. Thirty-two spaces sustained some manner of damage including several Aegis components,” NAVSEA spokeswoman Colleen O’Rourke told USNI News. “Once the original work from the availability is complete, the ship will transit to Naval Station Norfolk to complete remaining restoration of affected equipment and spaces. Due to the complexity, availability and fabrication or refurbishment of the waveguides and cabinets, the restoration and testing schedule remains under review.”
The destroyer was set to receive an Aegis Baseline 9 upgrade that would allow the ship to conduct ballistic missile defense missions as well as perform traditional air warfare missions simultaneously.
The computer infrastructure for the Baseline 9 upgrade had not been installed when the fire occurred, but existing computer equipment required for the upgrade was severely damaged by either the fire or fire control efforts, Navy and defense contractor officials previously told USNI News.
Following the fire, NAVSEA said it has worked with the shipyard to improve its fire safety.
“Since the incident, the Navy worked with BAE to establish additional prevention and safety measures. Enhanced training was implemented for all BAE employees associated with hot work and fire watch. Permit Authorizing Individual training was also increased as were the number of hot work permit audits,” O’Rourke said. “Administratively, BAE implemented measures to ensure site turnover is conducted between shifts, work boundaries are clearly delineated and the BAE supervisors have properly communicated work scope.”
Related Navy Still Assessing Damage on DDG Oscar Austin Two Months After Yard Fire Navy Still Assessing Damage on DDG Oscar Austin Two Months After Yard Fire January 29, 2019 In “Budget Industry” Raytheon Awarded $16.8 Million To Repair Electronics On Fire-Damaged USS Oscar Austin Raytheon Awarded $16.8 Million To Repair Electronics On Fire-Damaged USS Oscar Austin May 20, 2019 In “Budget Industry” Fitzgerald CO: Destroyer Repairs at Risk from Poor Shipyard Fire Safety Fitzgerald CO: Destroyer Repairs at Risk from Poor Shipyard Fire Safety May 31, 2019 In “Budget Industry” Like What You've Been Reading? Get Proceedings Today Article Keywords: Aegis Baseline 9, BAE Systems, NAVSEA, USS Oscar Austin (DDG-79) Categories: News & Analysis, Surface Forces, U.S. Navy, warship Ben Werner About Ben Werner Ben Werner is a staff writer for USNI News. He has worked as a freelance writer in Busan, South Korea, and as a staff writer covering education and publicly traded companies for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va., The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., Savannah Morning News in Savannah, Ga., and Baltimore Business Journal. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree from New York University.
These are great and capable vessels, a sterling class of ships, but...this makes me wonder about how they could conduct operations at all with any battle damage.
Doesn’t make me warm and fuzzy.
I wonder how extensive the fire was.
Says it was an “electrical fire”. I wonder if it followed wire pathways through inaccessible areas that will have to be rebuilt at great expense.
Something seems odd here.
Three years to repair.
Has anyone read Arthur C. Clark’s Foundation trilogy? Yup. It’s all clear right now.
Isaac Asimov wrote the Foundation trilogy. but your point is valid
Sure glad we had much better, effective, faster people repairing battle damage in WWII. Lexington made it all the way from Coral Sea to Pearl to Midway after extensive battle damage and fire in WWII. The repairs took days not months or years. The battle was May 4 and the action at Midway was just one month later on June 4.
Systems are more complex now but we must have incompetent wimps at the helm of this work. Any attempt at explanation for this kind of delay is just another excuse for failure.
I think you mean USS Yorktown CV-5. USS Lexington CV-2 was sunk May 8, 1942 during the Battle of the Coral Sea
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