US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class USS Farragut (DDG 99) was underway as part of the Harry S. Truman carrier strike group when a cooling fan failure forced the US Navy to carry out underway repairs on the destroyer in Norway.
USS Farragut was scheduled to take part in an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) exercise in the Norwegian Sea but it is not clear whether the engineering casualty occurred before or after drill.
According to the US Naval Sea Systems Command, a gas turbine generator cooling fan failure required rigging services and a temporary access cut to the generator intake trunk with subsequent re-welding and inspections to replace the broken cooling fan.
With the ship docked at Naval Base Haakonsvern in Bergen, Forward Deployed Regional Maintenance Center (FDRMC) Naples, Italy carried out an initial market research on the capabilities of the ship repair contractors in Bergen and determined the region held several companies capable of performing the work. On closer review, however, none of the companies were able to demonstrate they were technically qualified to meet the Navy’s repair standards.
“Since the initial plan proved to be unfeasible, FDRMC’s voyage repair team worked to develop an alternate plan,” said FDRMC commanding officer, Capt. Gustavo Vergara, on the command’s first remote voyage repair tasking. “When they reached out to Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center (MARMC) for assistance, six days before the period of performance was to begin, MARMC responded with feedback and a commitment to begin planning immediately.”
The joint FDRMC-MARMC team put together a detailed travel and repair plan, which ensured the ship was able to meet its operational commitments, in spite of the setback from lack of qualified local contractors. Navy personnel met the ship in Norway and executed the repair plan according to schedule.
“Through coordination and cooperation on extremely short notice, a critical repair was executed on time, enabling the ship to continue execution of tasking in support of Operation Titanium Citadel,” said Vergara. “Since 6th Fleet is increasingly using Bergen as a convenient port of opportunity, a FDRMC quality assurance specialist was able to visit with potential ship repair companies while on site to educate them on standards to lay the groundwork for better support in the case of future repair requirements in the area.”
Farragut departed Haakonsvern Naval Base to return to regular operations on June 9.