Navy Submarines News

U.S. research is advancing on the potential to change fuel for nuclear reactors on Navy submarines and aircraft carriers from bomb-grade uranium to a safer option, documents showed Wednesday, even as the program's funding is at risk in Congress.In order to lower proliferation risks of keeping stockpiles of highly-enriched uranium, the U.S. government has been exploring since 2018 how to use low-enriched fuel that cannot be used as fissile material in weapons.The U.S. research…

South Korean authorities cited the risk of Chinese economic retaliation when they charged marine technology firm SI Innotec last year with violating trade laws for its work on Taiwan's new military submarine program, according to a police document seen by Reuters and two people familiar with the matter.In a Feb. 17, 2022, affidavit to a judge seeking the arrest of SI Innotec executive director Park Mal-sik, police said authorities feared a repeat of the sweeping sanctions imposed by Beijing in 2016, after Seoul decided to install THAAD, a U.S. anti-missile system.

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) said on Friday it has been awarded a task order from Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division (NSWCCD) to conduct a manufacturing assessment of several new propulsor bearing concept designs for U.S. Navy submarines. The task order is under the Propulsor Demonstration Hardware (PDH) Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract previously awarded to GA-EMS.“Manufacturing feasibility evaluations such as this are crucial steps in determining whether a new concept design will deliver greater performance…

L3Harris Technologies announced it is one of three companies selected to provide Preliminary Designs for the next generation submarine tender, a support vessel that will provide expeditionary maintenance and repairs for U.S. Navy submarines.New York-listed L3Harris said it will support the development of the AS(X) ship specifications, interface specifications, ship cost estimates and construction schedules under the base AS(X) Concept Refinement and Preliminary Design contract.

International Marine and Industrial Applicators, LLC (IMIA), a portfolio company of an investment affiliate of J.F. Lehman & Company (JFLCO), announced it has acquired Main Industries, Inc.Headquartered in Hampton, Va., Main Industries provides preservation, scaffolding and environmental containment services to the marine vessel new construction and maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) markets. The company supports the U.S. Navy’s aircraft carrier new construction and MRO requirements (including refueling overhauls) in the Mid-Atlantic region…

The American shipbuilding scene, filled with participants constructing all manner of vessels, has been navigating through stormy times (lately, yards along the Gulf Coast have literally been dealing with storms). The orders for newbuild, repair and conversion projects continue to flow in—albeit at a reduced pace—and the boats and ships go down the ways into the water, but the overall panorama has seen tremendous sea changes as the business has shifted.Maritime businesses worldwide have been grappling with currents both internal and external.

Maritime navigational safety near two U.S. Navy installations in Kings Bay, Ga., and Portsmouth, N.H. has been improved thanks to new Physical Oceanographic Real-Time Systems, also known as PORTS, installed by NOAA and the U.S. Navy. They are the first new PORTS in two years, and the 34th and 35th in the nationwide network.The system near Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, the East Coast home to America’s Ohio-class submarines, is an integrated series of sensors which will provide critical real-time information on oceanographic and meteorological conditions.

A World War II era submarine sunk during a Cold War training exercise off the shores of Hawaii more than six decades ago has been discovered by a team of ocean explorers utilizing pioneering robotics and methods at the forefront of today's underwater technology.USS Stickleback (SS 415), lost in nearly 11,000 feet of water 62 years ago, was discovered by veteran ocean explorer and Tiburon Subsea CEO Tim Taylor and his "Lost 52 Project" team equipped with a combination of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV)…

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) with several collaborating groups released an update for an internationally vital sea-ice computer model, called CICE version 6.0, a timely tool that supports more accurate forecasting of ice occurrence and global climate modeling.“This update improves our ability to understand a type of anchored ice, called land-fast ice, that is attached to the shore or sea bottom and can block shipping lanes and northern ports,” said Elizabeth Hunke, lead developer of the CICE model. “The polar regions are not desolate, they’re actually alive with shipping, energy development, fishing, hunting, research and military defense operations,” Hunke noted.“Sea ice makes navigation hazardous, as thick ice can block fishing boats and even makes it difficult for U.S.

