BAE Systems Ship Repair Norfolk has announced plans for layoffs - 650 people will be layed off effective November 20, 2015, says company sources.
This represents 43 percent reduction in workforce. The company attributed to a decrease in Navy repair work.
The company said in a statement that the cuts are the result of a "decrease in Navy repair work, consistent with the Navy's decision to delay several modernization programs and the reduced number of Navy ships homeported in Norfolk."
"Over the next few weeks, leading up to Nov. 20, we will identify the specific people who will be departing based upon the work and the skills that we need to do that work," Karl Johnson, a BAE spokesman, said.
The layoffs are driven by a drop in the number of surface-combatant ships - destroyers, cruisers and amphibious-assault ships - homeported in Hampton Roads, as well as a delay in modernization programs in which BAE would have been a key participant, Johnson said.
It is the second major hit to the region’s ship industry within a week. Last Tuesday, Newport News Shipbuilding announced 480 layoffs, with more to come next year, because of a temporary drop in work.
BAE Systems provides ship repair, maintenance, modernization, conversion and overhaul for the Navy and other customers. It has seven full-service shipyards in Alabama, Florida, California, Virginia and Hawaii, and has a total of about 5,000 employees.