Home Care In Pearl Harbor, HI

From NAVSEA Office of Corporate Communications and AUKUS Integration and Acquisition Program Office Public Affairs

WASHINGTON - Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command Vice Adm. Bill Galinis named Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PHNSY & IMF) as the Naval Supervising Authority (NSA) and Lead Maintenance Activity (LMA) for Submarine Rotational Force West (SRF-W) July 26.

As the NSA/LMA, PHNSY & IMF will support the establishment of SRF-W, which is the first phase of the AUKUS Pillar One effort that is delivering conventionally armed nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) to Australia. SRF-W will host up to four Virginia-class and one United Kingdom Astute-class attack submarines (SSNs) at HMAS Stirling on a rotational basis in Western Australia starting in 2027.

Initially announced in September 2021, the AUKUS trilateral agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States is a strategic endeavor aimed at strengthening the security and defense capabilities of the three nations that also promotes stability and security in the Indo-Pacific region. Australia will acquire SSNs under Pillar One of AUKUS via a plan known as the “Optimal Pathway” announced by the heads of the three partner nations on March 13, 2023.

With the extended rotations lasting between three and five years, Virginia-class SSNs will require voyage repair and Intermediate-Level (I-Level) maintenance that generally lasts several weeks and does not require dry docking. As the NSA/LMA, PHNSY & IMF will support training Australian military and civilian personnel to execute the required work.

“There is no doubt that Pearl Harbor is the right shipyard to serve as the NSA/LMA for SRF-W,” said Galinis. “Having completed numerous maintenance availabilities, they know the Virginia-class. When you add in the exceptional skill of the Pearl Harbor workforce, it is the right decision.”

“It is an honor and a formidable responsibility to have PHNSY & IMF chosen to serve as the NSA/LMA for SRF-W,” said the shipyard’s commanding officer Capt. Richard A. Jones. “Significant effort will be required, but we understand our efforts will sharpen the tip of the Royal Australian Navy’s spear and set their submarine force on the path to sovereign readiness to operate and maintain their own conventionally armed nuclear-powered attack submarines. PHNSY & IMF’s mission is to keep the fleet fit to fight and we look forward to sharing our knowledge and dedication to a culture of excellence that returns submarines safely to the fleet on time, every time.”

In the near future, Australian and United Kingdom personnel will travel to PHNSY & IMF to refine their understanding of the requirements associated with maintaining SSNs.

“Soon, Australian and UK nationals will be at our naval shipyard, embedded within our maintenance organization, learning skills that are unique to only six countries in the world,” said Rear Adm. Scott Brown, Naval Sea Systems Command’s Deputy Commander, Industrial Operations. “PHNSY & IMF will be charged with leading a trilateral effort to develop the capability to repair and maintain SSNs in Australia. We are committed to ensuring that Australia has all the local knowledge, training, and skills needed to maintain SSNs in accordance with our standards.”

To ensure PHNSY & IMF can meet its future obligations, additional personnel will be hired to support the AUKUS effort. “We recognize we can’t absorb this added workload with our current workforce,” said Jones. “Working with NAVSEA, we will be looking to add people across numerous shops throughout the shipyard to support this effort so we don’t overburden our systems or impact any planned maintenance availabilities.”

“The AUKUS Integration and Acquisition Office is extremely happy to have PHNSY & IMF designated as the NSA/LMA for SRF-W and we are honored to have them as part of the AUKUS `Ohana,’” said Captain Lincoln Reifsteck, the AUKUS Integration and Acquisition Program Manager. “The men and women of the Navy’s N? Ka ‘Oi (of the best) shipyard in the heart of the Pacific are critical to our overall success and I am looking forward to building a strong working relationship with them and our Australian shipmates.”

The AUKUS partnership is a strategic endeavor that strengthens the three nations’ national security and promotes peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. Australia will acquire conventionally armed SSNs for the Royal Australian Navy under AUKUS Pillar One via the Optimal Pathway announced by the heads of the three partner nations on March 13, 2023. The AUKUS Integration and Acquisition (I&A) Program Office is responsible for executing the trilateral partnership to deliver conventionally armed, nuclear-powered attack submarines to the Royal Australian Navy at the earliest possible date while setting the highest nuclear stewardship standards.

