Maine-New Hampshire Congressional Delegation Members Fight to Keep USS Hartford Depot Modernization Period at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

MAINE-NEW HAMPSHIRE CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION MEMBERS FIGHT TO KEEP USS HARTFORD (SSN 768) DEPOT MODERNIZATION PERIOD AT PORTSMOUTH NAVAL SHIPYARD

Navy considering sending Hartford DMP to private sector

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senators Judd Gregg (R-NH), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Susan Collins (R-ME), and John Sununu (R-NH) and Representatives Tom Allen (D-ME), and Jeb Bradley (R-NH) sent a letter (10/1) to Admiral Vern Clark, Chief of Naval Operations, urging that the upcoming USS Hartford (SSN 768) Depot Modernization Period (DMP) be assigned to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Delegation members expressed their strong concerns to Clark in an October 1, 2004 letter, requesting that the Hartford DMP be conducted at Portsmouth rather than a private facility, as is being considered by the Navy.

"The expertise and organization of the work force at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard has enabled the facility to accomplish its work under budget and on time, year after year," commented the delegation members. "We expect that record to continue and see no reason to send the USS Hartford (SSN 768) DMP to the private sector when the capacity to perform this work at Portsmouth is readily available."

The text of the letter to Clark reads:

"It has come to our attention that the Navy is considering the award of two nuclear submarine Depot Modernization Periods (DMP) to the private sector. This action is a significant departure from the Navy's past practice of assigning submarine overhauls to naval shipyards, construction of new submarines to private nuclear capable shipyards, and smaller availabilities to both. The explanation for the departure from historical trends was that sufficient capacity was not available within the naval shipyard community to accomplish all submarine overhauls in the 2004 to 2006 timeframe. With the recent cancellation of two engineered refueling overhauls, it appears that sufficient capacity to perform all submarine overhaul work in naval shipyards is now available. As you know, the workload situation at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is a major concern of ours, and we are troubled about the impact this new policy of sending larger availabilities to the private sector will have on the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and the public shipyard community.

"We request that you strongly consider reassigning the USS HARTFORD SSN 768 DMP to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard where we firmly believe that this overhaul would be performed more rapidly and at a substantial cost savings. At the present time, several smaller submarine availabilities are assigned to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at the scheduled time for the SSN 768 DMP. Some of this work could be reassigned to the private sector in lieu of the overhaul.

"In addition to the cost and time savings that would likely be achieved by moving the DMP to Portsmouth, a historically strong performer, it would eliminate the need for hundreds of Portsmouth employees to travel from home for several months at a time over the course of a DMP performed at a private yard. Although Portsmouth Naval Shipyard employees accept travel to repair submarines and ships as a necessary aspect of their employment, it certainly appears that a win-win situation would be achieved by assigning the SSN 768 DMP to the naval shipyard with the most experience and success in this product line and the smaller depot availabilities to the private sector which currently performs much of this type of work.

"Thank you for your attention to this matter. We look forward to hearing from you and ask that you address our concerns before announcing any award to the private sector."