After five months of work, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) celebrated the completion of repair and maintenance carried out on the U.S. Navy’s expeditionary mobile base USS Miguel Keith (ESB-5), which were conducted for the first time in Japan. This new milestone is part of a new initiative to reduce logistical costs in order to sustain the U.S. naval presence in the Indo-Pacific, with the participation of other companies in the region, such as South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean, which delivered the logistics ship USNS Wally Schirra (T-AKE-8).
On April 15, MHI’s shipyard in Yokohama delivered the vessel, which currently operates as an expeditionary mobile base in the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet. The work carried out on it is framed within a new strategy that seeks to counter China’s advance in the region by maintaining a rotation or constant presence of U.S. Navy assets.
However, the USS Miguel Keith (ESB-5), of the Lewis B. Puller class and nearly 240 meters in length, represents so far the second case in which a shipyard located in Asia provides its facilities for repair work on a U.S. Navy unit. The event comes just a month and a half after the Geoje shipyard in South Korea, owned by Hanwha Ocean, completed the so-called maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) work on the aforementioned USNS Wally Schirra (T-AKE-8), following its selection in July 2024 upon obtaining a Master Ship Repair Agreement (MSRA).
This certification is granted by the U.S. Navy, guaranteeing the quality and reliability of the maintenance services that Navy vessels will receive. Obtaining this certification involves a rigorous evaluation process, and only companies that obtain the MSRA can participate in various ship maintenance projects for the force.
Now, with this second milestone, Captain Wendel Penetrante, commander of the SRF-JRMC, explained that the use of the Japanese shipyard for repairs has allowed SRF-JRMC to focus its efforts on the other three ship maintenance tasks being carried out simultaneously in Yokosuka. During the overhaul at the Japanese shipyard, the Miguel Keith replaced 56,000 square feet of surface on its flight and mission deck. It also completed the replacement and preservation of the deck in 29 spaces on board and painted its entire exterior from bow to stern.
Although the information has not yet been officially confirmed, it is estimated that the United States could commission new work of this kind in South Korean and Japanese shipyards to reduce costs and downtime of its units, thus reinforcing its presence in the Indo-Pacific region.
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