US NAVY: Tandem dry docking

In an effort to save both time and money, the US Navy awarded a $17 million contract to the NASSCO shipyard at San Diego, California this year to upgrade two of its frigates simultaneously on the yard’s 825ft by 135ft drydock (below). USS Vandegrift and USS Curts were ‘strapped’ together and then guided into the submerged drydock by three tugboats, after which laser measurement tools were used to precisely position the vessels on top of wooden resting cradles. The frigates received repairs to propulsion shafting, propellers and sea valves