Communications Suite News

Caister Volunteer Lifeboat Service Ltd. announced it has signed a new vessel construction agreement with shipbuilder Diverse Marine for a first of class 14-meter Medina Class Lifeboat. The vessel has commenced build and will be delivered in 2022.After a competitive international tender process using a design from Walker Marine Design, the construction of the vessel at Cowes on the Isle of Wight completes the evolutionary process that saw the original Medina Class Lifeboat built…

The first newbuild rigid inflatable boat (RIB) built by Dongara Marine has entered into service, heralding a raft of government and RIB contracts for the Western Australian boatbuilder.The newbuild, Cape Rose, was completed at the end of last year and has been operating for Marine Rescue Shark Bay since delivery to Denham in early in 2021. It has replaced a response vessel that had serviced the Western Australia (WA) coastline for more than 20 years, both with the group and previously…

Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) 19, the future USS St. Louis, has completed acceptance trials in Lake Michigan and will now undergo final outfitting and fine-tuning before delivery to the US Navy early next year.Christened and launched on December 15, 2018, LCS 19 was built by Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wis. The vessel is the seventh ship in naval service named after St. Louis, Mo. and the 10th Freedom-variant LCS designed and built by the Lockheed Martin-led industry team."The LCS fleet is growing in numbers and capability…

BAE Systems said it has been awarded a $146.3 million contract from the U.S. Navy to modernize the USS Gettysburg (CG 64).The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser will undergo about 15 months of work at the company’s shipyard in Norfolk, Va., the ship’s homeport. The contract includes options that, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value to $151.3 million.Starting in January 2019, the Gettysburg will undergo extensive repair and upgrade work that will return the ship to full capability after nearly four years of inactive status under the Navy’s cruiser modernization program.

Commander, Navy Region Europe, Africa, Southwest Asia (CNREURAFSWA) established Naval Support Facility (NSF) Deveselu Friday, Oct. 10, during an establishment and assumption of command ceremony on base. NSF Deveselu, formerly a disused Romanian airfield, is the first Navy base to be established since Naval Station (NS) Everett in Washington, whose official groundbreaking ceremony was held Nov. 9, 1987. The installation, scheduled to be operational in 2015, will be part of a NATO's overall ballistic missile defense (BMD) system. Rear Adm. John Scorby, commander, Navy Region Europe, Africa, Southwest Asia, hosted the ceremony. "This is a historic occasion because ballistic missile threats to the U.S. and our allies are real and growing," Scorby said.

It was the middle of May, and the littoral combat ship Independence was operating out of San Diego, testing components of the mine warfare mission package. The mission is one that, except for several extended overhaul periods, has consumed much of the ship’s operating time since the class-leading vessel was commissioned in January 2010. Word then came down from the highest levels of US Navy leadership — Independence was going to Pearl Harbor to take part in the world’s largest naval exercise, Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC). The event, held every two years, was only weeks away from beginning. To get there on time, the LCS would have to rapidly switch gears — offloading the mine equipment…

Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar officially launched the Coast Guard’s new state-of-the-art S92 search and rescue helicopter for the Dublin region in Weston Airport. This is the fourth Sikorsky S92 helicopter base to come into operation for the Coast Guard and means all four Coast Guard bases now have upgraded helicopters. The new S92 helicopters replace the Sikorsky S61 which was in use until recently at the Coast Guard bases in Dublin, Shannon, Sligo and Waterford.

