Marine Link
Friday, March 29, 2024
SUBSCRIBE

Becky News

17 Dec 2016

Ten Appointments to Australian Naval Shipbuilding Advisory Board

The Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon Christopher Pyne MP, today announced the appointment of 10 Board Members to the Naval Shipbuilding Advisory Board, chaired by Professor Donald Winter. “The establishment of the Advisory Board is an important milestone in the Government’s naval shipbuilding strategy, ensuring expert, independent advice to Government on all aspects of this historical national endeavour,” Minister Pyne said. Mr Martin Bean, CBE – Vice Chancellor and President of RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia and former Vice Chancellor of The Open University in the United Kingdom. Mr Mike Burgess – After leaving the position of Chief Information Security Officer for Telstra, he is now a Strategic Cyber Security Adviser and Consultant.

19 Mar 2015

Nicaragua Canal: Connects Ocean, Disconnects People

The $50 billion Nicaragua Canal scheme promises to bring huge economic benefits to Central America's poorest country. But environmentalists and peasant farmers strongly oppose the project. And many are wary of the Chinese company that is to construct the canal. The massive canal will connect the Pacific and Caribbean and could reduce the cost of shipping commodities from Europe to Asia. The canal would be both longer and wider than the Panama Canal. Canal critics fear there will be confiscations of land, environmental mayhem and a job boom that will bypass the locals. In an interview with BBC today (March 19), Wang Jing, the Chinese billionaire who intends to build a shipping canal through Nicaragua connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific, has dismissed the project's critics.

09 Mar 2015

JonRie’s New Assist Winch for Bisso Towboat

Photo: JonRie

JonRie informs its new Series 230 Assist Winch has been commissioned on the new Bisso Towboat ASD Becky S. The new JonRie Series 230 Ship Assist Winch is a new version of the Series 230 winches line. The winch features JonRie’s independent drive level wind, but with the additional installation of a Logan clutch on the drive. When the winch is heaving or paying out hawser the level wind drive is engaged, and when the tug is working under heavy ship assist loads the level wind is unclutched.

02 Feb 2015

Rob Hogan Appointed Vice President of Manufacturing at Newport News Shipbuilding

Rob Hogan (Photo courtesy of Huntington Ingalls Industries)

Rob Hogan has been appointed vice president of manufacturing at the Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding division. Since beginning his career as a welder in 1976, Hogan has held leadership positions at all levels of production and construction. Most recently, he served as director of manufacturing for steel fabrication. Hogan is a graduate of The Apprentice School and earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Strayer University. In his new position…

29 Jan 2015

Hogan Named VP at Newport News Shipbuilding

Rob Hogan (HII photo)

Rob Hogan has been appointed vice president of manufacturing at the Newport News Shipbuilding division of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), the company announced. Hogan began his career in 1976 as a welder. Since then, he has held leadership positions at all levels of production and construction. Most recently, he served as director of manufacturing for steel fabrication. Hogan is a graduate of The Apprentice School and earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Strayer University.

22 Sep 2014

Blood Pumping With Mobile CPR Unit for HII's Newport

Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News Shipbuilding division partnered with the American Heart Association to teach shipbuilders how to perform hands-only CPR during a demonstration Thursday. The American Heart Association provided the shipyard a mobile CPR unit for on-site instruction and take-home kits to promote hands-on practice with family and friends. With more than 300 employees in attendance, representatives from the HealthWaves wellness program were onsite to greet shipbuilders and discuss the importance of the CPR training led by American Heart Association representatives. "It's important for shipbuilders and their families to learn CPR because with this knowledge they can help save lives," said HealthWaves Program Director Becky Johnson.

26 Jul 2014

Exxon eyes expanding Texas refinery

Exxon Mobil Corp is considering a multi-billion-dollar plan to expand its Beaumont, Texas, refinery into the country's largest, the first major refining investment of the U.S. shale oil boom, people with knowledge of the deliberations said. The expansion of the 344,600 barrel-per-day (bpd) Beaumont refinery, if carried out, would be completed by 2020 and potentially double its size with the addition of a third crude distillation unit (CDU), the sources said. More modest near-term projects to renew and expand so-called coking units to help refine more heavy crude already are under way, they said. If Exxon presses ahead, the investment would be a further indication that the American oil giant is breaking ranks with many of its big global rivals…

20 Mar 2013

D'Arcinoff Group Consortium Announces $4.6 Billion Project

D'Arcinoff Group, Inc. and its consortium partners will deploy the first phase of the $4.6 billion D’Arcinoff Group Energy Program (DGE), an integrated synthetic fuel, power generation and distribution project. D’Arcinoff Group expects to install its first phase 40,000 barrel-per-day alternative fuel facility in Hudspeth County, Texas, to be operational by the end of 2016. DGE is an environmentally clean, natural gas and biomass to liquid fuel and power generation initiative. The project will harness the carbon emissions from electric power generation and integrate them with renewable energy resources to produce drop-in, low emissions transportation fuels. “Our project will enhance domestic fuel supplies, produce clean affordable energy and support significant U.S.

