USS Fitzgerald Comes To Ingalls Pascagoula

The US Navy Has Made A 63 Million Dollar Contract With Ingalls Shipbuilding In Pascagoula To Begin Repairing The Damage On The USS Fitzgerald.
And After A Long Trip, The US Navy Destroyer, Docked At Ingalls Today.
News 25’s Caroline Eaker Was On Hand As Many Excited Coast Residents Waved In The Ship.

Anticipation Mounted As More Than One Hundred People Stood On The Look Out At Point Park In Pascagoula … Waiting For The Damaged USS Fitzgerald To Make Its Way To Its Temporary Home At Ingalls For Repairs …
Among Them 58 Members Of The Navy Destroyer’s Crew – Including The Ship’s New Commander.

” The USS Fitzgerald had a home port change here and has arrived to her new home port not via the normal means under her own power but here ready to start the process of modernizing her and as well as rebuilding and repairing the damage from the collision that happened in June.”
– Ship Commander Miller, USS Fitzgerald

It’s taken seven months for the damaged vessel to make her way to Ingalls for repairs after colliding with a commercial cargo ship off the coast of japan…
A bittersweet moment – considering the seven u-s sailors who lost their lives.

” I think about it every day about putting this ship back to the right set and making sure that it is done correctly and making sure that the crew is trained and ready to operate this ship. The former sailors that were on the ship during the collision and the current ones now you know they all want the best for the ship.”
– Ship Commander Miller, USS Fitzgerald

” And for some Pascagoula residents and longtime Ingalls employees watching the USS Fitzgerald come into the shipyard brought back memories of the USS Cole, a destroyer that was damaged in a terrorist attack in 2000.”
– Caroline Eaker News 25 @Carolinewxxv

“I worked on the Cole and I got to see it when it came in and it was terrible, terrible, it was heartbreaking you know the smells, just everything but we did a good job me and all my buddies.”
– Sandra German Retired Ingalls Employee

And while repairs on this damaged ship are expected to take two years,
The healing process is underway, as these crew members for the USS Fitzgerald embark on a new training mission in South Mississippi alongside their ship as it is repaired.