Defense bill includes warships for BIW

WASHINGTON – Legislation that would keep Bath Iron Works in the business of building Arleigh Burke-class destroyers (DDG-51s) hit the Senate floor on Monday.

The measure includes support for three new destroyers in fiscal 2004 and another three in fiscal 2005, with the work shared by Bath and a shipyard in Mississippi. There is an estimated $3.2 billion allocated in 2004 for the warships, two of which will be built in Maine, according to information from the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The committee, which crafted the legislation with the help of Sen. Susan M. Collins, R-Maine, approved the shipbuilding proposal over the opposition of the Bush administration, which had recommended winding down the DDG-51 program and moving on to a new class of destroyers – called the DD(X).

Navy officials have told the Senate that while there was an existing study that affirmed the need to keep two shipyards open and building the DDG-51, times were changing and there was no assurance that the new defense roadmap would include that same support.

The Navy, armed with a 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review assessment, has said it believes it needs 12 carrier strike groups and 12 expeditionary strike groups, each armed with support vessels such as the DDG-51.

That assessment, the Armed Services Committee staff found, ran at odds with the administration shipbuilding recommendations, which would produce fewer DDG-51s.

In a report accompanying the bill on the floor, the Armed Services Committee staff said: “The committee remains concerned about the surface combatant industrial base, particularly during the transition from Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to the DD(X) in fiscal years 2006 through 2008.”

As a result, the legislation includes what is called “report language” that instructs the secretary of the Navy to compile a new industrial base study by March 1, 2004, that includes “projection of the workload for those shipyards engaged in the construction of surface combatants from fiscal year 2005 through fiscal year 2010; an assessment of the risk for the financial viability of those shipyards during the same period; and, a plan on how the Navy intends to sustain the unique technical and production skills within that industrial base.”

On the floor of the Senate on Monday, Collins said she worked closely with Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., the chairman of the Seapower subcommittee, and the panel’s ranking Democrat, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., to make sure Bath was taken care of.

Collins said the bill “represents a significant turning point” for the Navy because, unlike recent bills, it tried to take the first steps toward reinstating a fleet that could support the war-fighting goals outlined by the Pentagon.

“This legislation recognizes these challenges,” Collins said, pointing out the bill not only authorizes new ships that will be built at Bath Iron Works but includes a $21 million modernization program that will effect existing DDG-51s.

She said the goal is to “improve the effectiveness of these ships while reducing their manpower requirements. That in turn will result in lifetime savings for these ships.”

Separately, the legislation includes $240 million for the Navy to keep the USS Jacksonville, a nuclear submarine that had been scheduled for decommissioning, in service and refueled. If that provision sticks, the refueling will occur at the Kittery-Portsmouth shipyard, Collins said, pointing out that would be “good news for the Navy and good news for the workers at the shipyard.”