BAE Systems has received an $83.5 million contract from the U.S. Navy to modernise destroyers USS Carney and USS Winston S. Churchill.
The modernisation work will be performed sequentially at the company’s shipyard in Jacksonville. The contracts include options that, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value to $211.6 million.
According to the firm in a statement:
“The USS Carney will be first in the shipyard, arriving in September 2020. The 23-year-old ship just returned from a six-year operational period in Rota, Spain, and will undergo extensive repair and upgrade work that will take more than 400 days to complete. The shipyard will drydock the ship and perform maintenance of the underwater hull, renovation of crew habitability spaces and upgrades to shipboard systems. The modernization is scheduled to be completed in November 2021.
The Winston S. Churchill will undergo a 390-day maintenance period when the ship arrives in June 2021. The shipyard’s work aboard the 18-year-old ship will include drydocking, replacement of steel structures onboard and support of the electronic systems upgrades. The modernization of the Winston S. Churchill is scheduled to be completed in July 2022.”
“The modernisation work aboard the Carney and Winston S. Churchill are significant for our Jacksonville maritime team and important for the service lives and mission capability of these combatants,” said Tim Spratto, general manager of BAE Systems Jacksonville Ship Repair.
“The back-to-back sequencing of work is efficient and beneficial for our employees, our subcontractors and our Navy customer.”
Does the Winston Churchill still have brits serving on it? It was tradition to have them aboard wasn’t it.
I think that the navigator is always an exchange Brit, I’m not sure how many others are from the RN.
She also flies the White Ensign on special occasions along with the US flag.
ÚSN Winston Churchill and HMS Marlborough where the original exchange units for obvious reasons. Marlborough had a USN Navs onboard during my time onboard prior to us paying her off.
We did manage a trip to the States when Churchill was in port and I have very blurry memories of a rather excellent BBQ for the Marlborough WO and CPO mess hosted at the USN Winston Churchill’s Command Master Chiefs house in Norfolk. I doubt her swimming pool has ever recovered!
Let’s hope they have better fire safety procedures than the NASSCO shipyards do on the left coast.
Surprisingly , Fire Safety is now top of the charts for the USN. Where I work we have always been pretty good at following the requirements of the NAVSEA Standard Items for Contractor overhauls of USN Ships. However the USN has now become massively anal about everything to do with safety.
The Good ideas Club has now come to the fore and what ever the H&S reps think should be done has to happen…even when the H&S reps have no Military , Ship or Shipyard experience to measure anything against.
I presume that this is using the money saved on not buying more Zumwalt class destroyers/frigates/cruisers or whatever they are called now.