Navy to overhaul submarine offshore resupply vessel MV Alyssa Chouest

Nov. 23 (UPI) -- The Navy has awarded Offshore Service Vessels a $10.5 million contract for work on the West Coast Naval Special Warfare submarine support vessel MV Alyssa Chouest.

If all options are exercised, it would bring the total value of the contract to $54.2 million. Work will take place in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and at sea with a projected completion date of July 2020 or June 2024 depending on how many options are exercised. A total of $2.4 million in Fiscal 2019 Navy funds will be obligated

The Chouest is a supply vessel designed for resupply operations on the open ocean. It is owned and operated by private company Edison Chouest Offshore and is contracted by the Navy for submarine resupply and recovering divers and small submersibles.

It has a full load capacity of over 4,000 tons of cargo, which can be unloaded by crane onto a surfaced submarine in large bags that are then dragged inside by sailors. Offshore resupply is how submariners get fresh produce and other perishable goods and consumables during long patrols.