BAE Systems has received a $76.3 million contract from the U.S. Navy to drydock and perform maintenance and modernization work aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Stout (DDG 55). The docking selected restricted availability (DSRA) contract for the Norfolk-based destroyer includes options that, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value to $100.5 million. BAE Systems’ Norfolk shipyard will begin working aboard the 510-foot-long ship in January 2021. Under the awarded DSRA contract, BAE Systems will drydock the ship; perform hull, tank and mechanical work; install upgraded electronic and electrical systems; and make other shipboard improvements.
“Our team of employees, subcontractors and Navy personnel are working hard to sustain the workhorse of the fleet – the Arleigh Burke class destroyer,” said Mark Whitney, deputy general manager of BAE Systems Ship Repair and general manager of Norfolk Ship Repair. “We look forward to applying our vast experience to modernize the USS Stout, so that its crew members can do their jobs in defense of our nation for many years to come.”
USS Stout (DDG-55) is the fifth Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer. Built by Ingalls Shipbuilding, she was commissioned on 13 August 1994 and she is currently home-ported in Naval Station Norfolk. She is part of Destroyer Squadron 26. The USS Stout is named in honor of U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Herald F. Stout (1903-1987). During World War II, then-Commander Stout commanded a destroyer that was assigned to the Little Beaver squadron under then-Commodore Arleigh Burke. He earned two Navy Cross medals for command of the ship. The Stout became the fifth ship of the Arleigh Burke class of guided-missile destroyers, which now numbers 68 ships.
BAE Systems is a leading provider of ship repair, maintenance, modernization, conversion, and overhaul services for the Navy, other government agencies, and select commercial customers. The company operates four full-service shipyards in California, Florida, Hawaii, and Virginia, and offers a highly skilled, experienced workforce, seven dry-docks/railways, and significant pier space and ship support services. The company’s Norfolk shipyard has approximately 1,250 employees and works with the Navy and several subcontractor companies to accomplish its sustainment work.