To read more about AUKUS click here.

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - It’s a major milestone in the saga of the Red Hill fuel leaks: The last oil tanker, Yosemite Trader, left Pearl Harbor on Thursday morning carrying fuel from the underground Red Hill facility.

The Yosemite Trader left the pier at Pearl Harbor holding five million gallons of fuel that had been drained by gravity from the underground Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility.

As it glided out of Pearl Harbor, the ship passed two bookends of World War II history — the USS Arizona Memorial and the USS Battleship Missouri Memorial.

Vice Admiral John Wade, commander of Joint Task Force-Red Hill says most of the fuel — more that 104 million gallons — was removed by gravity.

The order came from the U.S. Defense Secretary to drain the massive tanks and shut down the facility.

In 2021, fuel that leaked from the facility tainted the Pearl Harbor drinking water system and poisoned thousands of military and civilian families. “I think it signifies an important moment that we were able to remove the majority of the threat that laid above the aquifer,” said Wade. “It’s an emotional time,” he added.

From January to March, the task force plans to remove residual fuel and then transfer responsibility to a Navy Closure Task Force.

“Every last drop, residual fuel and sludge will be removed from the Red Hill facility,” said Wade.

But other issues remains.

The Navy must figure out how to remove 4,000 gallons of residual fuel by cutting into the pipes.

It also must remove 900 gallons of toxic firefighting foam that previously spilled.

The Board of Water Supply is also demanding $1.2 billion from the Navy and there’s a Red Hill grand jury, a flood of lawsuits, and community members continue to question the safety of the Navy’s drinking water.

“Testing of the water is beyond the purview of my mission. I can tell you the Navy has absolutely committed to close the facility down, to restore the aquifer and to ensure the environment is clear and safe,” said Wade.

It’ll take 10 to 25 days for the ship to get to the Philippines.

Copyright 2023 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.

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PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) — The military next week plans to begin draining fuel from World War II-era underground fuel tanks in Hawaii, nearly two years after the massive facility sickened 6,000 people when it leaked jet fuel into a Pearl Harbor drinking water well.

Removing the fuel is a key step toward shutting down the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility as demanded by the state of Hawaii. The November 2021 spill poisoned the Navy’s water system serving 93,000 people in and around Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. The leak continues to threaten an aquifer used by Honolulu’s municipal water utility to serve 400,000 people on Oahu.

“I want the community to know that my team and I understand the enormity and the significance of this mission,” Vice Admiral John Wade, the commander of Joint Task Force-Red Hill, said at a news conference.

Work to drain the 104 million gallons (394 million liters) remaining in the tanks was scheduled to begin on Monday.

Each tank is 250 feet (76 meters) tall and 100 feet (30 meters) wide. Gravity will feed fuel into fuel lines connected to the lower part of the tanks. The fuel will then flow downhill through pipelines for 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) to a tanker ship waiting at Pearl Harbor pier. It will take more than two days to fill each tanker.

Wade said it would take three months to remove 99.9% of the fuel. Then, work will begin to remove a residual amount of an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 gallons that will have accumulated in low-point drains and bends. That work is expected to be finished in the spring.

The moment is bittersweet for Lacey Quintero, whose Navy family was among the thousands who suffered health problems after drinking contaminated water in 2021. She’s happy the fuel is being removed but the operation has stirred memories as the two-year anniversary of the spill approaches.

“The timing of it, coupled with the dangers that are present during defueling — there’s fear,” she said.

She’s concerned that more fuel could spill into the Navy’s drinking water well and poison the aquifer. She’s also worried about possible explosions.

Quintero and her husband, who is in the Navy, and their two children moved to Hawaii in November 2021 from California. They fell sick soon after moving. Her youngest, who was then 3 years old, vomited uncontrollably. The entire family complained of diarrhea and itchy skin. Quintero’s arms and legs went numb and she struggled with chronic fatigue.

