YOKOSUKA, Japan – Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday recently awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation to U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility and Japan Regional Maintenance Center (SRF-JRMC) for expeditiously returning USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) to full mission capability following its tragic collision in August 2017.
Despite conducting the ship’s emergent repairs, other operational units reliant on SRF-JRMC for operational and materiel readiness were still able to receive support without interruption. During this timeframe, SRF-JRMC completed three concurrently scheduled Chief of Naval Operations availabilities on time, two of which were finished early.
“By undertaking this massive effort overseas, SRF-JRMC saved the Navy more than 18 million dollars in transport and labor costs and reduced the strain on our domestic industrial base,” Gilday said in the citation. “Most importantly, SRF-JRMC returned McCain to our fleet while sustaining 12 other forward-deployed ships at a high state of material readiness.”
The team scoped ship damage and ruled out unnecessary, high-cost repairs for functional combat systems, employing innovative techniques such as light detection and ranging technology from Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific’s Reverse Engineering, Science, and Technology for Obsolescence, Repair and Evaluation Laboratory.
Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) Fleet Logistics Center (FLC) Yokosuka and Puget Sound were also listed as participating commands for the meritorious unit commendation.
“The importance of returning John S. McCain to operational readiness was of the highest priority in the port as we completed these critical repairs,” said Capt. Neil Sexton, SRF-JRMC commanding officer. “Working collaboratively, the SRF-JRMC team and the Sailors assigned to the ship completed this job with zero lost work days, while utilizing the in-house capacity and capabilities available to them.”
SRF-JRMC provides ship maintenance and modernization for Naval Sea Systems Command, using advanced industrial techniques to keep the U.S. 7th Fleet operationally ready.