BAE’s San Diego shipyard gets lift with $64 million contract to repair Navy destroyer

The Defense Department has awarded BAE Systems’ shipyard in San Diego a $64.1 million contract for repairs, maintenance and upgrades on the USS O’Kane, a Burke-class destroyer that helped protect the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier battle group during a long deployment that ended in February.

The O’Kane made headlines last year when it came under attack by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who fired missiles at the ship and a second San Diego destroyer, the USS Stockdale, while they were escorting merchant vessels in the Middle East. Both destroyers successfully repelled the attack.

The O’Kane was commissioned in 1999, making it one of the older Burke destroyers in the fleet.