New Supply Ship Already Needs a Tug : Military: A crash during sea trials caused extensive damage. It marks the latest setback in the troubled Nassco program.

The Navy is planning a big bash next week to celebrate the commissioning of Supply, its newest cargo supply ship in San Diego, built by National Steel & Shipbuilding Co. But what few know is that the vessel, of a design known as AOE-6, has a severely damaged propeller. After the ceremony, it will be towed to a Navy shipyard for repairs.

Just when it seemed the Navy was finally going to get its troubled AOE-6--after more than three years of schedule delays, massive cost overruns and technical snafus--the big vessel was involved in an accident that received virtually no notice.

After finishing its sea trials prior to delivery in December, a tugboat pushing the ship to the dock slipped under the AOE-6’s hull and took a couple of hard whacks from one of the ship’s 26-foot-diameter propellers.

The accident tore a gash in the tug, the Pacific Queen, operated by Foss Maritime. The collision also bent the fast combat support ship’s bronze propeller, according to Lt. Tracy Slack, the Coast Guard’s senior investigating officer in San Diego.

“It is a big-money case,” said Slack, who would not speculate as to who was at fault.

A government investigator said preliminary estimates of the damage are likely to run to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Navy has not decided whether to repair or replace the propeller, said John Goodwin, a Navy shipbuilding official in San Diego.

Dick Richie, vice president of operations for Foss Maritime, said he hopes the government will pay for the $40,000 damage done to his tug.

But Goodwin said the accident was not the government’s fault because the ship was under the control of Nassco and Foss Maritime. Nassco executives could not be reached for comment.

“We have a nine-month guarantee,” Goodwin said. “Anything that the contractor is responsible for will be replaced under warranty.”

Indeed, the Navy had identified about 5,000 deficiencies after the ship completed its first sea trials last year. After a second set of trials, known as the acceptance trials, the number of deficiencies was reduced to 2,500, Goodwin said.

Goodwin said the ship could move under its own power, but with the bent propeller, the Navy will tow it around in crowded San Diego Harbor. Despite the mishaps and troubled history, Goodwin remarked: “It is a gorgeous ship. It is a showcase.”

The decision has many similarities to the first flight of the B-2 bomber. Shortly after that first flight, the Air Force spent several months fixing problems on the new airplane.

The AOE-6 is Nassco’s largest and most important program, though the firm has received additional contracts in the past year that have given the shipyard new life. The project to build four AOE-6 ships is $677 million over budget, an increase of 72% from its original contract, according to Navy documents.

The delivery of the first ship is three years behind schedule, in large part because of problems in a special transmission with a reverse gear that was designed by the Italian navy.