A guided missile destroyer built at Bath Iron Works and damaged in a collision with a commercial ship near Singapore this summer will be repaired at a shipyard in Japan, according to a statement issued Wednesday by the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
The USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) suffered severe portside hull damage and interior flooding on Aug. 21 when the destroyer collided with a merchant tanker east of Singapore in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, killing 10 crew members. It was the second collision this year involving Navy warships built at BIW – the USS Fitzgerald, another Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, collided with a container ship off the coast of Japan in June.
The Navy announced that the McCain will be repaired at the U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility-Japanese Regional Maintenance Center in Yokosuka, Japan.
“Damage assessments conducted while the ship was moored in Singapore since the Aug. 21 collision revealed the scope of work could be completed in Japan at the lowest estimated cost and returns the ship to full service at the earliest opportunity,” the Navy statement reads. “Repairing the ship in Yokosuka also provides stability and continuity to crew members and their families.”
In addition to supporting repairs, the destroyer’s crew will focus on training and preparing the ship for operations in the the Seventh Fleet. The McCain’s home port is the Yokosuka Naval Base in Yokosuka.
The Navy said the cause of the McCain’s collision with the merchant vessel Alnic MC remains under investigation. The U.S. Naval Institute reported Wednesday that documents it obtained show that repairs will take about one year and will cost an estimated $223 million.
In August, the Navy awarded the contract to repair the USS Fitzgerald to BIW’s chief competitor, Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard in Mississippi.
The USS McCain was built at BIW and commissioned in July 1994. The warship was named after Admirals John S. McCain Sr. and John S. McCain Jr. – the grandfather and father of U.S. Sen. John McCain III.
Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:
dhoey@pressherald.com
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