WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., today released the following statement after the Navy announced that it intends to award Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula the contract to repair the USS Fitzgerald, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer. The ship was severely damaged on June 17, 2017, when a container ship collided with the destroyer off the coast of Japan. The incident claimed the lives of seven sailors.

“The Navy has taken swift action to begin the necessary repairs to the USS Fitzgerald after this tragedy at sea,” Wicker said. “The seven sailors who perished have not been forgotten. We continue to mourn alongside their loved ones and the entire Navy community. 

“In looking to Ingalls for the rehabilitation of the Fitzgerald, our Navy has chosen wisely.  Mississippi shipbuilders completed repairs on the USS Cole in 2002, and I have every confidence we will achieve the same success with the Fitzgerald, enabling the ship to return to duty as soon as possible.  Given the constraints already on the Navy’s fleet, restoring the USS Fitzgerald cannot come soon enough.”

The Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, which have some of the most advanced equipment on the seas, are used for a range of missions, including force projection and missile defense.