Navy needs Army to greenlight project

By

The Associated Press

The guided-missile destroyer Zumwalt went underway on the Kennebec River for the first time to conduct sea trials on Dec. 7, 2015. (General Dynamics Bath Iron Works)

BATH, Maine — The Navy is hoping for a permit to dredge some of the Kennebec River to allow the passage of guided-missile destroyers built at Bath Iron Works.

The Times Record reports the decade-long permit would come from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.

It would allow dredging from Bath to Phippsburg. The dredging would begin during the coming winter and move 80,000 cubic yards of sand and sediment from the bottom of the river.

The dredging is meant to ensure military vessels made at Bath Iron Works can move from the river to the open ocean.

The Navy says it expects maintenance dredging would be needed every three years.