WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator Susan Collins, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today questioned Donald Winter, Secretary of the Navy, and Admiral Michael Mullen, Chief of Naval Operations, about the potential impact of the Navy’s fiscal year 08 budget request on Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery and Bath Iron Works (BIW).
Senator Collins reiterated her support for the Navy’s plan to transition from its current class of DDG-51 destroyers to the new and more cost-effective DDG-1000. In addition, she urged the Navy to work to ensure a stable workload at BIW and protect its skilled and talented employees during the transition.
“As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I will continue to work to ensure that there is no ‘gap’ between projects for BIW as the Navy transitions to a new generation of ships. We can not risk losing the skilled workers who have accumulated invaluable expertise and experience in constructing the very best naval surface combatants in the world,” said Senator Collins. “I was pleased to hear Admiral Mullen state during today’s hearing that shipbuilding and maintaining a robust industrial base are top priorities for the Navy.”
Senator Collins also urged Secretary Winter to consider further the specializations that individual shipyard workforces have developed over the years in performing work on certain types of ships. She reminded Secretary Winter that the impartial BRAC panel named the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard the “gold standard” for all of the nation’s public shipyards and that it would be in the best interest of the Navy and the nation to capitalize on the shipyard’s proficiency in maintenance and repair work on attack submarines.
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