Following Lorain proposal, Ohio congressional leaders ask Navy to consider Great Lakes

LORAIN, Ohio — Five members of congress have signed a letter urging the Navy to increase its shipyard capacity, and to pick Ohio as the place to do it.

“Strategically located on the Great Lakes, Ohio possesses numerous locations suitable for the establishment of a private shipyard to conduct necessary submarine fleet maintenance,” said the letter signed by Senators Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown, and U.S. Representatives Marcy Kaptur, Tim Ryan and Shontel Brown.

The letter addressed Monday to Carlos Del Toro, secretary of the Navy, comes the week after a former Navy captain, Edward Bartlett of Bartlett Maritime Corp., announced his proposal to build a drydock in Lorain and a maintenance facility in Lordstown to maintain submarines. The proposal estimates 3,000 jobs for Lorain and 1,000 for Lordstown.

The letter doesn’t specifically mention the Bartlett proposal, but raises concerns about the Navy’s submarine maintenance backlog.

The Navy has four shipyards that handle the majority of its submarine’s maintenance. Maintenance includes taking apart many of the systems and essentially rebuilding parts of the submarines, which are about 377 feet long and 33 feet wide. They go through this type of maintenance every 10 to 12 years.

A 2020 report from the Government Accountability Office said that maintenance was lacking. Between 2015 and 2019, only five of 33 maintenance periods were on time. On average, they were 225 days late.

Bartlett said the GAO report is what inspired his company and his idea for the drydocks in Lorain.

The joint letter from the congressional members said: “It is clear from this and other reports that the current maintenance plan is not sufficient to meet the Navy’s submarine fleet’s maintenance needs. While there are efficiencies to be gained from improved processes, additional shipyards would allow more submarines to enter the maintenance cycle simultaneously and improve overall fleet readiness.”

Bartlett, whose company is based in Broadview Heights, told cleveland.com that he choose Ohio to develop his plan partially for its workforce. The other four shipyards have dealt with a lack of labor, he said.

The letter from the congressional leaders also touts Ohio’s workforce as highly trained, and says that many companies that make parts of the U.S. Navy’s submarines and aircraft carriers are in the state.

“Ohio would welcome the opportunity to address the maintenance backlog of the Navy in an effective and cost-efficient manner and could train a world-class workforce ready to meet the highly technical requirements associated with the maintenance and overhaul of the nuclear fast attack submarine fleet,” the letter said.

Under Bartlett’s proposal for Lorain, the Navy would lease his shipyard for 30 years through a public-private partnership. After that, the Navy would own the facilities. He said he could be ready to break ground in October.

Lorain began building boats on the Black River in 1819. In 1897, the Cleveland Shipbuilding Co. moved to town, and the following year launched its first steel ship, Superior City. At the time, it was the largest vessel on the Great Lakes.

George Steinbrenner closed American Ship Building in Lorain in the 1970s.