As the Navy's public and private shipyards continue to face workforce shortages, delivery of the newest Expeditionary Sea Base vessel has been delayed to January.
The future John L. Canley (ESB-6), which will primarily support airborne mine countermeasures and special operations force missions, was originally scheduled to be delivered in September.
Built by General Dynamics NASSCO, the vessel is approximately 97% complete, Navy spokeswoman Jamie Koehler told Inside Defense today.
In a report to Congress, publicly released Sept. 23, the Navy stated that labor challenges could result in schedule delays for the NASSCO shipyard, which builds both the ESB and the T-AO 205 John Lewis-class fleet oiler for the Navy.
“If hiring challenges and green labor continues, then there will be yard-wide risks to NASSCO's ability to meet schedule. Delays on T-AO will have a cascading impact to ESB schedules,” according to the fiscal year 2021 Selected Acquisition Report for the program.
The ESB and T-AO program offices are conducting “joint progressing sessions” with NASSCO and the Navy’s Supervisor of Shipbuilding to assess schedules and develop plans to address risk areas, Koehler said.
A NASSCO representative told Inside Defense in a statement that workforce conditions have improved since the time the report was issued though challenges remain.
“NASSCO is committed to working with the Navy and remains dedicated to ensuring the success of both of the T-AO and ESB programs,” the representative said.
The first John Lewis-class oiler was delivered to the Navy in July and officially left the NASSCO shipyard on Sept. 26.
“We are on track to complete and deliver two additional T-AOs and an ESB over the course of the next year,” NASSCO said.
In August, NASSCO was awarded a $1.4 billion contract for ESB-8 and T-AO 211 and 212, in addition to $600 million awarded in June to procure long-lead time materials for the ships. The contract modification also provides an option for the Navy to procure an additional oiler, T-AO 213, bringing the potential value up to $2.7 billion for the four ships.