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Watchdog Report: Aging Navy Shipyards Costing Billions

PORTSMOUTH, Va. - The watchdog agency for Congress says the Navy's aging public shipyards - including the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine - are failing to fully meet the military's needs.  
 
The Virginian-Pilot reported Tuesday that a Government Accountability Office report is sharply critical of the four facilities.
 
It found that a backlog of projects to maintain and restore ships will take 19 years to clear. The cost of the backlogged projects has grown 41 percent to an estimated $4.86 billion.       
 
All of the shipyards were built at least a century ago. And they were designed to deal with older vessels, reducing their efficiency.
 
In addition to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, the facilities include the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Bremerton, Washington; Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Hawaii; and Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia.