Electric Boat Eager For Chance To Repair Damaged USS Hartford

Eric Gershon

Hartford Courant

3/31/09

Nuclear accidents always get noticed.

Sometimes they yield business.

In the case of the USS Hartford's March 20 collision with another Navy ship in the Persian Gulf, the opportunity might be for Electric Boat, which built the Los Angeles-class nuclear submarine in the early 1990s.

Although the Navy's shipyards get first dibs on repair work, the best-qualified government shipyards appear to be too busy to handle the extensive repairs the USS Hartford might need, improving the odds that a private shipyard will get the work, said U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District.

Electric Boat, which employs about 7,800 people in Connecticut, relies on repair work to keep workers occupied during the slower phases of new construction.

"Certainly we'd be interested in repair work, because it's such a valuable way of maintaining the defense industrial base," company spokesman Bob Hamilton said Monday. He said the company is talking with the Navy about the extent of the damage and where it could be fixed.

But EB's history with the USS Hartford, named after Connecticut's capital, hardly means the company is guaranteed the job. After running aground in the Mediterranean in 2004, for example, the Hartford was repaired in Norfolk, Va.

Space could also open up at military shipyards in Portsmouth, N.H., and Pearl Harbor.

In this case, the Navy hasn't even said for certain that the repairs would be made in the U.S. Questions remain about the submarine's ability to make the journey here from Bahrain, the Persian Gulf nation where its condition is being assessed and initial repairs are underway.

The Hartford, while submerged, collided with the USS New Orleans, an amphibious troop transporter, as the ships traveled in the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow, busy shipping lane between Iran and the Arabian peninsula.

Since that accident, the Navy has offered little detail about the extent of the damage or how much repairs are likely to cost. The tower, periscope and port bow plane all were damaged. The Navy emphasized that the sub's nuclear propulsion system was not damaged.

Still, photographs of the damage shocked Courtney, whose district includes Groton.

"It took a huge hit," he said, having reviewed photographs of the damaged Hartford. "Stuff must have been flying all over the place."

About 15 sailors were hurt in the accident, none seriously.

For now, EB's biggest advantage over rival shipyards appears to be space for doing the work.

"The timing of the dry dock availability is very fortuitous for Connecticut right now," Courtney said.