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Navy: Widespread faults caused LPD 17 woes

Endemic government and contractor failures — including shoddy workmanship and bad quality control — caused the engineering problems aboard the fleet’s San Antonio-class amphibious ships, according to a new Navy report, and, in the case of San Antonio itself, the $7.5 million repairs it needs might prevent it from making a deployment in the near future.

“Inadequate government oversight during the construction process failed to prevent or identify as a problem the lack of cleanliness and quality assurance that resulted in contamination of closed systems,” said the Navy report, released Thursday. “Material challenges with this ship and other ships of the class continue to negatively impact fleet operations. Failures in the acquisition process, maintenance, training and execution of shipboard programs all share in the responsibility for these engineering casualties.”

Another example is that San Antonio was “designed to be manned and operated presuming that all automated control and monitoring systems were properly operating,” the report said. But with its technical systems “not functioning as designed, the ship was unable to effectively operate and maintain the engineering plant.”

The document is the product of a Navy investigation into what caused engine damage aboard the class-leading amphibious transport dock San Antonio, a warship that has struggled ever since taking shape at Northrop Grumman’s shipyard in Avondale, La.

In January, the Navy announced the latest round of problems — the lube oil systems aboard San Antonio and its siblings were contaminated and damaging their main engines, so Navy engineers needed to sideline them for inspections and repairs. Several of the ships were quickly remedied, but San Antonio and the fifth ship, New York, got the worst of it.

Although New York has at least been able to get underway using three of its four main diesel engines, San Antonio is laid up in a Norfolk, Va. dry dock until August or September. Engineers not only are repairing its lube oil systems, they’re attempting a first-of-its kind repair job on a bent crankshaft, cutting their way through the ship’s decks to get to its machinery spaces.

Adm. John Harvey, head of Fleet Forces Command, charged Rear Adm. Michelle Howard earlier this year with finding out how it all happened. A redacted version of her report, dated May 20, was released Thursday.

Margaret Mitchell-Jones, a spokeswoman for Northrop Grumman, issued a written statement:

“The report’s findings support many of the findings from the industry/Navy technical team investigation into the bearing damage on the LPD main propulsion diesel engines this spring, resulting in a corrective action plan with recommended actions which are already in process. Northrop Grumman has aggressively prosecuted the issues and we are focused on corrective actions and moving forward.”

Rear Adm. Dave Thomas, commander of Naval Surface Force Atlantic, told reporters it was too early to tell how San Antonio’s repairs would affect deployments for the rest of the fleet. He also said engineers were using the lessons of San Antonio to make repairs to the lube oil systems in the rest of the ships in the class.

Thomas deferred questions about the report’s recommendation for “a bottom up, top down review of [the Supervisor of Shipbuilding’s] Gulf Coast quality control process,” to Naval Sea Systems Command. A spokeswoman for NAVSEA had no response Thursday.