DDG-51 delay considerations

The Navy is considering extending the delivery dates for the first two restart Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers (DDG-51) to Bath (Maine) Iron Works. The two restarts – Peralta and Hudner - were part of the Navy’s restart of the DDG-51 line announced in 2009 following cancellation of the Navy’s proposed next-generation cruiser (CG(X)) and the downsizing of the DDG-1000 line to three ships. Since DDG-51 work resumed in 2011, BIW has had issues related to managing costs for the restarts. According to the contract awards from 2011 to 2013, costs per-hull at BIW increased about $31 million to about $710.8 million. In comparison, rival Huntington Ingalls Industries shrunk its cost per hull about $31 million to about $666.2 million in 2013. (USNI News 11/09/15) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding Note: In deals between the Navy, BIW and HII’s Ingalls shipyard at Pascagoula, Miss., BIW was given the original task of restarting the DDG-51 production line.