US Navy Advances: New West Coast Dock for Aircraft Carriers in the Works!

The U.S. Navy is addressing the urgent need for West Coast dock facilities capable of servicing large naval vessels, including aircraft carriers, by initiating the construction of a new dock at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

A recent Sources Sought notice released by the Navy details plans for a significant contract, potentially worth up to $30 billion, aimed at creating a multi-mission dry dock.

This initiative is a part of the Navy’s Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program designed to overhaul and modernize its four primary shipyards located in Portsmouth, Virginia; Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Kittery, Maine; and the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility. The contract spans an initial five-year period with options to extend for three additional one-year periods.

According to the notice, the new Multi-Mission Dry Dock will be engineered to be fully pressure-relieved, accommodating not only the latest Ford-class and Nimitz-class aircraft carriers but also other major surface ships and submarines that require services at PSNS & IMF.

The development of this facility has been primarily motivated by the need to provide maintenance services for Ford-class carriers on the West Coast.

The Navy’s Multi-Mission Dry Dock webpage states that there is currently no capacity in the Pacific Northwest to perform depot-level maintenance on Gerald R. Ford-class carriers. Furthermore, the only dry dock on the West Coast that can currently accommodate a Nimitz-class carrier is Dry Dock 6, which fails to meet seismic resiliency standards and is not suitable for Ford-class carriers.

The multi-award construction contract (MACC) associated with this project will cover multiple task orders usually valued between $2 billion and $6 billion, with provisions for potentially smaller task orders to facilitate early contractor involvement and the exploration of alternative technical concepts.

The primary focus of the MACC will be on building the new Multi-Mission Dry Dock at PSNS & IMF, situated at Naval Base Kitsap (NBK) Bremerton, Washington. The comprehensive plan includes enhancements like dry dock drainage, dewatering, and flooding systems, along with the construction of a caisson, roadways and rail networks, portal crane track, and access and egress features. It also encompasses the installation of mechanical, electrical, and communications systems, the erection of support buildings, and the routing of utilities through tunnels. Additionally, the plan calls for the demolition of existing facilities and utilities.

The anticipated initial task order will involve dredging and improvements to piers, buildings, and utilities. The subsequent task order will focus on the demolition of Dry Dock 3 and the construction of the new multi-mission dry dock. Further task orders will develop necessary infrastructure such as electrical substations, utility tunnels, and crane rails. The fourth task order will address the construction of the dock caisson.

Puget Sound has a longstanding history with the Navy, dating back over a century.

The origins of the naval presence in the area trace back to 1891 when the Navy acquired 190 acres for $10,000 (equivalent to about $367,000 today) to establish Naval Station Puget Sound. It was transformed into a shipyard by 1900 and functioned as the sole Navy repair facility on the West Coast until 1941.

From 1917 to 1969, the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard was responsible for building a total of 85 ships, marking it as a significant site for naval construction on the West Coast, according to the Navy.