US Navy’s Largest Military Construction Project Includes Pearl Harbor’s First New Dry Dock Since World War II

Construction teams at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard are laying the groundwork for the U.S. Navy’s new dry dock, which would support submarine operations in the Pacific for generations to come.

Called the military construction project P-209, it would deliver Dry Dock 5 as part of the Navy’s Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP). It aims to modernize maritime infrastructure across the 4 public shipyards to support maintenance of the Navy’s nuclear-powered fleet.

The project is managed by OICC PHNSY, an echelon IV command under Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Pacific.

Once Dry Dock 5 receives verification, it will become the first dry dock to service the Virginia-class nuclear attack submarines, offering modern infrastructure to replace the Dry Dock 3 build during the Second World War Era, which is too shallow to accommodate modern, large-size ships.

Capt. Ryan McCrillis, commander of Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PHNSY & IMF), said that the new dry dock would boost capabilities and keep the fleet combat-ready in the Pacific.

Before starting with vertical construction, workers focused on building a secure subsea base which included dredging sediment, building a temporary trestle, and staging and fabricating facilities at the closeby Waipio Peninsula.

At the fabrication yard, the construction workers built 9 concrete floors and shipped them across the waters to lower them onto the harbour bed, after which divers and specialists joined the units to the foundation with the help of underwater tremie pours.

To clear a workspace 60 feet below the waterline, contractors drove interlocking steel sheet panels and large pipe piles to form a cofferdam, which is a temporary enclosure that acts like a sealed basin.

Beside it, a pump well was built to handle future drainage systems as the project approaches the dewatering stage. This is the riskiest part of the project, said Captain Chris Coggina, the commanding officer and Officer in Charge of Construction (OICC) PHNSY. Without this, workers would not be able to enter or build at a depth of 60 feet below the adjacent waterline.

Once all the water is pumped out of the cofferdam, the work will begin to build permanent walls of concrete. Beyond this structure, crane-rail foundations, electrical substation, water treatment plant, pump stations, and ten other buildings are also under construction.

As construction progresses, the workforce needed is estimated to increase from 350 to over 1000 workers. Simultaneously, PHNSY & IMF personnel are undertaking trials and planning to ensure seamless operations once the dry dock is completed.

Rear Adm. Omarr Tobias, commander of NAVFAC Pacific, emphasised the importance of the project for the Pacific Theater by underlining that it depends on speed, survivability, resilience, and the infrastructure that is built today.