By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS Published: 6 May 2011 16:59
Robert Ruks, a former inspector for Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court May 6 to two counts of lying about welds he should have inspected on U.S. Navy ships and submarines under construction at the Newport News, Va., shipyard.
A defective pipe joint weld on a submarine that Ruks had certified as properly done could have caused the loss of the submarine, as it was a certified SUBSAFE weld - critical to the ship's safety.
As a result of Ruks' false weld certifications, Northrop Grumman was forced to expend 18,906 man-hours to complete the reinspections, at a cost of $654,000, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The issue came to light in May 2009 after co-workers suspected Ruks, a non-destructive testing weld inspector, was not being truthful about his inspection reports. Questioned on May 14 of that year by his supervisors, Ruks admitted he had falsely certified inspecting three lift pad welds on a submarine although, according to a statement of facts filed with his plea agreement, the inspections were not performed.
Ruks lied again on May 22, 2009, when he was questioned by agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. According to the statement of facts, while Ruks admitted falsifying the lift pad weld certifications, he lied to the agents about the number of other ship and submarine hulls he had failed to inspect.
Discovery of the false inspections stung Northrop Grumman, which had experienced a series of unrelated problems with poor weld work done at the Newport News shipyard.
The shipbuilder, now spun off from Northrop as Huntington-Ingalls Shipbuilding, declined to comment on Ruks' court case, saying it would not comment on personnel issues. Ruks was terminated by the shipyard shortly after his lying came to light.
"Lying on weld inspection reports is a dangerous crime that threatens the safety of our Navy personnel," U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in the news release.
Between June 2005, when he was certified as an inspector, and May 2009, Ruks inspected and signed off on more than 10,000 welding structural joints on at least nine different ships.
Ruks performed most of his work on the submarines New Mexico (2,133 welds inspected), Missouri (3,169), California (2,002) and Mississippi (2,177). The smallest number of structural welds on any particular submarine was 23 on the New Hampshire and two on the North Carolina.
Just over 10 percent of the submarine welds were hull integrity or SUBSAFE joints involving critical parts. The inspector also performed 229 piping joint inspections on submarines.
Ruks is to appear for sentencing in the Newport News court on Aug. 12. He faces a maximum term of five years in prison, a fine of $250,000 and full restitution for each offense.
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