Members of Maine’s congressional delegation are continuing their push to fund construction of an additional destroyer they claim is owed to Bath Iron Works as part of a “ship-swap” agreement negotiated more than a decade ago.

A defense spending plan making its way through the U.S. Senate essentially authorizes a $400 million down payment on an additional DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. Although that money is not guaranteed to flow to BIW, members of Maine’s delegation have been arguing since last year that the Bath shipyard should receive another destroyer contract under the terms of a 2002 agreement among the Navy, BIW and its chief competitor, Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

U.S. Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, helped negotiate the inclusion of the $400 million within a $612 billion defense spending plan approved by the committee last week. The bill is expected to come up for a vote this year.

“The terms of the 2002 swap agreement are clear: The Navy owes BIW an additional DDG-51-class ship or equivalent workload,” King said in a statement to the Portland Press Herald. “And the $400 million set aside by the provision in this year’s defense bill lays the groundwork for Bath to build that ship if the Navy determines it is required to fulfill the swap agreement or to compete for another future ship that will protect and defend our national security interests.”

The question of whether BIW is owed an additional destroyer – a $1.5 billion vessel that takes several years to construct – offers insights into the complex, oftentimes political nature of federal defense contracting.

In 2002, the Defense Department announced a deal in which the Navy transferred construction of four amphibious warships known as LPDs, or landing platform dock ships, from Bath to Pascagoula and a related shipyard in Louisiana. In return, four DDG-51 destroyers scheduled for construction in Mississippi were awarded to BIW, which is owned by General Dynamics.

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At the time, defense officials hailed the ship-swap agreement as a “win-win-win” that would save money and provide steady work to the shipyards, each of which employs thousands of workers and has fierce local defenders in Congress.

Only three of the four LPD ships involved in the swap were built. But last year, a Mississippi representative secured $800 million for another amphibious ship to be built in Pascagoula. That triggered King and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to call on Navy officials to honor the terms of the 2002 agreement by awarding another destroyer to Bath.

Both BIW and Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi build DDG-51 destroyers, which are the workhorses of the Navy’s combat fleet. Also, BIW is in the midst of constructing three DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class stealth destroyers at the shipyard, which is one of Maine’s largest private employers with more than 5,700 workers.

But BIW officials are anticipating a slowdown in Navy contracts in the coming years, prompting them to aggressively pursue a Coast Guard offshore patrol cutter contract potentially worth $10 billion. Efforts to cut costs in order to compete for the Coast Guard and Navy contracts are raising tensions between shipyard management and BIW’s unions, however, as evidenced by a solidarity march staged by workers last week.

The Navy has yet to say whether it is bound by the 2002 agreement to award an additional destroyer to BIW. If the Navy deems the 2002 ship-swap agreement irrelevant, the $400 million in the Senate defense spending bill would go toward a future destroyer built in either Maine or Mississippi.

BIW officials are monitoring the discussions but have remained quiet – at least publicly – on the question of whether the shipyard is owed an additional ship.

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“Any funding for an additional DDG-51 is very helpful – not just for the U.S. Navy and the nation’s defense, but certainly for Bath Iron Works and the shipbuilding industrial base,” BIW spokesman Matt Wickenheiser said in a prepared statement. “We very much appreciate Sen. King’s efforts as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the continued leadership of Sens. King and Collins in supporting the DDG-51 program, Bath Iron Works and our workforce.”

Collins worked with King to secure the $400 million authorization for an additional destroyer and will continue to pursue the issue as a member of the committee that actually allocates money to projects.

“I look forward to building upon this work as a member of the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee when it meets to mark up the 2016 fiscal year Department of Defense Appropriations bill,” Collins said in a prepared statement. “The Navy must meet its obligations under the 2002 agreement, and an additional DDG-51 would satisfy that obligation.”

King, meanwhile, also pledged to continue working the issue.

“I will continue to press the Navy to meet its obligations under the 2002 (Memorandum of Understanding) and work to ensure that Bath and its highly skilled workforce are given every opportunity to build first-class ships that our nation needs in these challenging times,” King said.

 


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