Bath Iron Works announced late last week that it will be eliminating 160 positions, including 30 layoffs.

“This action will result in 30 employees being laid off. The remaining reductions will be realized through retirements, transfers, resignations and canceled job postings,” the company said in a statement. “We regret the impact this will have on employees and their families.”

The announcement follows shortly after Bath Iron Works lost its bid for a potential $11 billion Coast Guard contract, although Matt Wickenheiser, manager of Communications & Public Relations, said that the decision to eliminate positions in the engineering and support organizations was unrelated to losing that bid.

“This was not related to the (Coast Guard) decision,” said Wickenheiser. “This is part of our ongoing efforts to reduce cost and become more affordable company-wide.”

Since Fred Harris took over as president of BIW in 2013, he has made streamlining and cost cutting a priority. During the last bout of negotiations over union contracts, Harris and Bath’s largest union, Local S6, agreed to a number of concessions to reduce shipbuilding costs not just for the Coast Guard bid, but for future projects as well.

“Our ability to offer a realistic and strong bid was a direct result of the progress we made working together with Local S6 to make important changes here at BIW,” said Harris in BIW’s newsletter last month. “The changes we have made and continue to implement have helped to position us not only for the OPC program, but also for the next DDG-51 multi-year competition. We expect to start working on that proposal later this year, and will likely submit a bid in the first quarter of 2017.”

Beyond union contract negotiations, BIW has also worked to outsource severals ship components to subcontractors to help the shipyard make more affordable bids. While it appears that these efforts weren’t enough to win the Coast Guard bid, there’s no sign that BIW won’t continue trying to reduce costs as it prepares to bid on the next round of Arleigh Burke destroyers.

For now, the shipyard’s work will continue as scheduled. Later this year, BIW plans to begin sea trials on the Rafael Peralta, the first Arleigh Burke destroyer built at Bath since Congress decided to resume the DDG- 51 program in 2008.

The shipyard’s most recently completed destroyer, PCU Zumwalt, departed Bath earlier this month. The ship is making its way to Baltimore for a commissioning ceremony on Oct. 15, after which it will journey to its new home in San Diego.

In its travels along the Eastern seaboard, however, the Navy has reported that the Zumwalt has sprung a leak. The leak in the ship’s propulsions system will be repaired in Norfolk, Virginia, prior to the commissioning ceremony, which will remain on schedule.

“The crew discovered the casualty after detecting a seawater leak in the propulsion motor drive lube oil auxiliary system for one of the ship’s shafts. The built-in redundancy of the ship’s propulsion plant allows this first-in-class ship to operate with multiple engine configurations. However, it was determined that the repairs should be completed in port prior to the ship transiting to sea,” U.S. Naval Surface Forces told U.S. Naval Institute News in a statement.

Work goes on

• LATER THIS YEAR, Bath Iron Works plans to begin sea trials on the Rafael Peralta, the first Arleigh Burke destroyer built at Bath since Congress decided to resume the DDG-51 program in 2008.