USS Fitzgerald leaves dry dock nearly two years after fatal collision

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The USS Fitzgerald left dry dock Tuesday in Pascagoula, Miss., nearly two years after a collision that killed seven sailors, according to a Navy statement.

The Yokosuka-based guided-missile destroyer has been undergoing repairs since arriving at Pascagoula’s Ingalls Shipbuilding yard in January 2018. Workers will continue to work on the ship while it’s moored pierside, the Navy said.

Repairs are expected to be completed by January, the service said early this year. To date, it has not announced plans to return the ship to Yokosuka.

“This undocking is a step forward and brings us that much closer to getting Fitzgerald back out to sea — where the ship belongs,” Fitzgerald commanding officer Cmdr. Garrett Miller said in the statement. “I’m proud of this crew’s hard work over the past year and look forward [to] returning to the fleet with enhanced warfighting capability and lethality.”

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