WW-JanFeb 2022 issue.qxp_Pages-12-40-JanFeb WPD 06/01/2022 12:17 Page 12
DOCKYARD
Mike Hood
RFA Fort Austin.
Refits, upgrades and conversions
Crown Copyright/MoD
BAE Systems retains in-service support contract for RN’s Batch 1 OPVs BAE Systems has retained the in-service support contract for the Royal Navy’s three Batch 1 OPVs - HMS Severn, HMS Tyne and HMS Mersey, until they are decommissioned in April 2028. The new contract, awarded by the MOD’s Naval Ships Support Team, is worth between £350 million and £400 million. Both Severn and Tyne were decommissioned in 2017 and 2018 respectively, but then returned to the fleet due to increased requirements for such vessels. The new contract calls for BAE Systems to plan for the execution of global repair and maintenance; engineering support; planned, preventative and corrective maintenance; operational defect rectification; obsolescence management, and post design services. BAE Systems has maintained the three OPVs for a number of years, working in co-operation with A&P Defence, within the A&P Falmouth shipyard in Cornwall, where drydockings are undertaken. Austal USA wins US$72.5m contract to support LCS vessels in Western Pacific Naval vessel builder Austal USA has secured a US$72.5 million contract from the US Navy to undertake maintenance on Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) deployed to the Western Pacific, Indian Ocean and the countries and ports in the region. In 2017 Austal established a service centre in Singapore, next door to the Singapore Navy’s Changi Naval Base, to support deployed LCS’s and Austal-built Expeditionary Fast Transports. The contract value could rise to $215.9 million if options for further periods contained in the contract are exercised by the USN.Work on the initial 24 months started in January 2022 and will be complete by December 2026, if all further options are exercised.
12 Warship World January/February 2022
Bechtel to compete to modernise US Navy repair yards The US Navy has selected Bechtel as one of five teams to bid for its SIOP (Shipyard Infrastructure Optimisation Programme) contract. Under the multi-year programme, Bechtel will pursue the construction of new drydocks and infrastructure at Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor and Washington State’s Puget Sound Shipyards. Both of these shipyards and their drydocks are over 100 years old. The new graving docks will be designed to maintain existing and future attack-class submarines and aircraft carriers. SIOP, which has a combined value of US$8 billion, and runs until 2029, is a joint effort between Naval Sea Systems (NAVSEA), Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NFEC) and Navy Installations Command (NIC) to upgrade four publicly owned naval shipyards to support the combat readiness of the USN.The new Pearl Harbor drydock will be over 198m long, while the new graving dock for Puget Sound will be around 365m in length. German Navy’s training vessel Gorch Fock returns to service after major refit The German Navy’s classic sail training vessel, the three-masted barque Gorch Fock, finally returned to service in November 2021 following her fraught refit at Elsfleth Werft in Emden. The refit, which initially was expected to take just a matter of weeks, ended up taking years with final costs being way over budget. Gorch Fock’s refit started in January 2016 and was to have taken just 17 weeks and cost Euro 10 million. However, undetected hull and structural damage to the 1958-built vessel saw costs rocket to over Euro 135 million and the work taking nearly six years to
complete. The vessel is back doing what she does best, training the Germany Navy’s new officer corps. She now features new masts, totally rebuilt mid and upper decks and a new teak deck. Around 80 percent of the vessel’s exterior has been replaced and the 1,499 GT vessel’s service life has now been extended well into the 2040s. Greece to upgrade Hellenic Navy’s four Hydra-class Meko 200 frigates In a move to improve anti-submarine warfare and expand area air defence capabilities, the Hellenic Navy is to upgrade the combat capabilities of its four Hydra-class Meko 200 frigates - HS Hydra, HS Spetsai, HS Psara and HS Salamis, all commissioned between 1992 and 1998. This move is part of a much wider capabilities increase which includes building and acquiring second-hand vessels to provide an interim frigate capability while the Hydra Class undergo their upgrades.Although the Hydra-class’ hulls are in good condition, the frigates would need upgrades to their diesel-generators and gas turbines for any new combat systems, such as Lockheed Martin’s AEGIS system. Russian Navy’s aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov to resume repairs The much-delayed repairs to the Russian Navy’s aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov have taken another turn. The vessel will enter an upgraded floating dock at the 35th Shipyard in Murmansk in June 2022 to finally complete her upgrade. The 35th Shipyard is an affiliate of the Zvyozdocha Shipyard and work on the aircraft carrier is now expected to be completed in the summer of 2023, with Admiral Kuznetsov being returned to service with the fleet by the end of 2023.