25 Apr 2012

USS IOWA Prepares for Final Transit

USS IOWA Takes on Iowa Coins, Regains its Mast, Prepares for its Final Journey; The Battleship of Presidents will open as an interactive naval museum in Los Angeles. The time-honored tradition of adding coins to the mast of a ship for good luck took place as two Iowans stood atop a 205-foot-tall platform and dropped Iowa state quarters into the mast of the USS IOWA as it hung from a barge crane. Former Iowa legislator Jeff Lamberti of Ankeny and Becky Beach of Des Moines released a handful of coins into the mast shortly before eight welders reattached it to the historic battleship.

08 Aug 2011

HII Delivers Submarine Ahead of Schedule

Huntington Ingalls Industries has announced that its Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division delivered the Virginia-class submarine California (SSN781) to the U.S. Navy yesterday. The delivery came more than eight and a half months early to the contract date and nearly five months faster than NNS' previous delivery of New Mexico. California, the world's most modern and sophisticated nuclear-powered attack submarine, recently returned to NNS following the successful completion of its third and final round of sea trials."This is the day that shipbuilders work toward…

18 Mar 2011

Northrop Grumman $25M for Submarine Maintenance

Photo courtesy Northrop Grumman Corp.

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has been awarded a fixed price contract valued at $25m from the U.S. Navy for the preparation and completion of a dry dock continuous maintenance availability of USS Albany (SSN 753). The company's Shipbuilding sector in Newport News is the prime contractor and will provide advance planning, design, engineering, procurement, ship-checks, fabrication and preliminary shipyard work as well as all necessary alterations, repairs, maintenance, modernization, testing and routine work required to return the submarine to the fleet.

16 Nov 2010

Northrop Grumman Launches 8th Virginia-Class Sub

Photo courtesy Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) reached a significant construction milestone by successfully launching the Virginia-class submarine California (SSN 781) at the company's Shipbuilding sector in Newport News, Va. on Nov. 14. "Launch is a special milestone in the life of a submarine, this is the first time she's put into the water," said Becky Stewart, vice president of submarines and fleet support for Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding-Newport News. "California is 88 percent complete. On Nov.

16 Nov 2010

Eighth Virginia-Class Submarine, California (SSN 781), Launched

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NSYE:NOC) reached a construction milestone by launching the Virginia-class submarine California (SSN 781) at the company's shipbuilding sector in Newport News, Va. on Nov. 14. "Launch is a special milestone in the life of a submarine, this is the first time she's put into the water," said Becky Stewart, vice president of submarines and fleet support for Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding-Newport News. "California is 88 percent complete. On Nov. 11, shipbuilders used a transfer car system to move the 7…

11 Oct 2010

Grumman Awarded $102M for Sub Modernization

Photo courtesy Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has been awarded a cost plus fixed fee contract option valued at $102.7m from the U.S. Navy for work on Los Angeles-class, Seawolf-class, Virginia-class and Ohio-class submarines, special mission submersible interfaces, submarine support facilities and related programs. The company's Shipbuilding sector in Newport News, Va. is the prime contractor and will provide engineering, design, configuration management, integrated logistic support, database management and modernization support. Work is expected to begin immediately and continue into 2011.

12 Jul 2010

Cummins to Expand Product Line, Add 200 Jobs

Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) announced that it is expanding its High-Horsepower Technical Center and high-horsepower engine product line at its manufacturing facility in Seymour. The expansion of the center will provide the company with more opportunities for producing high-horsepower clean-diesel and natural gas engines in the future. Mark Levett, Vice President and General Manager  High-Horsepower Business, made the announcement at the plant and was joined by Indiana Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman, U.S. Rep. Baron Hill and several members of local and state government representing the Seymour area. Cummins plans to invest approximately $100m in the expansion at the Seymour plant, which is expected to result in approximately 200 engineering and manufacturing jobs over the next five years.

09 Dec 2009

Navy Christens Virginia-Class Sub Missouri

Photo courtesy U.S. Navy

With the spray of bubbly from a champagne bottle, PCU Missouri (SSN 780), the Navy's newest Virginia-class attack submarine, was christened during a late morning ceremony at General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, Conn., Dec. Missouri, the fifth Navy ship to be named in honor of the people of the "Show Me State," is "a link in the honored chain of ships to bear the name; another chapter in the storied history of the Naval service," said Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Ray Mabus. SECNAV and Secretary of Defense Robert M.

