The Navy awarded General Dynamics’ National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) [GD] $600 million in two contract modifications on June 28 to procure long-lead-time material to support construction of two new fleet oilers and an Expeditionary Sea Base (ESB) ship.
Under the first modification, NASSCO won $500 million for materials to support construction of the future John Lewis-class fleet oilers T-AO-211 and 212.
This work is expected to mostly occur in Iron Mountain, Mich. (27 percent); San Diego (22 percent); Beloit, Wis. (14 percent); and various other locations in the U.S. and is expected to be finished by June 2027.
The Navy obligated the full $500 million in fiscal year 2022 shipbuilding accounts at the time of award.
The other award is $100 million for materials to support building the next Expeditionary Sea Base ship, ESB-8. That work will largely occur in Pittsburgh, Pa. (31 percent); Beloit (25 percent); San Diego (17 percent); and various other U.S. locations and is expected to be finished by March 2026.
The funds under this award is split between $73 million from the FY ‘22 shipbuilding account and $27 million from the FY ‘22 shipbuilding account.
“NASSCO shipbuilders are honored to build T-AO 211, T-AO 212 and ESB 8. The NASSCO team is excited to work with our Navy partners to ensure the success of both historic programs which are critical in supporting the Navy’s forward presence,” Dave Carver, president of General Dynamics NASSCO, said in a statement.
The company noted construction is set to start in the third quarter of 2023 and continue through 2027.
NASSCO won the contract to design and build the first six new John Lewis-class fleet oilers (T-AO-205) in 2016. These ships transfer fuel to Navy carrier strike groups at sea. They can carry up to 157,000 barrels of oil, dry cargo, aviation capability and travel up to 20 knots.
GD said the first new oiler, the future USNS John Lewis (T-AO-205) is set to be delivered later in 2022 while the future Harvey Milk (T-AO-206), Earl Warren (T-AO-207), and the Robert F. Kennedy (T-AO-208), are currently under construction.
The John Lewis completed acceptance trials in April (Defense Daily, May 2).
According to the Navy’s FY ‘23 budget documents, the service is planning for T-AO-206 is to be delivered in October, T-AO-207 in August 2023, T-AO-208 2024, T-AO-099 and 210 in 2025, T-AO-211 and 212 in 2026 and T-AO-213 in 2027.
Separately, in 2011 NASSCO first won a contract to design and build the first two ships in the Mobile Landing Platform (MLP) program, USNS Montford Point (T-ESD-1) and USNS John Glenn, (T-ESD-2).
The program evolved into the current ESBs and added the USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB-3), USS Hershel “Woody” Williams (ESB-4) the USS Miguel Keith (ESB-5), future USS John L. Canley (ESB-6) and the future USS Robert E. Simanek (ESB-7). The ships are commanded by a Navy captain but have a mixture of naval military and civilian Military Sealift Command mariners to conduct a broader set of missions.
ESBs are designed to support several maritime missions with their flexible capabilities, including Air Mine Counter Measures (AMCM), Special Operations Forces (SOF) and limited crisis response. Their 52,000 square-foot flight deck can support CH/MH-53 helicopter, MH-60 Seahawk helicopter, CMV-22 Osprey tiltrotor, and H-1 helicopter aircraft operations.
The sixth ship, ESB-6, was christened earlier in June (Defense Daily, June 24) and construction on ESB-7 started in late 2021 (Defense Daily, Dec. 2, 2021).
The Navy’s FY ‘23 budget documents say the service expects ESB-6 to be delivered in September, ESB-7 to be delivered in early 2024 and ESB-8 in late 2025.