The House Committee on Armed Forces Affairs (HASC) is investigating cases of substandard welding during the construction of submarines and aircraft carriers at the Newport News Shipbuilding shipyard of Huntington Ingalls Indusries.
According to USNI News, lawmakers are investigating how shipbuilders at a Virginia shipyard violated proper welding procedures. The substandard work was discovered by quality assurance teams at Newport News Shipbuilding, which led to a broader investigation that required the U.S. Department of Justice to be notified.
Newport News Shipbuilding Shipyard, USA
Daily Press
"It is deeply disturbing that substandard welds could have been intentionally made during the production of submarines and aircraft carriers for the American Navy," Republican HASC Chairman Mike Rogers said in a statement. – The safety of our sailors is our main concern, and we need to assess any risks associated with poor–quality work. The Ministry of Defense must immediately provide our committee with answers."
The Navy and the shipbuilding company Huntington Ingalls Indusries are now finding out which ships and submarines have problems with welds. According to the military, the number of Virginia-class multipurpose nuclear submarines in operation that have been affected is "insignificant." The survey of the Virginia and Columbia class submarines under construction, as well as the Gerald Ford class aircraft carriers, may last for a month.
Earlier this year, quality control teams at the Newport News shipyard found non-compliant welds and reported violations of procedure to both the Navy and the U.S. Department of Justice.
"We recently discovered that the quality of some welds on submarines and aircraft carriers being built here does not meet our high quality standards," said Jennifer Boykin, head of Newport News Shipbuilding. "What worried us the most was that our specialists deliberately violated welding procedures."
According to her, a team of in-house and independent engineers and quality experts was immediately assembled to identify the root causes, limit the problem and take immediate corrective action.
In a comment to USNI News, representatives of Huntington Ingalls Indusries explained that although the shipyard workers violated welding rules, they had no "malicious intent" to damage submarines or aircraft carriers.
Neither the shipyard nor the Navy reported exactly when the first defects in the work were discovered.
Earlier, in the 2000s, the U.S. Navy conducted separate investigations of suspiciously executed welds at the Newport News Shipbuilding shipyard, which was then operated by Northrop Grumman. In 2007, the Navy discovered that the welders had used the wrong filler material. In 2009, the military had to re-check the welds on nine submarines and four aircraft carriers after a shipyard inspector admitted to falsifying reports.
Newport News Shipbuilding is considered the largest private shipyard in the United States. It is the only factory producing nuclear-powered aircraft carriers for the U.S. Navy. Also, the company, along with the Electric Boat of General Dynamics Corporation, participates in programs for the supply of nuclear submarines to the American fleet – both strategic and multi-purpose. The number of employees exceeds 23 thousand people.
