A Cut Above

Photo By Wendy M Hallmark | Steel pieces, ship parts and other material are laid out around Puget Sound Naval...... read more read more

Photo By Wendy M Hallmark | Steel pieces, ship parts and other material are laid out around Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility's Dry Dock 3 as part of the shipyard's recycling program. This program is lead by Code 350, Inactive Fleet, Recycle and Reactor Compartment Disposal. (U.S. Navy photo by Wendy Hallmark)  see less | View Image Page

BREMERTON, WA, UNITED STATES

09.02.2021

Story by Wendy M Hallmark 

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility

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At first glance, the scenery at Dry Dock 3 can appear overwhelming. Cut up parts and pieces of Ex-USS Augusta (SSN 710) and Ex-USS Minneapolis-St. Paul (SSN 708) of all shapes, sizes and colors are stacked and spread out in the laydown areas—with several already loaded onto railcars waiting to be shipped to their final destinations.
At times there are so many pieces they almost overflow onto Farragut Ave. Day after day, massive pieces of steel are lifted on heavy chains and moved slowly through the air to their resting spots. Sparks fly and smoke emanates from welders’ tools while workers cut the hulls and various sections of the vessels.
But, the scene here is actually a highly organized and intricate workspace. And at the heart of organizing and controlling this work is Code 350, Inactive Fleet, Recycle and Reactor Compartment Disposal, leading the efforts to recycle vessels here at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility.
"Code 350 is the core of the finest ship recycling program in the world,” said Thomas Smith, project superintendent, Code 350. “The PSNS & IMF mission of ‘Maintain, modernize, and retire our Navy's fleet’ could not be successfully accomplished without the workers of Code 350.”
Recycling a submarine is a mammoth undertaking. At 362 feet long and weighing more than 6,000 tons, the size of these vessels alone makes this task an arduous one. Smith said disposal projects can take anywhere from nine to 11 ½ months, requiring around 488,000 man hours—equating to 61,000 man days. The process requires the collaborative effort of multiple shops, with work ranging from Shop 56, Pipefitters and Shop 17, Sheet Metal Shop, to Shop 38, Marine Machinery, and Code 740, Rigging and Equipment Operations Division. Nearly every shop on the shipyard plays a role in the work done here, Smith said.
Together these shops and codes remove, cut up and recycle approximately 6,900 tons of material during a project—with 750-800 tons of material removed at the pier and more than 4,700 tons of material removed
in dock. In addition, there is the complex work of removing and handling the Reactor Compartment Disposal package, which weighs nearly 1,400 tons and requires absolute precision. It’s tough work that these teams take seriously as they tackle this project together.
“The strong principles of people and safety first make the folks who work in this group consider each other family. I routinely hear in good times, and bad that we win and lose as a team,” Smith said. These teams take great pride in their accomplishments and the reward that comes with honest, hard, labor-intensive work, he added.
Along with the effort of cutting up sections, comes the added work of making sure pieces are properly processed to leave the shipyard. The de-militarization of certain components has to be completed before pieces are loaded in rail cars to be sent for smelting. Other items, such as precious metals, can also be separated during cut-up to help recover some program costs. And, on some occasions, parts are given a second life and refurbished for use to support other active projects and vessels.
When every factor has been considered, and every measure taken to make the most of the vessels, the pieces are finally ready for their last phase—getting shipped out. RCD packages head to a disposal facility in Hanford, Wash., while steel from the IRR program is loaded onto barges and sent to the tide flats in Tacoma, Wash., where contractors further downsize the pieces, load them onto trucks and process them for disposal.
After every project, naturally, there are lessons learned which can be applied to the next project. It’s a process that keeps the shipyard recycling program functioning at the highest levels—now and into the future. It’s challenging work that Code 350 feels poised to continue doing.
“Innovation and flexibility will be the keys to success in the coming years,” Smith said. “We look forward to the challenges and becoming stronger from them."