Great moments in naval architecture & marine engineeringThe world's first nuclear powered submarine, USS Nautilus (SSN-571), was commissioned by the U.S. Navy in September 1954. The first-of-its-kind submarine went on to set many records, including the first ever submerged transit of the North Pole. Today all U.S. Navy submarines are nuclear-powered.The October 2018 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News, the world’s largest audited circulation maritime magazine serving the maritime b2b space…

Naval Group performed a new launch of the F21 torpedo in the frame of the Artémis program led by the French Defence Procurement Agency (Direction Générale de l’Armement -DGA). In the medium term, the DGA aims to equip all the French Navy's submarines with this heavy torpedo. This launch was performed early May from a nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN). The F21 was launched under the authority of the DGA in a DGA Missiles Testing’s underwater acoustic range off the Hyères coast.

A pair of U.S. Navy submarines recently surfaced in the Arctic Circle as part of multinational maritime exercise north of Alaska. Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine USS Hartford (SSN 768) and Seawolf-class fast attack submarine, USS Connecticut (SSN 22) surfaced in the Arctic Circle March 10 during the multinational maritime Ice Exercise (ICEX) 2018. Both submarines, as well the UK Royal Navy submarine HMS Trenchant (S91), are participating in the biennial exercise in the Arctic to train and validate the warfighting capabilities of submarines in extreme cold-water conditions. "From a military, geographic and scientific perspective…

General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, Connecticut, is being awarded $8,788,219 for cost-plus-fixed-fee modification P00023 to previously awarded contract (N00014-13-C-0187) for the future submarine science and technology research effort. Electric Boat will perform investigations to develop and demonstrate technology for Navy submarines. With the award of this modification, the total cumulative value of this contract is $23,453,010. Work will be performed in Cambridge, Massachusetts (44 percent); Groton, Connecticut (29 percent); Pawcatuck, Connecticut (20 percent); Airmont, New York (3 percent); Canonsburg, Pennsylvania (1 percent); and future performance in Mystic, Connecticut (3 percent). Work is expected to be completed Dc. 31, 2018.

Commanding a submarine is arguably one of the toughest jobs in the world so training for the role it is justifiably challenging, preparing those who spend their days in the deep with the skills to lead their teams. Seven prospective undersea commanding officers from the United States Navy have joined their Australian colleages on the Submarine Command Course, conducted in Australia biennially. This year it coincided with a visit by the USS Oklahoma City, a Los Angeles class attack submarine, to Fleet Base West. Shortly after arriving in Australia, the officers toured their Australian host boat for the conduct of the exercise, HMAS Farncomb, which was also berthed alongside.

1833 - The frigate Constitution is the first vessel to enter the newly-built dry dock at the Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, Mass. for overhaul. A false rumor circulates in Boston in 1830 that the U.S. Navy intends to scrap the ship; young Oliver Wendell Holmes pens his poem "Old Ironsides", becoming a rallying cry to save the ship. 1944 - Torpedo bomber TBM aircraft (VC 69) from USS Bogue (CVE 9) sink Japanese submarine (I 52), 800 miles southwest of Fayal, Azores. 1944 - Navy submarines USS Grouper (SS 214), USS Redfin (SS 272) and USS Tang (SS 306) attack Japanese convoys off the coast of Japan, sinking seven enemy vessels. 1948 - The Berlin airlift Operation Vittles is initiated to offset the Soviet Union's blockade access of the U.S.…

Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding division kicked off its 130th anniversary celebration January 28. Newport News, the sole designer, builder and refueler of U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and one of two providers of U.S. Navy submarines, will celebrate the anniversary throughout 2016 with commemorative videos and employee publications. More than 100 local businesses, museums, schools and civic leaders provided congratulatory video messages that will be released each week throughout the year.

