This Day in Navy History
1843 - USS Michigan is launched at Erie, Penn. Michigan is America's first iron-hulled warship, as well as the first prefabricated ship. 1941 - USS Lexington (CV…
Foss: West Coast Icon on Environmental Cutting Edge
Foss Maritime, founded by the matriarch of the Foss family in 1889, is as much a cultural icon on the U.S. West Coast as McAllister or Moran are on the East Coast. Norwegian immigrant Thea Foss began the business when she bought her first row boat in Tacoma, Wash. and painted it the signature green and white. The Foss family grew the business into a launch service ferrying crew and supplies in the 1910s, then shifted into towing work in the 1940s.
Lessons Learned Lead to Improvements in Follow-on LCS Ships
The U.S. Navy and its shipbuilding partners have incorporated lessons learned from the first two Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) in the design and construction of the follow-on ships. “I think the lead ships are pretty good,” says Rear Adm. Jim Murdoch, the Program Executive Officer for LCS (PEO LCS). LCS 1 is the USS Freedom, built at Marinette Marine in Wisconsin by a team led by Lockheed Martin, and commissioned in November of 2008. The ship deployed to U.S.
FAST 2011: Focuses on Future of Fast Sea Transportation
Naval Architects and marine engineers from around the world gathered in Honolulu in September for the 11th International Conference on Fast Sea Transportation (FAST 2011). The four-day biannual symposium promoted world-wide cooperation among scientists and engineers involved with all aspects of the high-speed maritime industry. FAST 2011 was the Fast Foundation’s 20th anniversary. Kjell Holden of the Norwegian Univ.
TechSolutions Connects S&T With Fleet
“TechSolutions allows individual warfighters to submit a request and get short-turnaround solutions from the science and technology community,” says Master Chief Electronics Technician Charles Ziervogel, the Command Master Chief at ONR and fleet liaison for TechSolutions. The process is simple: A Sailor or Marine contacts TechSolutions via the web or email and shares a problem or situation that needs attention. “We want to hear from the Sailor handling the lines, or the Marine toting the rifle.
ONR: From Science Fiction to Science Fact
As Director of Innovation, Dr. Larry Schuette is one of three portfolio directors at the Office of Naval Research (ONR). His counterparts are the director of research (discovery and invention) and director of transition. The Office of Innovation promotes, fosters, and develops innovative science, technology, processes and policies that support the Department of the Navy. “I manage the ‘leap ahead’ portfolio here at the Office of Naval Research,” he says.
Maritime Firefighting: Not Another Drill
OK, your ship has just pulled into port and will start unloading soon. The first mate has told everyone that while shore side paperwork is being completed there will be a mandated fire drill to fulfill international requirements. A designated fire team hooks up several lengths of fire hose to a fire hose station on the main deck. You are the junior crew member so you are told to drag the nozzle with hose attached to the bow of your ship.
WPT Power Adds Hydraulic Pump Drives
WPT Power Corop. announced a new line of Hydraulic Pump Drives. The WPT Power Pump Drives (PPD) will better equip WPT to meet a more extensive range of engine driven application needs and extend our ability to work on broader application requirements. The Power Pump Drives are available for indirect or auxiliary drives, which make them suitable for off highway and mobile equipment. “Our new PPDs are versatile…
Get Ahead of Disaster with Careful Preparation
In a year where globally we are seeing more natural disasters, including earthquakes in New Zealand and Chile, floods in Australia, and a tsunami in Japan, an important…
Offshore Oil Spills & A Culture of Complacency
The dictionary defines “complacency” as tranquil pleasure or self-satisfaction, especially when uncritical or unwarranted. Groups are prone to complacency when events occur as expected over an extended period of time. They let their guard down, assuming that events will continue to turn out as they have in the recent past. It is one of the most important jobs of leaders and managers to prevent their groups from falling into a culture of complacency.
Train Crews to Avoid the ECDIS Adoption Cliff
Training can often assume intimidating dimensions and become a worrying bottleneck in any change process or industry transformation. The ECDIS mandate is a prime example. The significance of training was underlined by José Sergio Gabrielli, head of Petrobras, when speaking about development of Brazil’s Santos basin field at the 2011 NorShipping Conference. “We will have to train at least 200,000 people […]. It is a long term human resources challenge,”he told Conference delegates.
Limitation of Liability in the Workboat Industry
The owners of tugs and other workboats are entitled to limit their liability under the Shipowner’s Limitation of Liability Act, 46 U.S.C. §30501 et seq. (“Limitation Act”)…
Ingalls Wins $46m for DDG 1002 Work
Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) announced that the company's Ingalls Shipbuilding division has been awarded an advance procurement contract for work on the U.S. Navy's third Zumwalt-class destroyer, DDG 1002. The contract is valued at $46 million, with the majority of the work taking place at the company's Composite Center of Excellence in Gulfport. "Strategically, this is a very important contract to our company and specifically to the composite shipbuilders working in Gulfport…
DDW Wins Groundbreaking GOM Conversion Contract
Drydocks World signed a Contract with Singapore based AET, a global leader in petroleum shipping, for two Tanker-to-Modular Capture Vessel (MCV) conversion projects. AET is converting these vessels as part of the Marine Well Containment Company’s (MWCC) well containment system. MWCC is a not-for-profit, stand-alone organization with 10 member companies ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Shell, BP, Apache Anadarko, BHP Billiton, Statoil and Hess.
Dolphin's New 3D Seismic Vessel, Polar Duchess, Employed
Dolphin Geophysical accepted a Letter of Award from TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company ASA for a six-months charter of the new high-capacity 3D seismic vessel, M/V Polar Duchess. The contract is expected to begin during first half of April and continue through a full 2012 summer season in Europe. Atle Jacobsen, CEO said, "We experience positive development in demand for high capacity 3D seismic vessels…
Pollution Control Vessels Launched
Three unique pollution control vessels have been launched in Dorset – with a fourth under construction. The vessels – three with Doosan engines and Westerbeke generators from engine and generator specialist WaterMota – are to be used for oil spill recovery in South America and West Africa. Build by Manor Marine for Desmi Ro-Clean, the steel Pollution Catamarans (Pollcats) – 19m, 15.5m and 12m - are designed to absorb oil or pollution working at a speed of up to five knots…
ShipConstructor Partners With Cloudis
ShipConstructor Software Inc. (SSI) is collaborating with Cloudis to develop an interface to the Cloudis CMPIC Cable Management Application. This development is…
Hamburg to India Liner Service Upgraded
Within the EU the Port of Hamburg is one of India’s most important commercial partners in seaborne foreign trade. In November the Hamburg Joint Representative Office in Mumbai was officially opened.