Shipbuilder BAE Systems received a new floating dry dock at its San Diego shipyard on December 8.
The 950-foot-long, 55,000-long-ton dry dock is part of the company’s $100 million investment in the yard to service the anticipated increase of U.S. Navy ships on the West Coast.
“We have made the strategic investment to meet the ship repair needs of the Navy,” said Joe Campbell , vice president and general manager of BAE Systems Ship Repair.
“With two large dry docks now in our shipyard, we’ll enhance the San Diego industrial base’s ability to repair warships in their homeport, providing the key maintenance and modernization work needed for the ships’ continued service to our nation and the stability for the ships’ crews.”
The new floating dry dock arrived at the company’s shipyard towed by the ocean-going and salvage tug Posh Terasea Eagle. Over the next two months, the BAE Systems team will complete final assembly, installation, testing, and certification of the dry dock, which will be operational in early 2017.
According to BAE Systems, the first ship to be serviced in the dry dock will be the San Diego-homeported amphibious transport dock ship USS New Orleans (LPD 18).