NORFOLK, Virginia - USS Helena (SSN-725), a Los Angeles-class submarine, completed a Docking Continuous Maintenance Availability (DCMAV) at Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) and was certified Nov. 12. NNSY returns SSN 725 to fleet

Building the Shipyards the Nation Needs

The Navy's four public shipyards -- Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY), Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY), Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS&IMF), and Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PHNSY&IMF) -- perform a vital role in national defense by executing maintenance on submarines and aircraft carriers in order to provide combat-ready ships to the fleet.

Originally designed and built in the 19th and 20th centuries to build sail- and conventionally-powered ships, the Navy's public shipyards are not efficiently configured to maintain and modernize nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines. With the Navy's needed focus on operations, the aging shipyards have been unable to adequately sustain and optimize their facilities, utilities, dry docks, equipment and information technology infrastructure. These inefficiencies and obsolete facilities result in higher maintenance costs, schedule risks and reliability issues.

To create the shipyards that our nation needs requires making significant investments to modernize dry docks, optimize industrial processes and modernize standard equipment to bring these critical industrial sites to modern standards.

The Navy established the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP) program office in May 2018. SIOP is a centrally-managed program led by Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), with support from Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) and Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC). NAVSEA is the operating agent and the technical authority for all four shipyards, executing the capital equipment program while NAVFAC provides facilities engineering and construction programs, supports environmental and compliance requirements and retains head-of-contracting-activity authority for facilities and dry dock investments. CNIC is the Navy's shore integrator and directs the Navy's shore environmental program.

The Navy will ensure that the optimization process fully integrates environmental considerations including natural and cultural resources, water and air quality, and more. During the development of individual shipyard plans, the Navy will develop alternatives for assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). The Navy will work with stakeholders as part of the decision-making process and will conduct all appropriate NEPA, natural resource and NHPA analyses; agency and government-to-government consultations and public engagement and obtain all required permits to ensure a proactive approach to environmental protection.

Navy Shipyards

Shipyard News

NSS-SY Spotlight: Genba walk – Pumpwell workers support the fleet every day, working behind the scenes, between dockings and undockings, to keep PSNS & IMF dry docks operational

Members of the Shop 99, Temporary Services, pumpwell team pose for a picture inside the Dry Dock 6 Pumpwell March 15, 2023 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Bremerton, Washington. Team members support the fleet and shipyard operations every day, both during and between dockings and undockings. The shipyard's dry docks and pumpwells were built between 1894 and 1963, so the system undergoes continual maintenance. (U.S. Navy photo by Scott Hansen)

March 28, 2023 - When ships and submarines make their way into or out of one of Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility’s six dry docks, riggers and handlers can be seen alongside the vessels tending lines and chains,...

Newly developed radiation-detection technology aids shipyard's radiological response, monitoring training

Micah Rollins, left, manager of research and development and manufacturing for Radiation Safety & Control Services, Inc., leads a training session on new reactive RADIAC equipment Dec. 7, 2022, at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Bremerton, Washington. (U.S. Navy photo by Scott Hansen)

March 23, 2023 - Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance facility and the other three public shipyards are benefitting from added realism that newly developed radiation detection indication and computation instruments, and...

Officer in Charge of Construction Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard to provide focused leadership, expertise in multi-billion-dollar recapitalization

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, HI (March 17, 2023) Capt. Stephen Padhi, commanding officer, Officer in Charge of Construction Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard (OICC PHNSY), salutes NAVFAC Pacific Commander Rear Adm. Jeff Kilian as Padhi assumes command March 17, 2023. The OICC team of more than 140 people will provide on-site construction oversight, accountability, technical and contracting authority over a once-in-a-generation recapitalization of PHNSY, including the historic $2.8-billion replacement of Dry Dock 3. (U.S. Navy photo by Bill Couch)

March 21, 2023 - Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Pacific commissioned its newest Echelon 4 command, Officer in Charge of Construction, Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard (OICC PHSNY) March 17 to execute a multi-billion-dollar...

Shipboard fire a constant threat: Bonhomme Richard tragedy an enduring lesson in fire prevention, response

Infographic detailing shipboard fire safety principles, including: Prepare, Protect, Prevent and Respond. (U.S. Navy graphic by Robin Lee)

March 16, 2023 - July 12, 2020 was a lazy Sunday morning at Naval Base San Diego. USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), which had been commissioned only two years earlier, had recently made the base its new homeport and was docked as it underwent a...

With an eye toward the future: Taking care or your eyes should be just as important as getting daily exercise and maintaining a healthy diet

Employees are required to wear safety glasses when working in eye-hazard areas or performing hazardous operations, according to the PSNS & IMF Occupational Shipyard employees help 'clean up' Safety and Health Manual Chapter 8. (U.S. Navy photo by Scott Hansen)

March 16, 2023 - The ability to see and maintain ocular health can often be taken for granted, but as one of the body’s primary senses, vision deserves protection and care. Maintaining ocular health involves the examination and assessment of...