Bender CCP
Forged marine engine shafts, precision-machined by Bender CCP in Vernon, Calif.

US Navy Assigns Propulsion System Work

July 31, 2023
Multiple manufacturers are sharing almost $300 million worth of five-year contracts for forged and precision-machined marine engine shafts.

The U.S. Navy assigned contracts totaling $137 million to five specialty manufacturers of forged marine engine shafts. Each is a five-year, fixed-price award without options for indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity supplies of “waterborne surface shafts” – and these follow a similar series of contracts totaling $162 million issued in May.

Four contractors were assigned work during under both awards:

-  Erie Forge and Steel, Erie, Penn., a Whemco subsidiary that manufactures new and refurbished marine propulsion components for aircraft carriers, destroyers, submarines, and support ships;

-  Steel America, a specialty machining fabrication business in Norfolk, Va., with unit capacities up to 1,000 tons;

-  Collins Machine Works, an industrial machining and fabricating business in Portsmouth, Va.; and,

-  Bender CCP in Vernon, Calif., a provider of engineered rotating equipment repair, with fabricating and machining, as well as in-place field machining services.

North American Forgemasters in New Castle, Penn., one of North America’s largest open-die forging operations, was assigned one of the five-year awards issued in July.

Two BAE Systems shipbuilding and repair businesses, BAE Norfolk in Virginia and BAE San Diego in California, drew awards in the May assignments.