Hornbeck Offshore will employ GE Power Conversion’s latest generation DP technology for its four new multipurpose supply vessels (MPSVs). In their role as MPSVs, they can operate as either a subsea construction vessel capable of performing complex subsea construction operations or as a resupply and support vessel to ultra deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, or anywhere else in the world as required by their charterers. “The DP solution and its user interface is the heart of a ship’s positioning system. When we can continue to work with a company that knows us, has supplied us with systems in the past and, with our input, can supply us with a next generation system we can rely on…

Imagine holding a 100-meter long, subsea construction vessel in position as it lowers with its 250-ton crane, heavy subsea modules to the seabed. According to GE, its Power Conversion company has the ability to take the guess work out of complex dynamic positioning (DP) operations with its advanced human-machine interface (HMI) and returns ship control to the mariner, so skilled DP operators can once again focus on the task of ship handling. When the system is operating in its new “Energy Efficiency” mode…

Northrop Grumman Corporation is building a company-owned unmanned aircraft as a development & demonstration platform for at-sea surveillance. The U.S. Navy's MQ-4C Triton program aims to provide a detailed picture of surface vessels to identify threats across vast areas of ocean and littoral areas. With its ability to fly missions up to 24 hours, Triton complements many manned surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft. Wing sections were joined to the aircraft's fuselage at the company's production facility in Palmdale, Calif.

The 98 meters long SIGMA class frigate, the third frigate built by Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding for the Royal Moroccan Navy, left Vlissingen earlier for her sea acceptance trials (SAT) in the North Sea. During the SAT, an intensive program was carried out in which the platform as well as the sensor weapons and communications suite were extensively tested, to the satisfaction of the Royal Moroccan Navy. The tests were performed by representatives of the yard in close cooperation with representatives of the subcontractors, the Royal Moroccan Navy and the Royal Netherlands Navy.

Huntington Ingalls Industries announce that the company's sixth amphibious transport dock, San Diego (LPD 22), has sailed from their yard en route to her commissioning site in San Diego. San Diego was delivered to the Navy in December following acceptance sea trials. Ingalls' test and trials team thoroughly tested the ship's main propulsion, steering, communications suite and deck missions systems. LPD 22 is scheduled to be commissioned on May 19 in San Diego.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) delivered the company's sixth amphibious transport dock, San Diego (LPD 22), to the U.S. Navy. The ship was delivered in a brief ceremony at Ingalls Shipbuilding. "This delivery exemplifies the unique skill and craftsmanship of our shipbuilders," said Doug Lounsberry, Ingalls Shipbuilding's vice president and program manager, LPD 17 program. "What we are accomplishing collectively in the LPD program with the Navy and our Supervisor of Shipbuilding partners proves the value of our shipbuilding knowledge.

Moose Boats Awarded New Contract for City of New Orleans CBRNE Fire Rescue Vessel. Moose Boats, a boat designer and manufacturer in the San Francisco Bay Area, has been awarded a new contract from the New Orleans Fire Department for the construction of a M3-36 Monohull CBRNE Fire Rescue Boat. The M3 is a new product line for Moose Boats and incorporates the builder’s established design and quality reputation in a more compact platform than the M1 and M2 Catamaran Vessels. The M3-36 is a 36’-6” aluminum monohull powered by twin Yamaha 350hp four stroke outboard engines.

Alnmaritec Limited announced recently that it has supplied two new fast patrol boats for duty at an LNG export terminal in the Yemen. The two new boats will join three other Alnmaritec boats which are already operating at the terminal providing line handling and pilot services. The new Wave Protector class patrol boats are 39 ft long by 10.5 ft wide and are powered by twin Cummins QSB 480bhp engines driving Ultrajet 305 water jets giving them a top speed of 38 knots. The brand…

Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship, has been equipped with MTN Satellite Communications’ (MTN) state-of-the-art VSAT satellite communications system. The 1,184-ft, 225,282-gross ton Oasis of the Seas carries up to 5,400 passengers and a crew of more than 2,000. The satellite communication requirements for such a massive ship presented special challenges, according to MTN. “The communications suite is a critical component for operating the ship and its passenger services,” said Max Schmidt, vice president of information technology, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. “For the inaugural voyage of Oasis of the Seas, MTN supplied the highest bandwidth ever used on a single ship in the history of the cruise industry,” said Brent Horwitz, senior vice president of MTN.

