The USS Emory Land tender to leave Guam for dry dock overhaul
Guam will be left with one tender for its five submarines, when the USS Emory S. Land departs for Portland, Ore. The vessel has a crew of about 800.
The tender is due to be overhauled and dry-docked from May 1 for at least 215 days or more than seven months, according to the U.S. Department of War. Vigor Marine LLC will conduct the overhaul and was awarded $73.42 million for the work, with the potential for additional work and time, with five options to extend the contract, according to a Feb. 14 release CHamoru Standard Time.
USS Emory S. Land. Photo by U.S. Navy MC1 Jason Behnke
The tender was last overhauled and dry docked in California, returning in 2021 after eight months.
The other U.S. Navy’s tender homeported to Guam is the USS Frank Cable.
According to Journal files, Naval Facilities Engineering and Systems Command is developing a new submarine pier at Polaris Point that will accommodate up to four homeported Virginia-class submarines or a combination of submarines and a submarine tender.
A $97 million contract was awarded to build a 17,000-square-foot facility with an accompanying battery energy storage system and microgrid controller. The project was expected expected to be completed by June 2028. The work was to help facilitate wharf improvements, upgrades to utility systems and construction of new facilities to support marine operations.
A $3 million project was due to get underway to construct an unimproved gravel road from Marine Corps Drive through the jungle to the Polaris Point Submarine Base.
That work was due to include clearing 18 acres of vegetation, building a 2,687-foot-long, 48-foot-wide gravel road with five-foot shoulders, and installing erosion control systems consisting of culverts, headwalls, swales, and basins. The project also was due to include about 1,300 linear feet of low-security fencing, 100 linear feet of high-security fencing, and a 24-foot-wide anti-terrorism/force protection gate.
However, Naval Mobil Construction Battalion 133 said in November 133 that material procurement, unexploded ordnance, equipment availability, lack of project crew continuity, and environmental challenges delayed progress.
In related news, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Hickory, a 225-foot Juniper-class seagoing buoy, arrived in Guam on Jan. 14, according to Joint Region Marianas.
A buoy tender is used to maintain and replace navigational buoys. The other Coast Guard Cutters are the Oliver Henry, the Myrtle Hazard and the Frederick Hatch. mbj
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