US Navy advances plan for new $30 billion aircraft carrier dry dock at Puget Sound

The U.S. Navy is moving forward with plans to build a new multi-mission dry dock at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, to address a critical lack of West Coast facilities capable of servicing large aircraft carriers. A Sources Sought notice was published for a multi-award construction contract worth up to $30 billion over five years plus three one-year options. The project, part of the Navy's Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program, is driven by the need to perform depot-level maintenance on the new Ford-class carriers, which cannot be fully accommodated by the only existing West Coast dry dock for Nimitz-class carriers (Dry Dock 6), which also fails seismic resiliency standards. The new dock will support Ford-class, Nimitz-class, and other surface and subsurface ships. The contract includes multiple task orders covering dredging, demolition of Dry Dock 3, construction of the new dock, and supporting infrastructure like substations and crane rails.