Shipyard Disputes Claim of Poor Workmanship on Carriers

Northrop-Grumman’s Newport News Shipbuilding is challenging a report published in The Savannah Morning News on April 23, 2005, which alleged that a dozen shipyard workers who had installed protective foam inside the hulls of aircraft carriers said “they had fudged records or installed the foam contrary to specifications in order to meet deadlines.” The polyurethane substance is pumped between layers of steel in some portions of a carrier’s hull and hardens to provide an additional barrier against torpedoes, missiles and mines.