Damaged ‘Fitz’ repairs will take longer

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Repairs to the damaged guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) will take more than a year to complete, but repairs to the USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) may take less time, according to Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer. SECNAV said it would be a high priority to fix both ships, which were involved in separate collisions with merchant ships this summer that killed 17 sailors. “Fitzgerald is going to be more than year,” he said. “We haven’t had the full assessment of McCain yet but I would hope that would be a much quicker fix,” SECNAV said. Both ships were assigned to the Navy’s forward deployed forces in Japan as part of Destroyer Squadron 15. (Source: USNI News 09/21/17) Gulf Coast Note: The guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald will be towed from Japan to the Huntington Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., for repairs.