Navy suspending use of 4 Kitsap submarine dry docks in light of seismic concerns

Peiyu Lin, Kitsap Sun
·2 min read
A photograph of the dry dock at Trident Refit Facility Bangor (TRFB). The dry dock is used to conduct hull maintenance on ballistic missile submarines and other work requiring a submarine to be out of the water. TRFB employs more than 2,000 civilian & military personnel in support of our nation’s strategic deterrent mission by repairing, incrementally overhauling, and modernizing ballistic missile submarines in the Pacific Fleet.

The Navy will temporarily suspend submarine dry docking in three dry docks at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and one dock at the Bangor base following a planned earthquake study that revealed new safety concerns, the Navy said on Friday.

The temporarily suspended dock operations include those in Dry Dock 4, 5, and 6 at PSNS and the dry dock at Delta pier at Trident Refit Facility Bangor.

"The recently conducted seismic assessment, executed as part of the Navy’s long-range Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP), identified potential issues associated with the remote possibility of a large-scale earthquake occurring simultaneously with a submarine maintenance availability," the Navy said in a statement.

With the new information, the Navy is taking additional measures to further ensure the safety of the shipyard workforce, sailors, the public, the environment and the subs, the Navy said.

PSNS Commander Capt. Jip Mosman said in an email to the teams of PSNS and TRF that there is no immediate risk to the people in the facilities, the local community, the environment or the submarines. Mosman said the Navy is making mitigation efforts at these locations and that the shipyard's workforce size and workload demands don't change because of the measures.

A Naval Sea Systems Command-led team is working to return the docks to service with the additional upgrades in place, the Navy said.

“We will begin implementing these mitigations immediately and safely return our dry docks to full capacity as soon as possible," said Vice Adm. Bill Galinis, commander of Naval Sea Systems Command.

The Navy is working to minimize delays to ship schedules and fleet impacts, according to the statement.

The measures don't impact the maintenance work of aircraft carriers, the Navy said. Currently, USS Theodore Roosevelt is moored at PSNS. The aircraft career exited the shipyard's Dry Dock 6 last August.

Read more:USS Theodore Roosevelt undocks from dry dock at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard

Reporter Peiyu Lin covers the military for the Kitsap Sun. She can be reached at pei-yu.lin@kitsapsun.com or on Twitter @peiyulintw.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Navy suspends use of 4 Kitsap dry docks after seismic study