Work on USS “Mount Whitney” completed

The event was attended by the U.S. Ambassador to Croatia James B. Foley, Commander of the 6^th Fleet of the U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Frank Pandolfe, Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Drago Lovric, Deputy Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Slavko Baric, Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ante Urlic, Commander of the USS Mount Whitney, Captain Ted Williams, Chairman of the CEO Board of “Viktor Lenac” Shipyard Robert Skific and other senior military and civilian guests.

Minister of Defence Bozinovic said that the great job was done on the highest level. “This shows that the Croatian shipbuilding industry is at the world’s top” – he stressed, adding that this should be the model that the Croatian economy needs to move forward. He expressed hope that the 6^th Fleet would renovate and maintain its ships in the future in “Victor Leanc” Shipyard. “The Mediterranean is the area of the ​​6^th Fleet deployment and is of strategic importance to NATO, and this can only contribute to the longevity of this cooperation. Our partners in NATO were convinced that the Croatian shipbuilding industry can do business at the highest international level”, Minister Bozinovic concluded.

On the occasion of completion of the works on “USS Mount Whitney” ship, U.S. Ambassador to Croatia James B. Foley particularly thanked Minister Bozinovic for making it possible that this job to be done in Croatia, while the Commander of the 6^th Fleet Vice Admiral Frank Pandolfe expressed satisfaction with the quality of the work done and with cooperation they had with “Viktor Lenac” shipyard. On this occasion, the Admiral highlighted the high professionalism of the contractor and expressed hope to continue with the similar cooperation in the future.
CEO President of the “Viktor Lenac” shipyard Robert Skific said that all the work was done in time and that the required quality was meet. “This is the first step in cooperation between the Viktor Lenac shipyard and the U.S. Navy and I think we have passed the exam”, and added that he hoped for this cooperation to continue. He noted that the final value of the contract because of the extra work that needed to be done would be at around 8.5 million euros.
“USS Mount Whitney” ship has been docked in the Viktor Lenac shipyard since September this year when the works on its repairs started and which were completed on time. During the execution of works Commander of the ship Captain Ted Williams on several occasions stressed the exceptional satisfaction with the quality of works done.