The US Navy is to charter a heavy lift vessel to transport the damaged destroyer USS John S McCain back to Japan for repairs.
The lift is notionally planned for late September and will see the ship moved from Changi Naval Base in Singapore to the US Navy’s ship repair facility in Yokosuka, Japan.
The USS John S. McCain was involved in a collision with Stealth Maritime’s 50,800-dwt tanker Alnic MC (built 2008) while underway east of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore on 21 August.
The ship suffered significant damage to her port side aft resulting in flooding to nearby compartments, including berthing, machinery, and communications rooms.
The US Navy said it is moving the ship to Yokosuka to allow the crew to be close to their families and to allow for a complete assessment of the damage.
“Completion of the damage assessment is required to fully determine repair plans to include cost, schedule and location for the ship’s repairs,” it added.
News of the contract to move the John S McCain comes just days after it emerged that Dockwise had won a similar contract to transport a damaged US Navy vessel back to the US.
In a deal won from the US Military Sealift Command it will transport the USS Fitzgerald back to the US following a smash off Japan in a deal worth $3.1m.
Dockwise is teaming up with Texas-based Patriot Shipping for the deal which will see the damaged destroyer loaded onto the 34,000-dwt semi-submersible heavy transport vessel Transshelf (built 1987) off Yokosuka, for transport to Pascagoula in the Gulf of Mexico.
Prior to the Fitzgerald and McCain contracts, the US Navy last used a heavy lift vessel to transport a ship back to the US was in 2000 following the attack on USS Cole in Yemen.
