BAE Systems has received a USD 87.2 million (EUR 81.6 million) contract from the US Navy for repair work aboard the Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ship USS Carter Hall (LSD 50).

The contract includes options that, if exercised, would bring its cumulative value to USD 92.2 million.

Under the competitively awarded contract, USS Carter Hall will undergo a year of restorative work at the company’s shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia, which is also the ship’s homeport. BAE Systems will begin working aboard the 186 m-long ship in July 2024, performing a combination of maintenance and preservation work on the ship’s hull, its internal fuel and ballast tanks, and the engineering plant.

“Our team looks forward to working with the Navy to perform the substantial sustainment work necessary to ensure the Carter Hall remains a highly capable amphibious combatant ship,” said David M. Thomas, Jr., vice president and general manager of BAE Systems Norfolk Ship Repair.

USS Carter Hall recently returned to its homeport following an eight-month overseas deployment. It was commissioned in September 1995 and is currently the second US Navy ship to bear the name.

The ship is designed to carry 420 sailors and up to 500 marines, as well as being able to deploy up to four landing craft air-cushioned (LCACs) or a greater number of smaller amphibious assault vessels. Two Sea Stallion-sized helicopters can be operated from the ship’s flight deck.

BAE Systems’ Norfolk shipyard employs about 1,000 people and has dozens of subcontractor partners to assist in ship repair work.

The Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ship USS Carter Hall underway in the Atlantic in January 2013. The ship will undergo a year of restorative work at BAE Systems’ shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia, from July 2024. (Photo: US Navy)