25 Feb 2009

Northrop Grumman Redelivers USS Toledo

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NSYE:NOC) has successfully redelivered the Los Angeles-class submarine USS Toledo (SSN 769) to the U.S. Navy. The redelivery took place Feb. 21 following successful sea trials. The ship began its Depot Modernization Period in 2007 at the company's Shipbuilding sector in Newport News, Va. The work included upgrades to the submarine's sonar, combat and weapons systems and maintenance work on the propulsion, auxiliary and habitability systems. Additionally, preservation work was performed on all ballast and internal tanks.

19 Sep 2000

NNS Fixes Paradise's Pod

hen the 70,367-ton, 855 ft. (260.6 m) Carnival Paradise arrived at Newport News Shipbuilding for emergency repair on its Azipod propulsion system, it marked a milestone in ship repair history as no U.S.-based yard had ever performed work on the advanced pod system. The vessel arrived for drydocking at the yard on July 25, where the NNS crew prepared it in time for its next scheduled sailing date on August 20. MR/EN had the opportunity to speak with Becky Stewart, NNS' director of ship repair, who provided an update of this premiere repair job. For the past two-and-a-half weeks crews from various departments within Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) have been grinding away around-the-clock seven days a week in order to rejuvenate the Carnival Paradise's Azipod propulsion system.

20 Jan 2004

Three Exec Appointments at Newport News

Northrop Grumman Corporation announces the following three executive appointments in its Newport News sector: Becky Stewart, currently vice president, Surface Ship and Submarine Fleet Maintenance Program has been named head of the Submarine Program; Irwin F. Edenzon, currently vice president, Business and Technology Development, has been named vice president, Technology Development and Fleet Support; and John J. promoted to vice president, Business Development. All appointments are effective Feb. 1, 2004. Grumman corporate vice president and president of the Newport News sector. As vice president, Submarine Program, Becky Stewart will be responsible for all new submarine construction projects.

29 Oct 2003

Coast Guard Airlifts Stricken Diver

A Coast Guard rescue crew medevaced an injured diver after receiving a call at 9:09 a.m. from a crewmember on board the vessel Clearlight, near Wrangell. The Lady Becky, a nearby vessel, rendered Good Samaritan aid, and a Coast Guard helicopter launched from Sitka. The Coast Guard rescue crew took 33-year old Ketchikan resident Michael R. Anderson to Ketchikan, where an EMS crew awaited. Ketchikan hospital officials pronounced him deceased. Rescuers performed CPR on Anderson aboard the Clearlight and the helicopter en route Ketchikan. Anderson reportedly lacked oxygen for about 5-10 minutes on board the vessel. The Clearlight, a fishing vessel from Southeast Alaska, traveled near East Island, about 30 miles southwest of Wrangell, when the incident occurred.

23 Oct 2003

Feature: Keeping the Port in Portland

We rolled into town on the last train north, arriving Portland, Maine at 2:00 a.m. Half an hour later we were at the dock, hauling our kit - and when Marine News travels light, we're like Hannibal crossing the Alps - over silent tugs resting abreast: Captain Bill, Justine McAllister, Stamford. On the phone a few days before, Capt. Brian Fournier had said something about leaving a light in Stamford's forward port cabin, and there, finally, it shone. But something brighter had caught our eye, and could we believe it? Last time we saw something like it, it was in Aberdeen, Scotland. Now, from Stamford's starboard rail, it loomed and glistened four hundred feet away - rising nearly as high - a pair of deep-sea drilling platforms, afloat waters barely up to their ankles.

07 Nov 2001

A City Within A Shipyard

For more than 100 years Newport News Shipbuilding has held the distinction as one of the largest shipyards in the Western Hemisphere. The 550-acre facility, which is situated on a two-mile stretch along the James River in Newport News, Va., is best described as "a city within a shipyard," fully equipped to handle most any naval or commercial job, both newbuild and repair. MR/EN recently visited the yard to witness first hand how the world-famous yard utilizes more than a century of know how and an unmatched wealth of technical capability to get ailing ships — from "shave and haircuts" to complicated reconstructions — in and out, on time and on budget.

27 Jan 2009

Northrop Grumman Launches Sub

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NSYE:NOC) reached a milestone by launching the Virginia-class submarine New Mexico (SSN 779) at the company's Shipbuilding sector in Newport News, Va, on Jan. 22. "Launching a ship is always a proud moment for the shipbuilders and crew," said Becky Stewart, vice president of submarine programs for Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding-Newport News. On January 15, shipbuilders used a transfer car system to move the 7,800-ton New Mexico out of a construction facility to a floating dry dock.