The Lockheed Martin Coast Guard Systems team participated in the power up of the first set of electronic cabinets and consoles of the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) system onboard the U.S. Coast Guard's second National Security Cutter, Waesche (WMSL 751). Lockheed Martin's C4ISR systems will provide Waesche's crew with a common operating picture to aid coordination among helicopters, aircraft, other ships and shore facilities. The system has an open architecture design and provides interoperability, assuring that the Coast Guard can work with multiple federal, regional and state agencies and organizations to maintain maritime domain awareness and accomplish homeland security missions.

Civil service mariners from Military Sealift Command rescue and salvage ship USNS Grasp completed three days and more than 445 man-hours of improvement projects at the for the Deaf and for the Blind Unit in yesterday. Grasp arrived in Antigua July 4 as part of a four-month international outreach mission to the . While the ship’s embarked team of 15 Navy divers conducted tailored training and security operations with military divers from , and , Grasp’s civil service mariners sought out an opportunity to do a goodwill project ashore. The 60-year-old, 3,400 square foot school is attended by 18 deaf and three blind children. Over the course of July 15-17…

Northrop Grumman Corporation has been selected to supply the bridge navigation and communication systems for a new SeaFrance high-performance vehicle-passenger ferry, which is being built at Alstom’s Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint Nazaire, France. The new ferry, to be christened SeaFrance Berlioz, in honor of the famous French composer, is scheduled to enter service in February 2005. The ship will be fitted with a multi-console Voyage Management System from Northrop Grumman’s Sperry Marine business unit. System components will include a type-approved electronic chart display and information system, interswitched BridgeMaster E navigation radars…

Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Sperry Marine business unit has supplied the navigation and communication electronics for a new highly specialized ship that has been designed specifically to convey giant components for Airbus’ next-generation A-380 aircraft. The new ship, christened Ville de Bordeaux, was built in China’s Jinling shipyard and is being delivered to French shipowner Louis-Dreyfus Armateurs this month. The vessel will fly the French flag and will shuttle among the various Airbus plants in Europe delivering aircraft parts. For safe navigation, the ship has been fitted with a complete Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine integrated bridge system…

Litton Marine Systems (LMS) has supplied bridge electronics and communications systems for a new chemical tanker under construction for Stolt Tankers at the Ujanic Shipyard in Croatia. The 36,700 dwt chemical tanker, scheduled for delivery in January 2001, has been fitted with a complete Litton Vision 2100 integrated bridge system (IBS) with Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) meeting DNV Watch 1 certification. Litton is also installing the ship's GMDSS communications suite and Litton's IMO-approved Voyage Data Recorder (VDR). The ship's hull was constructed at a shipyard in France, and was moved to the Ujanic Shipyard for outfitting and delivery to the customer.

In today's fast moving offshore service industry with vessels venturing deeper and deeper into the Gulf of Mexico and to far off oilrigs around the world, communications is more important than ever. Today's offshore service vessels need far more ship-to-ship, ship to shore and even internal ship communications than ever before. "System redundancy is the key to today's state-of-the-art marine communications system", said Karl Beier, president of Beier Radio, Harvey, La. one of the leading suppliers of maritime communications equipment. "Communications backups not only make good sense but SOLAS rules mandate separate communications systems be in place to meet the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS)", Beier added.

The 240-ft. HOS Dominator built by LEEVAC Shipyards, Jennings, La; and delivered earlier this year to Hornbeck Offshore Services is a prime example of a vessel using a touch screen monitoring, sensing and alarm system. This vessel also has a GMDSS communications suite and is equipped with DP-2 dynamic positioning system. As noted in the accompanying article, alarm monitoring, tank level sensing and the control of almost every function onboard a vessel has made giant strides in just the last few years. Instead of banks of warning lights, vessel operators now use touch screen computer displays that intuitively troubleshoots a problem leading to a quicker resolution. Frank L. Beier Radio, Harvey, La. has been on the cutting edge of the development and installation of many of these systems.