Widespread problems found on LPDs, other ships - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Widespread problems found on LPDs, other ships

Navy engineers are tackling a raft of problems discovered aboard warships built at the Gulf Coast yards of defense giant Northrop Grumman — including faulty welds, lube-oil problems and a defective engine — in the latest installment of the ongoing saga between the Navy and its largest shipbuilder.

Inspectors are rechecking every pipe weld aboard every ship built in the last several years at Avondale, La., or Pascagoula, Miss., including destroyers and small- and big-deck amphibs, after discovering so many problems that all pipe welders and Navy inspectors at both yards had to be decertified and then recertified to work on ships.

Navy officials didn’t have information Thursday morning about how many people had to requalify to work in the yards, or how many people couldn’t requalify and were dismissed. The disbarring and reapplication took place last summer, when some of the problems were first discovered.

Navy Times asked NavSea for comment from its senior leadership, but none had arrived as of early Thursday afternoon. A major question was how or why NavSea’s inspectors approved work that subsequent Navy inspections later found inadequate.

In most cases, the issues announced Thursday aren’t urgent. The unsatisfactory pipe welds mean a seam doesn’t meet the Navy’s specifications to resist shock and last for the ship’s full life. But in other cases, the problems could have immediate operational implications for the fleet. Inspectors are looking at the entire San Antonio class of amphibious transport docks to determine what has caused systemic lube-oil problems in multiple ships, as well as damage to engine bearings that recently sidelined the newest ship, New York.

The third gator in the class, Mesa Verde, is at sea now with the Nassau Amphibious Ready Group, but the Navy said Mesa Verde has had all the latest inspections and repairs, and was ready to take its humanitarian mission to Haiti and then continue on its deployment to the Middle East.

In addition to class-wide problems with worn bearings, New York also has specific troubles with one of its main engines, which has a bowed crankshaft that will need to be replaced in a procedure Naval Sea Systems Command has never attempted before, said Jay Stefany, program manager for the LPD 17 class.

The fleets, NavSea, Northorp Grumman and its subcontractors are all dealing with the various engineering problems, Stefany said. In the case of New York, which is still under warranty, Northrop will pay for the assessments and repairs. As for the rest of the ships, Navy officials aren’t sure yet which agencies will be responsible for which steps in assessing and resolving problems, how much it will cost or how long it will take.

“That’s part of the investigation that’s ongoing with this,” Stefany said.

Northrop Grumman spokeswoman Margaret Mitchell-Jones issued this statement: “Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding is committed to building quality ships for our customers, and we’ll be actively participating in a LPD review panel the Navy is developing to examine the design, construction, operations and maintenance segments of the LPD 17 program. The team will focus on identifying and understanding the root causes and implementing the appropriate corrective actions. In the meantime, we’re proactively working in partnership with the Navy in all aspects of their analysis and efforts with regard to these ships.”

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For more on the story, pick up the Feb. 1 edition of Navy Times, on newsstands next Monday.