USNI News reported Thursday that the Newport News Shipyard has notified the Department of Justice that non-critical parts on in-service submarines and aircraft carriers may have intentional weld defects.
A statement to USNI News said the defective work was discovered by internal quality assurance systems and early indications indicate some of the welding errors were intentional.
“We recently discovered through an internal report that the quality of some of our welds did not meet our high quality standards.Following this discovery, we contacted our customers and regulators to investigate and address the issue. “We have identified the causes and taken immediate action to resolve these issues and take corrective action to prevent these issues from occurring again,” the statement said.
“Newport News Shipyards is committed to building the highest quality aircraft carriers and submarines for the U.S. Navy. We will not tolerate any behavior that undermines our values and mission of delivering vessels that protect our nation and our sailors. ” he continued.
Aerial photo of HII's Newport News Shipbuilding Division, October 2018. Newport News is one of only two shipyards in the United States capable of designing and building nuclear submarines, and is the design agency and hull planning yard for the Los Angeles class and Seawolf. Attack submarine class. (Photo by Ashley Cowan/HII)
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The Navy is currently investigating the allegations and is trying to determine the extent to which it was affected by the defective work.
The Navy is currently investigating the allegations and whether the ship was affected. (U.S. Navy photo by Journalist 2nd Class Christina M. Shaw)
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“The Navy is aware of this issue and a thorough assessment is underway to determine the scope. The safety of our sailors and vessels is of paramount importance. We are working closely with our industry partners to resolve this situation. We are currently addressing the issue and will provide additional information as it becomes available,'' the statement reads.
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Newport News Shipyard, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), is one of two nuclear-powered shipyards in the United States and currently builds parts for Ford-class aircraft carriers and Virginia-class attack submarines. We are working on this.
