Puget Sound Naval Shipyard will be the site of a new multi-mission dry dock, as the U.S. Navy advances plans to expand West Coast capacity for servicing large warships, including aircraft carriers. The move addresses what officials describe as a shortage of docks capable of handling the fleet’s largest vessels.
The Navy has issued a Sources Sought notice for a multiple-award contract valued at up to $30 billion to deliver the project. The agreement would run for five years with three additional one-year options.
According to the notice, the effort falls under the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program, an initiative to modernize four public shipyards in Norfolk, Virginia, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Portsmouth, Maine, and at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility.
The document describes the Multi-Mission Dry Dock as a fully pressure-relieved facility designed to accommodate Gerald R. Ford-class and Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, as well as other surface and subsurface ships supported by PSNS & IMF.
Navy planners say the project is driven by the need to support Ford-class carriers on the West Coast. The service’s program website states it does not currently have the capacity or capability to conduct depot-level maintenance on a Gerald R. Ford-class carrier in the Pacific Northwest.
Existing capacity for older carriers is also constrained. The website notes that Dry Dock 6 in Bremerton is the only West Coast dock able to take a Nimitz-class carrier, yet it does not meet current seismic resiliency standards and cannot fully accommodate Ford-class ships.
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard project scope
The multiple-award construction contract will comprise several task orders, most ranging between $2 billion and $6 billion. Smaller task orders may be used for early contractor involvement and alternative technical concepts.
The notice states the focus is the construction of a new Multi-Mission Dry Dock at PSNS & IMF on Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Washington. Within the footprint of the existing Dry Dock 3 and Piers 6 and 7, the work includes dry dock drainage, dewatering and flooding systems, a caisson, roadways and rail networks, portal crane track, access and egress features, mechanical, electrical and communications systems, support buildings and utility routing tunnels. The plan also calls for demolition of facilities and utilities.
Officials expect the first task order to cover dredging along with work on piers, buildings and utilities. The second task order will demolish Dry Dock 3 and construct the new multi-mission dry dock. A third task order will provide supporting infrastructure such as electrical substations, utility tunnels and crane rails. The fourth will procure and install the dock caisson.
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard history
Puget Sound has been central to Navy ship repair for more than a century. The Navy acquired 190 acres in 1891 for $10,000, establishing Naval Station Puget Sound.
The site became a shipyard in 1900 and served as the service’s sole West Coast repair facility until 1941. Between 1917 and 1969, the Navy reports that Puget Sound Naval Shipyard constructed 85 ships, including the largest vessels built on the West Coast during that period.
The new dry dock project comes as the Navy continues broader modernization of its forces, including initiatives such as the F-15EX air-to-ground role advances with new training. The Puget Sound effort underscores the long-term role of the Pacific Northwest in supporting major fleet assets.
