The Defense Department relieved Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, commander of the Seventh Fleet, in the wake of two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers colliding with commercial vessels this summer.
The Navy announced in a brief statement that Aucoin was relieved by Adm. Scott Swift, commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, “due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command.”
Two DDGs in the Pacific theater collided with commercial vessels within three months this summer. First, the USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) collided with a merchant ship over three times its size in the late evening hours of June 16 in a busy shipping lane near Japan, causing severe damage and the death of seven crewmembers (Defense Daily, June 19).
Then earlier this week the USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) collided with a 30,000-ton vessel east of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore while sailing to port in Singapore, causing its own heavy damage and 10 sailors missing (Defense Daily, Aug. 21). As of publication time the Navy said several of the missing remains were found in the ship and the potential remains of another were found by the Royal Malaysian Navy who transferred them to the U.S. Navy.
Aucoin’s successor, Rear Adm. Phil Sawyer, was originally nominated in May to lead the Seventh Fleet and has since been confirmed for the position and promotion to vice admiral. The Navy said Sawyer will now assume command immediately.
Aucoin was originally planned to retire from the Navy in September.
The Navy earlier announced it relieved of duty the Fitzgerald’s top three commanders because of a loss of confidence in their ability to lead and contributed to the lack of watch stander preparedness and readiness leading up to the collision (Defense Daily, Aug. 22).
Separately, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) announced it intends to award a repair contract for the Fitzgerald to Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] Ingalls Shipbuilding division in Pascagoula, Miss., before the end of the fiscal year.
The DDG-51 class destroyers like the Fitzgerald are built by both HII and General Dynamics‘ [GD] Bath Iron Works.
The Navy said factors like start date, scope, cost, and time required to full restore the ship were not determined yet.
The service said it first reviewed the capabilities and workload of new construction and repair shipyards, leading it to decide only an Arleigh Burke-class shipbuilder could perform this restoration because of the complexity of the work and significant unknowns of the repair job.
“Only HII has the available capacity to restore USS Fitzgerald to full operational status in the shortest period of time with minimal disruption to ongoing repair and new construction work,” NAVSEA said in a statement.
“Ingalls and all of its employees regret the tragic circumstances that will bring the ship to Pascagoula. but it is an honor and a privilege to work with the Navy to return the ship to the fleet in the shortest time possible,” Brian Cuccias, Ingalls Shipbuilding president, said in a statement.
Compartments of DDG-62 affected by the collision include two aft berthing spaces, a radio room, a machinery space, various lockers, passageways, and access trunks.
Beyond pure repair and restoration work, the Navy intends this effort to incorporate previously planned modernization efforts that were set to occur at Naval Ship Repair Facility and Japan Regional Maintenance Center (SRF-JRMC) Yokosuka in 2019.
HII highlighted it has a history of repairing naval ships including the USS Cole (DDG-67) and the USS Stark (FFG-31). The Cole appears to be the closest analogue to the Fitzgerald’s situation. In Oct. 2000 it was bombed by suicide bombers in a small boat while anchored in Aden, Yemen.
The Cole took 14 months of repairs and upgrades before being returned to active duty in April 2002. That repair job cost about $250 million in 2002, which when accounting for inflation is nearly $400 million in 2017 dollars.
Upon returning to the fleet, Northrop Grumman [NOC] said during peak production times up to 700 employees were assigned aboard the Cole. At the time, HII was Northrop Grumman Ship Systems (NGSS) and was spun off as an independent corporation in 2011.
Neither the Navy now HII would disclose estimates on how much the Fitzgerald repairs might cost or how long they may take.
The Navy also said it is evaluating proposals to award a contract for the heavy lift transport of the Fitzgerald from its base in Yokosuka, Japan to the continental U.S.
Earlier this month the Navy issued a solicitation for a Float On/Float Off vessels capable of transporting an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer from Yokosuka, Japan to the U.S. Gulf or East Coast. The laydays for the voyage last from Sept. 15 to Oct. 31, the solicitation said.
This appears similar to how in 2000 the Navy contracted with the Norwegian heavy transport MV Blue Marlin to carry the Cole from the Gulf of Aden back to the U.S.
In response to these issues, the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) announced a Sept. 7 joint subcommittee hearing with the subcommittees on seapower and projection forces & readiness on Navy readiness and underlying problems associated with the Fitzgerald and John S. McCain collisions.
The will speak with witnesses Vice Adm. Thomas Rowden, commander of Naval Surface Forces, and John Pendleton, director of defense force structure and readiness issues at the Government Accountability Office (GAO).