Navy shipyards under fire - Lawmakers order investigation

Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) announced August 28 that the U.S. Government Accountability Office has agreed to his request to investigate conditions at the U.S. Navy's four shipyards.

Follow up:

The Navy is following in the footsteps of private shipyards, which have come under fire from key lawmakers like Rep. Gene Taylor (D-MS) - who chairs the House Armed Services subcommittee on seapower and expeditionary forces - for schedule and cost delays and accusations of shoddy workmanship.

Webb's declaration at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, VA, follows his July 13 request for the GAO investigation, signed by seven fellow senators. The Navy noted in May that its backlog of desires repairs at its four shipyards for sustainment, restoration and modernization projects had ballooned to $1.3 billion. Norfolk's share of the backlog was $312.6 million.

In a statement, Webb noted his desire to see the Navy make "a more concerted effort to fix the yard's aging facilities and its worn-out infrastructure."

Webb, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a former Navy Secretary, sounded the alarm about fleet sustainability this past spring, when he and nine of his colleagues pressed the Senate Appropriations Committee to fully fund an estimated $425 million shortfall for ship depot maintenance and repair in the Fiscal 2009 supplemental budget request.

Source Aerospace Daily & Defense Report – 8/31)