Under a new $45.3 million U.S. Navy contract, BAE Systems will modernize the guided missile cruiser USS Anzio (CG 68) at its shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia. (Photo: U.S. Navy)

Under a new $45.3 million U.S. Navy contract, BAE Systems will modernize the guided missile cruiser USS Anzio (CG 68) at its shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia. (Photo: U.S. Navy)

NORFOLK, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BAE Systems has received a $45.3 million contract from the U.S. Navy to modernize the guided missile cruiser USS Anzio (CG 68). The Anzio will undergo six months of work at the company’s shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia, the ship’s homeport. The contract includes options that, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value to $53.1 million.

BAE Systems will perform ship alterations and miscellaneous repairs aboard the 567-foot-long Anzio, including the replacement of critical aluminium structures. The work is expected to begin in February and be completed in August 2018. The company’s Norfolk shipyard currently is performing the same long-term modernization work aboard the USS Vicksburg (CG 69).

“As our team wraps up the first stage of modernization work aboard the Vicksburg, we look forward to the arrival of the Anzio soon afterwards to start its cruiser-mod program,” said Dave Thomas, vice president and general manager of BAE Systems Norfolk Ship Repair. “This contract, along with other recent ship repair contracts, provides important work for our shipyard team, particularly for our skilled employees who work with aluminium structures aboard Navy ships.”

The USS Anzio was commissioned in May 1992. The ship is the third East Coast-based guided missile cruiser to undergo the extensive repair and upgrade work under the Navy’s long-term cruiser modernization program. In addition to the Vicksburg, the company’s Norfolk shipyard began modernization work aboard the first East Coast ship in the program, the USS Gettysburg (CG 64). The company’s San Diego shipyard executed similar work aboard the USS Cowpens (CG 63).

BAE Systems is a leading provider of ship repair, maintenance, modernization, conversion, and overhaul services for the Navy, other government agencies, and select commercial customers. The company operates five full-service shipyards in Alabama, California, Florida, Hawaii, and Virginia, and offers a highly skilled, experienced workforce, eight dry docks, and significant pier space and ship support services.