Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor pier gets OK to grow to accommodate subs
BANGOR, Wash. — Congress recently allocated $73 million to lengthen a service pier at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor so two Seawolf-class submarines can be moved from Bremerton.
USS Seawolf and USS Connecticut will join their only sibling, USS Jimmy Carter
The project and a land-water interface had been combined in one environmental impact study. The interface, which will connect a floating barrier with a land fence, received funding and in September was given the go-ahead; the pier extension was not.
An existing 500-foot-long pier will be extended by 540 feet to support Seawolf-, Los Angeles- and Virginia-class fast attack submarines. The existing services and compressor building will be moved to the end of the pier and a second, 2,100-square-foot service building added.
A 50,000-square-foot waterfront ship support building will be built upland, where there’s now a parking lot. Also, 420 parking spaces will be created.
The Seawolf arrived in Bremerton in July 2007 and the Connecticut in January 2008, from New London, Connecticut. It was never meant to be their permanent home.
They can only transit Rich Passage, which separates Bremerton from open water, in the daylight during high slack tides, the Navy said. They also are assigned to Submarine Development Squadron Five, which is headquartered at Bangor and trains at a facility there.
A supplemental environmental study will be conducted on the project, looking only at small changes to the design and new regulatory guidelines since the fall. It is expected to be available in early August for public review and comment.
Final approval for the pier extension is targeted for April 2018. The design contract was awarded in January. A construction award is planned for summer 2018. Construction will take about two years.
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