As the public knows, the USS Fitzgerald, a Navy destroyer built at Bath Iron Works, collided with a Philippine tanker, with the loss of seven American sailors.
I have worked at Bath Iron Works for 31 years and never experienced anything in all that time like I did just after that. A union worker, a welder whose name I do not know, came up to me and thanked me for the work that I do. He believed that if that ship had been built anywhere but at BIW, it would have sunk.
He told me how proud he was to work with shipbuilders who, despite the pressures of cutting costs and reducing labor charges, did not sacrifice quality in the work that we do. He said he was going to thank as many people as he could for going above the contractual requirements for quality in order to keep our service people safe.
He stated that those young men and women belong to all of us, not just to their wives, husbands, children and parents. They are the ones who stand on the line, risking their lives for our freedom.
I started work at Bath in 1986. I looked at the sign that said “Through these gates pass the best shipbuilders in the world” and regarded it as so much braggadocio. But people here are not just working for a paycheck; they care and take pride in what they do.
Truly, they are the best damn shipbuilders in the world.
David Campbell, Mechanic Falls
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