(Hawaiian) Isles gain with Navy ship work

Isles gain with Navy ship work
By William Cole
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Dec 19, 2010

Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard is about to embark on a decade-long, $1.86 billion warship modernization program to extend the life of the fleet -- an undertaking that will double surface-ship workers here while the ships are in dry dock or pierside for work.

The work is part of a Navy-wide program to modernize its 22 Ticonderoga-class cruisers and 62 Arleigh-Burke destroyers at a cost of $16.6 billion, representing the most comprehensive effort in Navy history, officials said.

All three cruisers at Pearl Harbor, the Chosin, Lake Erie and Port Royal, will undergo improvements here, along with Pearl's six destroyers, the Chung-Hoon, Hopper, Paul Hamilton, Russell, O'Kane and Chafee.

First up for six months and $71 million worth of hull, mechanical and electrical system upgrades is the cruiser USS Chosin, which entered Dry Dock No. 4 on Dec. 9. The majority of the work is expected to start on Jan. 19, the Navy said.

The Chosin will return to the shipyard in 2014 for combat systems improvements. The tentative schedule calls for the destroyer Russell to go in for modernization in 2013, with the cruisers Lake Erie slated for 2015 and Port Royal for 2016, officials said.