The U.S. Department of Justice has been notified that the flawed welds recently found on USN submarines and aircraft carriers are likely intentional.
USNI News has reported that submarines under construction or in service and Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers had welds that do not match the guidelines of HII.
Three vessels in service are understood to have welding problems. Newport News made the following statement: “We recently discovered through internal reporting that the quality of some welds did not meet our high-quality standards. Upon this discovery, we took immediate action to communicate with our customers and regulators, investigate, determine root cause, bound these matters and insert immediate corrective actions to prevent any recurrence of these issues.”
The U.S. Navy responded in a statement to USNI News that they are aware of the problem and investigating it. The statement reads, “We are working closely with industry partners to address this situation and will provide additional information when available.”
Defects in welding points can lead to disastrous results in large-sized ships exposed to heavy hydrodynamic loads. This situation is even more dangerous for those with nuclear propulsion. So far, no details on who is responsible and with what motives have been released.
