National security threat: Defective welds on US subs, aircraft carriers may have been deliberate, impacting an already shrunken US naval fleet

NEWPORT NEWS, VA - A disturbing story that could significantly impact national security has emerged. A bipartisan group of lawmakers from the House Armed Services Committee issued a joint statement reporting that welds on Navy submarines and aircraft carriers built at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia may have been purposely done in a faulty manner, potentially compromising the structural integrity and safety of these vessels, Military.com reports. 

In the statement, the Members demanded “absolute transparency” from the United States Navy about the issue. 

“It is deeply concerning to learn that faulty welds may have been knowingly made to U.S. Navy submarines and aircraft carriers,” the statement from committee chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.); Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), ranking member of the committee; seapower subcommittee Chairman Trent Kelly (R-Miss.), and Rep. Joseph Courtney (D-Conn.), ranking member of the seapower subcommittee. 

“The House Armed Services Committee is investigating how this occurred,” the statement continued. “The safety of our sailors is our top concern, and we need to immediately understand any risks associated with the faulty work. The Department of Defense needs to immediately provide our committee with answers and a plan for how they will protect U.S. Navy vessels against tampering.” 

The investigation started when USNI News broke the report about shipbuilders at the Virginia plant using improper welding procedures on work on submarines currently in service. The flaws were discovered by quality assurance teams at Newport News Shipbuilding, which evolved into a wider investigation examining welding quality and prompted notification to the Department of Justice. 

It is currently unknown the breadth of the affected ships; however, a defense official told USNI that the number of Virginia-class submarines currently in service and affected by the defect is in the “low single digits.” 

Even with a number so low, having defective welds on submarines that go below the ocean’s surface could prove potentially catastrophic. 

Last week, Newport News president Jennifer Boykin issued a statement which read, in part, “We recently discovered that the quality of certain welds on submarines and aircraft carriers under construction here at NNS do not meet our high-quality standards. Most concerning is that some of the welds in question were made by welders who knowingly violated weld procedures. We immediately put together a team made up of both internal and independent engineering and quality subject matter experts to determine the root causes, bound the issue, and put in place immediate short-term corrective actions as we work through longer-term solutions.” 

In a memo last week to senior naval leaders, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition Nickolas Guertin said the shipbuilder notified the Department of Justice due to the apparent intentional nature of the welding procedure violations, which could potentially involve criminal charges. After parts of the memo began circulating publicly, some on social media said NNS workers deliberately sabotaged the ships. However, several sources told USNI that there was “no evidence” of malicious intent on behalf of the shipyard workers. 

In a separate statement to USNI News, the shipbuilder wrote:

“We discovered through internal reporting that some welders knowingly circumvented certain welding procedures. Based on our initial investigation, there is no indication of malicious intent,” the statement read. “We do not tolerate any conduct that compromises our company’s values and our mission of delivering ships that safeguard our nation and its sailors.” 

Late last week, according to Military.com, the Navy confirmed the welding issue, however, it refused to provide additional details, including what risks, if any, are faced by sailors on the affected ships, whether those ships are inoperable or need significant repairs that would remove them from a fleet that is already severely downsized from previous numbers. 

“The Navy is aware of the issue and a thorough evaluation is underway to determine the scope,” a Navy spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “The safety of our sailors and our ships is of paramount importance. We are working closely with industry partners to address this situation and will provide additional information when available. 

Newport News Shipbuilding is one of two shipyards building nuclear vessels in the country. The other is Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut, which exclusively builds nuclear submarines. 

In the written statement, the House Armed Services Committee stressed the importance of the work being done at Newport News. 

“These vessels are critical to U.S. defense in the Indo-Pacific,” they wrote. “We must ensure that these vessels are protected against any bad actors seeking to put U.S. national security or our service members at risk.” 

This is not the first time the Navy has seen issues at the Newport News facility, USNI reports. Twice in the 2000s, the Navy investigated suspicious welds at Newport News Shipbuilding, then part of Northrop-Grumman.  2007, for example, the Navy found welders used the wrong filler material in non-nuclear piping on Virginia-class submarines. In 2009, the Navy was forced to reinspect welds on nine submarines and four aircraft carriers after a shipyard inspector admitted he falsified inspection reports, The Virginia Pilot reported. 

Reinspecting welds is a tedious process, as the 2009 incident showed. USNI was told it took years to inspect for defective welds.