DATE: Saturday, March 29, 1997              TAG: 9703290275

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   75 lines

DESTROYER FACES RECONSTRUCTION COSTING $15 MILLION THE EXTENSIVE DAMAGE FROM A REEF NEARLY LED TO DECOMMISSIONING FOR THE GONZALEZ.

A new, $900 million Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, damaged on a Caribbean Sea reef last year, faces major reconstruction over the next six months.

The Norfolk-based guided missile destroyer Gonzalez, currently at Bath Iron Works in Maine, was nearly decommissioned because of the extensive damage, officials said.

However, that drastic step was averted this week when Vice Adm. George R. Sterner, commander of the Naval Sea Systems Command, determined that repairs could be completed in six months.

The decommissioning proposal was made mainly for the convenience of the destroyer's 350-member crew, most of whom have been separated from their families in Norfolk since the mishap Nov. 11.

The decision against the unprecedented decommissioning was being reviewed this week by the Naval Sea Systems Command and the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington.

On Friday, Sterner announced through his public affairs staff that repairs, costing $15 million, will be done by Sept. 29, just before the end of the 1997 fiscal year.

Because of money woes in the Navy, some doubt remains that schedule can be met without additional hardship on the crew and families.

Damage to the Gonzalez's twin propellers, propeller shafts, sonar dome and its engine room's reduction gears is extensive, the Navy acknowledged.

The ship's ``reconstruction,'' the Navy said, involves repairs to its hull, structural, sonar system and main propulsion elements.

``Major hull structural reconstruction requires the removal, replacement and precision alignment of the sonar dome module, one of 40 structural assemblies that are integrated to build the ship,'' Sterner's command said in response to questions.

Main propulsion-train repairs necessitate the removal and replacement of both of the ship's 125,845-pound main reduction gears, plus both of its controllable reversible pitch propellers and the potential replacement of main shafts and struts.

Shipyard workers face a unique challenge in replacing the reduction gears, the Navy said. Those parts are intended to last the life of the ship and are rarely removed. In order to perform the work aboard the Gonzalez, workers will cut two 20- by 20-foot holes in the ship's hull, then use an elaborate rail system to remove each of the 63-ton reduction gears.

Because of the magnitude of the repairs and the requirement to complete a previously scheduled three-month maintenance period, the Navy will have both performed at the Maine shipyard at the same time.

The Navy temporarily has transferred the Gonzalez's home port to Bath, where it was built. That will enable families who had not moved to Norfolk to remain there until repairs are finished. About half of the families moved from Bath to Norfolk during the Christmas holidays.

The Gonzalez was in the Caribbean on a shakedown cruise, just a month after its Oct. 12 commissioning, when it struck a charted underwater reef, the Navy said. It was leaving an anchorage off the Caribbean island of St. Martin, a French and Dutch possession in the Leeward Islands. Two crew members suffered minor cuts and bruises.

Initially, the Gonzalez was able to steam into Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, Puerto Rico. However, after divers inspected its hull, the destroyer had to be towed to Norfolk. In January it was towed to Portland, Maine, where it remains.

Its captain, Cmdr. Frederick D. Allard Jr., was relieved of command during a disciplinary hearing Nov. 21 by Vice Adm. Douglas J. Katz. He has been reassigned to duties ashore.

The ship's new commanding officer is Cmdr. Dan Holloway.

Two other crew members appeared at a similar hearing and were disciplined. In addition, an investigating officer recommended various corrective actions for several other crew members. ILLUSTRATION: Drawing/VP

Fixing the Gonzalez KEYWORDS: U.S.S. GONZALEZ

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