A new report says the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is in poor condition and unable to keep up with the demands of the Navy.
The report comes from the legislative watchdog agency, the Government Accountability Office. It paints a bleak picture of the nation’s four public naval shipyards, including the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
It says the aging facilities together have racked up deferred maintenance costs of almost 5 billion dollars.
At the Portsmouth shipyard, the report found repairs of nuclear submarines are rarely completed on time.
Zina Merritt is with the GAO. She says the aging shipyards just aren’t equipped to maintain the Navy’s newer, bigger ships.
“We kind of compare it to, like maintaining Ferraris in a rundown Model-T body shop.”
The report recommends that the Navy increase capital investment in the shipyards and provide more oversight of their management.
The Department of Defense concurred with all of the report’s recommendations.
