September 13, 2017 - 8:58 AM
PORTSMOUTH, Va. - The watchdog agency for Congress says the Navy's aging public shipyards are failing to fully meet the military's needs.
The Virginian-Pilot reported Tuesday that a Government Accountability Office report is sharply critical of the four facilities.
It found that a backlog of projects to maintain and restore ships will take 19 years to clear. The cost of the backlogged projects has grown 41 per cent to an estimated $4.86 billion.
All of the shipyards were built at least a century ago. And they were designed to deal with older vessels, reducing their efficiency.
The four facilities are Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine; Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Bremerton, Washington; Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Hawaii; and Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia.
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Information from: The Virginian-Pilot, http://pilotonline.com
News from © The Associated Press, 2017