300 Jobs Saved as Nassco Wins Ship Overhaul

The combat support ship Sacramento and more than 600 crew members will relocate from Bremerton, Wash., to San Diego next year while the ship is overhauled by National Steel & Shipbuilding Co., a Navy spokesman said Thursday.

The 793-foot ship’s presence will provide a small boost to the San Diego economy and at least temporarily save more than 300 jobs.

Nassco outbid shipyards in Seattle and Portland and was awarded the $24-million contract Nov. 7, said Fred Hallett, the firm’s vice president of finance.

Hallett said the contract will allow Nassco to retain 300 to 350 workers who would have been laid off. The work force at the San Diego shipyard has decreased to 2,700 from about 5,300 since Jan. 1.

He said work on the 23-year-old Sacramento, which transports oil and munitions, will begin in January and will be completed by November.

The sailors will perform their usual shipboard duties and some of the repairs that require less expertise while Nassco does the heavier work, Versailles said.

The annual payroll of the 29 officers and 578 enlisted personnel on the Sacramento is $10.8 million, Versailles said.

He said crew members with families will be relocated at government expense. Families will look for private housing, while most of the single personnel will stay aboard ship or on a nearby berthing barge.

If the relocation period for a ship is more than six months, the government routinely pays moving expenses, Versailles said. The ship is expected to return to Bremerton when the job is completed.