1800 - USS Constellation engages French frigate La Vengeance in a 5-hour battle during the Quasi War. 1902 - USS Plunger (SS-2), the lead ship of the Plunger-class submarine, launches. She is commissioned Sept. 19, 1903, at the Holland Company yard at New Suffolk, Long Island, N.Y. Ensign Chester W. Nimitz is the submarines final commander when Plunger is decommissioned Nov. 6, 1909 at the Charleston Navy Shipyard. 1942 - USS Enterprise (CV 6) and USS Yorktown (CV 5) make the…

General Dynamics Electric Boat expects to hire nearly 4,000 people in the coming years as it ramps up production on Navy submarines, the Associated Press reports. Electric Boat is projecting a positive outlook for 2016 for revenue and employment, saying 1,800 more workers will be hired at its facilities in Connecticut and Rhode Island this year. Electric Boat, a subsidiary of General Dynamics Corp., employs 14,100 people, mainly in Connecticut. By 2030, EB is projecting that number will grow to 18,000. Electric Boat president Jeffrey S. Geiger told a gathering of legislators Monday at the Crowne Plaza in Warwick the North Kingstown shipbuilder’s future looks upbeat. Right now, the company has a backlog of 16 Virginia-class attack submarines under contract — worth $21 billion.

Nothing escapes the constant vigilance of US surveillance activities near the Chinese coast and the Pacific First Island Chain which extends from Alaska to the Philippines, according to the Beijing Morning Post. A Pathfinder-class oceanographic survey ship USNS Bowditch is in charge of operations in the Asia-Pacific. It is also part of the Special Mission Ship program established to collect intelligence over the disputed South China Sea. The USNS Bowditch is described by the Chinese as the "vacuum of ocean intelligence." It is also equipped with ocean depth multi-beam and single-beam sonar systems. With intelligence provided by the USNS Bowditch, US nuclear-powered attack submarines are capable of intercepting PLA Navy submarines in the disputed waters.

The U.S. Navy has given Newport News Shipbuilding a $106 million contract to provide engineering and industrial support for submarines. Huntington Ingalls Industries, parent company of Newport News Shipbuilding, said the contract will be worth a total of $564 million, as the special mission submersibles, submarine support facilities and related programs are also covered by the contract. Newport News Shipbuilding is one of only two U.S. shipyards capable of building nuclear-powered submarines and has completed hundreds of ship repair projects for the government, ranging from paint repair to complete hull and machinery renovation. "Receiving this contract allows Newport News Shipbuilding to continue decades of delivering the best engineering, design and logistics support for U.S.

General Dynamics received a $20 million contract modification from the U.S. Navy to continue modernizing the AN/BYG-1 Weapons Control System (WCS) Technology Insertion and Advanced Processing Build software for U. S. Navy and Royal Australian Navy submarines. The AN/BYG-1 software analyzes and tracks submarine and surface-ship contact information, providing tactical, situational awareness for submarine crews including the capability to target and employ torpedoes and missiles. “The AN/BYG-1 software program is an exceptionally cost-effective way for the Navy to quickly update and add capabilities to submarine weapon systems,” said Carlo Zaffanella, vice president and general manager of Maritime and Strategic Systems for General Dynamics Mission Systems.

Artful, the third of the U.K. Royal Navy’s new Astute Class attack submarines, has arrived at her Scottish base port from where she will carry out sea trials before entering service later this year, the U.K. Ministry of Defense announced. The 7,400-metric-ton, 97-meter-long Artful left BAE Systems’ construction yard at Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria several days ago before sailing to her new home at Her Majesty’s Naval Base (HMNB) Clyde. HMNB Clyde will become a home for the Royal Navy’s submarines and associated support by 2020, creating a submarine centre of specialization.

A pair of market entries — one a business of powerful Japanese technology players, the other a newbie with some pedigree — reveal how bold, modular design could pay dividends in a competitive market. Their increments of innovation add up to timely ways to comply with changes, including extra U.S. Coast Guard strictures due out on the eve of an International Maritime Organization meeting in November 2015. The record numbers of vendors at Norway’s Nor-Shipping show offer paths to compliance…