US Navy advances $30B aircraft carrier dry dock plan for West Coast

Concerned by the lack of docks on the West Coast capable of servicing large vessels such as aircraft carriers, the U.S. Navy is moving forward with plans to build a new dock at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

The Navy recently published a Sources Sought notice for a massive, multi-award contract — worth up to $30 billion — for the multi-mission dry dock.

Program Background

The dock is part of the Navy’s Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program, which aims to modernize the service’s four long-neglected shipyards:

• Portsmouth, Virginia
• Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
• Kittery, Maine
• Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility

The contract is for five years, plus three one-year options.

Capability and Need

According to the Sources Sought notice:

"The Multi-Mission Dry Dock is a fully pressure-relieved dry dock capable of accommodating shipyard repair services for the newest Ford-class aircraft carrier, Nimitz-class carriers, and other surface and subsurface ships served by PSNS & IMF."

The project was spurred by the need to service Ford-class carriers on the West Coast. The Navy’s Multi-Mission Dry Dock website states:

"The Navy does not currently have the capacity and capability to perform depot-level maintenance on a Gerald R. Ford-class carrier in the Pacific Northwest."

Even servicing older carriers is limited at Puget Sound:

"The only dry dock on the West Coast able to accommodate a current Nimitz-class aircraft carrier is Dry Dock 6 (DD6), which does not meet seismic resiliency standards and cannot fully accommodate Ford-class carriers."

Contract Structure

The multiple-award construction contract (MACC) includes several task orders, typically ranging between $2 billion and $6 billion each. Smaller task orders may be issued for early contractor involvement and alternative technical concepts.

The Sources Sought notice specifies the project location:

"The focus of this MACC will be the construction of a new proposed Multi-Mission Dry Dock at PSNS & IMF, located at Naval Base Kitsap (NBK) Bremerton, Washington."

Located within the existing Dry Dock 3 and Piers 6 and 7, the project includes:

• Dry dock drainage, dewatering, and flooding systems
• A caisson
• Roadways and rail networks
• Portal crane track
• Access and egress elements
• Mechanical, electrical, and communications systems
• Support buildings
• Utility routing tunnels
• Demolition of facilities and utilities

Task Order Breakdown

The Navy expects the following task order sequence:

1. Task Order 1: Dredging, plus work on piers, buildings, and utilities
2. Task Order 2: Demolition of Dry Dock 3 and construction of the multi-mission dry dock
3. Task Order 3: Infrastructure, including electrical substations, utility tunnels, and building crane rails
4. Task Order 4: The dock caisson

Historical Context

Puget Sound has been a fixture for the Navy for more than a century:

• 1891: The Navy bought 190 acres for $10,000 (about $367,000 today) to create Naval Station Puget Sound
• 1900: The station became a shipyard
• Until 1941: It was the Navy’s only West Coast repair facility

"Between 1917 and 1969, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard constructed a total of 85 ships, including the largest vessels on the West Coast." — U.S. Navy

About the Author

Michael Peck is a correspondent for Defense News and a columnist for the Center for European Policy Analysis. He holds an M.A. in political science from Rutgers University. Find him at theuncommondefense.com. Email: mikedefense1@gmail.com.

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