BATH, Maine — The Department of Defense will honor a 2002 memorandum of understanding with Bath Iron Works and award the shipyard an additional destroyer, the trade publication Defense News reported late Friday.
The award follows a Department of Defense announcement Friday afternoon awarding Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, a $200 million contract to build an additional amphibious transport vessel for the Navy.
“Consistent with the ‘swap agreement,’ the Navy will award BIW a corresponding DDG-51 ship,” Capt. Thurraya Kent, spokeswoman for the Navy’s acquisition directorate, told Defense News. “This ship would be in addition to the currently contracted multiyear ships, subject to congressional authorization and appropriation.”
A 2002 memorandum of understanding among the Navy, BIW and Northrop Grumman, then the lead yard for the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship ( LPD-17), transferred four LPD-17s scheduled to be built at BIW to Northrop Grumman-owned Ingalls and Avondale shipyards in exchange for four DDG-51 destroyers contracted to Northrop Grumman.
The move was designed to save money and improve workload stability at the three yards, the Navy said at the time.
In 2011, Northrop Grumman spun off its shipbuilding business into Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. Huntington Ingalls is slated to build 11 LPD-17s.
The memorandum of understanding states that a fourth DDG-51 class ship “or equivalent workload” would be awarded to BIW preceding any award of a 12th amphibious transport vessel.
“The DDG-51s have been real workhorses for the Navy and building more of them at BIW is a smart investment,” U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree said in a news release issued Saturday. “Bath is building high-quality ships incredibly efficiently, and it makes sense to keep that highly skilled workforce fully employed. I’ve pushed for the Navy to honor this swap agreement and I’m glad they intend to do so.”
In May 2014, responding to a request from members of the Maine congressional delegation, the Department of Defense confirmed that the 2002 memorandum of understanding “remains in full force and effect and requires the Navy to award a DDG-51 class ship, or equivalent workload, to BIW if the Navy awards the [Marine Corps’ amphibious transport vessel] to [Huntington Ingalls Industries].”
The Bath destroyer project is conditioned upon authorization and funding from Congress.
The news late Friday afternoon came as BIW officials and members of its largest union continued to negotiate a new contract. Negotiations began in November, months before the current contract will expire, after BIW said early resolution of the contract was necessary to allow the company to competitively bid for a new class of U.S. Coast Guard cutters.
Tension between management and the union has at times boiled over during the last year over a variety of proposals by shipyard President Fred Harris.
Members of Local S6 of the Machinists Union are expected to gather Dec. 13 at the Augusta Civic Center to consider approving a proposed contract, S6 President Jay Wadleigh said Thursday.
BIW spokesman Matt Wickenheiser declined on Friday to comment on the report.