Her husband is still stationed in Hawaii but they have moved to private housing off base which uses Honolulu municipal water. Yet she still suffers from stomach pains, migraines and skin issues. She has PTSD.

“I have flashbacks of feeding my daughter this poison soup and watching her vomit it up,” she said.

Quintero is one of 6,750 claimants seeking compensation from the U.S. government for what they experienced. Their attorney, Kristina Baehr, said claims for the first group of six plaintiffs were due to go trial in March.

The state of Hawaii ordered the military to drain the tanks after the 2021 spill, saying they posed an imminent threat to the aquifer underneath. The Department of Defense challenged that order in court, but eventually acquiesced. It’s spent the past year repairing the tanks and pipes so the fuel can be safely removed without additional leaks.

For years the military said the tanks were vital to national security and resisted calls to close the facility or to move it. Military officials repeatedly reassured the public that Oahu’s water was safe — even though the tanks had a history of leaks.

The spill upset a broad cross-spectrum of Hawaii, and precipitated a crisis for the military in the islands. Many Native Hawaiians have been angered given the centrality of water in Hawaii’s Indigenous traditions.

A Navy investigation pinned the cause of the spill on a series of mistakes.

First, operator error caused a pipe to rupture on May 6, 2021, when fuel was being transferred between tanks. This caused 21,000 gallons (80,000 liters) of fuel to spill. Most of it flowed into a fire suppression line and sat there for six months, causing the line to sag.

Then on Nov. 20, a cart rammed into the sagging line, releasing 20,000 gallons (75,700 liters.) A team thought they recovered all of this fuel, but they missed about 5,000 gallons (19,000 liters) which flowed into a French drain and from there into the drinking water well.

The Navy reprimanded three now-retired military officers for their roles in the spill but didn’t fire nor suspend anybody.

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM – Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Pacific awarded a $2.8-billion task order under a previously-awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple-award construction contract to Dragados/Hawaiian Dredging/Orion JV, based in Honolulu, Hawaii, to replace Dry Dock 3 at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PHNSY & IMF) March 10.

The planned five-year project will construct a graving dock, to be designated Dry Dock 5, in order to support PHNSY’s ability to continue serving the Navy decades into the future by maintaining and modernizing the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s nuclear-powered submarines.

“As part of the Navy’s Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP), replacing Dry Dock 3 at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard is a critical enabler of increased naval capability,” said Pete Lynch, program executive officer for Industrial Infrastructure, who oversees SIOP. “This project is a key investment in increasing capacity and modernizing our nation’s public shipyards through upgraded dry docks and facilities, new equipment, and improved workflow.”

Dry Dock 3 at PHNSY & IMF will become functionally obsolete once the Navy’s Los Angeles-class submarines are no longer in service. The dry dock, built in 1942, cannot service Virginia-class submarines or larger surface ships.

“We look forward to working with Dragados/Hawaiian Dredging/Orion JV, Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, and all our stakeholders on this project over the next several years in order to deliver this critical capability to the Fleet,” said Capt. Steve Padhi, commanding officer of Officer in Charge of Construction (OICC) Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. “The project team and cooperating agencies have gone above and beyond to set the conditions for success. We have incorporated lessons learned and best practices from other dry dock projects and field offices across the Navy, and we have consulted with our construction contractors early in order to confidently meet the requirements we’ve been given. My OICC team and I are ready to get started on this historic effort.”

The Navy is investing heavily in shipyard infrastructure for nuclear-powered warships. The Navy established SIOP to increase throughput at the four public shipyards by updating their physical layout, upgrading and modernizing their dry docks, and replacing antiquated capital equipment with modern tools and technologies.

SIOP is a holistic investment plan that when fully executed will deliver required dry dock repairs and upgrades to support current and planned future classes of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines, optimize workflow within the shipyards through significant changes to their physical layout, and recapitalize industrial plant equipment with modern technology that will substantially increase productivity and safety.

The full contract announcement is available at: https://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract/Article/3326241/