- South Korea completed major maintenance on a US Navy supply vessel for the first time.
- Doing maintenance in the region reduces downtime and costs, US Naval Forces Korea said.
- Officials and experts have said that South Korea may have some answers to US shipbuilding woes.
In a strategically significant first as the US military looks for options to repair and maintain ships in the priority Indo-Pacific theater, a South Korean shipyard has completed large-scale maintenance work on a US Navy supply ship.
Earlier this week, South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean finished up repairs on USNS Wally Schirra, a Military Sealift Command Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship. The regular overhaul (ROH) took seven months.
Per Military Sealift Command, this is the first time a South Korean shipyard has bid on and won an ROH contract of this scale for this type of vessel. Smaller voyage repairs take place regularly at allied yards.
It’s “a landmark achievement,” Rear. Admiral. Neil Koprowski, Commander, US Naval Forces Korea, said, noting that “maintenance in theater reduces downtime and costs, while enhancing operational readiness.”
The maintenance included addressing “extensive deterioration and damage to the hull, propeller, rudder, and rudder post/steering gear,” Cmdr. Patrick J. Moore, commanding office, MSC Office-Korea, said.
The Wally Schirra is part of the US Navy’s Combat Logistic Force, vessels that keep US Navy vessels supplied with fuel, food, spare parts, and other critical needs.
“Notably, Hanwha engineers reverse-engineered the damaged rudder, completely replacing the unit when blueprint were not available,” Moore said. “This saved significant time and resources in getting Wally Schirra back to sea, a testament to their resilient supply chains, advanced automations, and skilled workforce.”
The repairs come as leaders in Washington are addressing American shipbuilding problems, and some officials and experts have indicated South Korea and other Pacific allies may have some solutions.
South Korea boasts the second largest shipbuilding industry in the world behind China and has been identified by US officials and naval affairs experts as an example for how to fix some problems in American shipbuilding.
Earlier this week, a House Armed Services Committee’s Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee hearing included discussions on what lessons the US could take from South Korea and Japan’s shipbuilders.
Some bigger takeaways included adopting their approaches to in-house worker training, certain ways of addressing capability, operations, and material management issues, and the design and construction processes.
Ronald O’Rourke, a naval affairs specialist and longtime Congressional Research Service analyst, pointed specifically to South Korea’s ship designs. The country tends to construct larger sections that improve worker access and straighter, less convoluted pipes “with a strong focus on reducing the labor hours needed to produce them.”
O’Rourke noted that South Korea and Japan’s shipbuilding models feature many practices for world-class shipbuilding standards and efficient shipyard operations.
Past US Navy leadership has praised these two US allies for their shipbuilding prowess. The last Navy secretary was particularly impressed by the digitization and real-time monitoring for timely deliveries at South Korean shipyards.
More broadly, the recent hearing focused on what Congress and the Navy needed to do to address dire US shipbuilding problems and the Navy’s top programs running overtime and over budget.
Fixing those issues has become as a top priority for the Trump administration, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of the navy. But experts, analysts, and officials have noted that many of the US’ shipbuilding woes are decades-old challenges that won’t be fixed overnight.
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