Naval Station Newport News

Newport, R.I. has been chosen as the future homeport for a new NOAA oceanographic research vessel being built for the agency. Discoverer will be a state-of-the-art ship that operates around the nation and the world to study and explore the ocean.“Discoverer will be one of the world’s most advanced research vessels,” said Rear Adm. Nancy Hann, deputy director for operations for NOAA’s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) and deputy director of the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps.

NOAA has awarded a lease to Massa Industries, LLC for office space in Middletown, R.I., that will temporarily house a new marine operations support facility for Rhode Island-based NOAA ships Henry B. Bigelow and Okeanos Explorer.The Middletown facility will also support NOAA personnel engaged in the design and construction of a new pier for the two ships and a permanent NOAA marine operations support facility at Naval Station Newport. NOAA expects to occupy the interim facility in the fall of 2020 and relocate it to the naval station in 2023.“With an expanded presence in Rhode Island…

Built to guide mariners through safe waters, the Valiant Rock Lighted Whistle Buoy 11 was dangerously adrift in the Long Island Sound.When ferry operators traveling between Orient Point and Fishers Island, New York, first reported the buoy off station on Jan. 17, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Oak (WLB-211) was already underway but foul weather kept the cutter from removing it.This was the beginning of a two-week saga that would involve several Coast Guard units. Like the Loch Ness monster of the Long Island Sound, the 35-foot-tall green buoy was occasionally seen but hard to catch.

American, Australian-Domiciled global ship building company  Austal Limited said that its latest USA-made Navy vessel was officially christened during a ceremony Saturday at the company’s shipyard in Mobile, Alabama.The future USNS Newport, the Navy’s 12th Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) vessel, was honored during a ceremony featuring the traditional breaking of a champagne bottle on the side of the ship by its sponsor, Charlotte Marshall of Newport, R.I.Newport is the twelfth of fourteen EPF’s that Austal has under contract with the U.S. Navy, 10 of which have been delivered with the remaining 4 in various stages of construction.Austal Limited Chief Executive Officer David Singleton said the Expeditionary Fast Transport is a successful…

The U.S. Navy’s next Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) ship will be named USNS Newport (T-EPF 12), announced Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer. The new vessel, currently under construction at Austal USA in Mobile, Ala., is the fourth ship named in honor of the Rhode Island city which serves as home to several Navy activities, including Naval Station Newport and the Naval War College. USNS Newport is the 12th and final vessel in the EPF in the series, formerly known as the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV).

In an effort to standardize training and education across the military services, Recruit Training Command (RTC) and Officer Training Command (OTC) will run a pilot program, which will no longer require female accessions to cut their hair. The pilot program, which will run from January through March 2015, comes after receiving fleet feedback that junior Sailors and officers are not taught proper grooming standards with longer hair. This shift will align the Navy with every other armed forces service, which do not require female accessions to cut their hair. RTC and OTC required all females with long hair to cut it to the lower edge of the uniform collar. Now, female Sailors will have the ability to choose any hairstyle that meets uniform regulations.

The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport dedicated a new $24.9 million Virginia Payload Tube Facility (VPTF) with a ribbon cutting today, Wednesday, October 15. The ceremony was followed by an opportunity for businesses with an interest in the technology to tour the facility and learn about its capabilities. Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee, U.S. Senator Jack Reed and U.S. Congressman James Langevin attended the ceremony. “Since forming the Torpedo Station on Goat Island, [NUWC] has been the center of cutting-edge research of undersea technologies,” Reed said.

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. Naval Forces Southern Command as well as participated in the RIMPAC fleet exercises around Hawaii in 2010.

By Scott A. Chief of Naval Personnel (CNP) returned to Naval Station (NAVSTA) August 29, to review a graduation of newly commissioned officers at Officer Candidate School (OCS) and help rededicate one of their training facility. Vice Adm. Mark E. Ferguson, III, addressed more than 40 new ensigns during the morning OCS graduation on Nimitz Field. "I want to leave each of you with two questions that I want you to remember as you procede from here and go on throughout your careers," he said. According to , those are two of the most important questions for them to constantly remember as they rise in rank during their naval careers. "You each will have a responsibility to your Sailors and when you drag yourselves out of bed to stand the mid-watch…

instruction building at Naval Station, Newport, R.I. building will be used for the Surface Warfare Officers School. February 2004. current fiscal year. on Dec. 6, 2000. not-to-exceed $100,000,000. conditions of the existing contract. received for this task order. the contracting activity (N62472-00-D-0800).

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently took delivery of Henry B. Bigelow, one of a new class of fisheries survey vessels being built under contract with VT Halter Marine Inc., in Pascagoula, Miss. Henry B. Bigelow will support NOAA research efforts in conservation and management of fisheries and marine ecosystems primarily in northeastern U.S. waters, replacing the 45-year old Albatross IV. The ship will be home ported in New England, although a permanent base has not been named. The ship will be based temporarily at Naval Station Newport, in Newport, R.I. U.S. Senator and Mrs. Judd Gregg attended the keel-laying ceremony with students from Winnacunnet High School, who submitted the winning vessel name through a NOAA educational outreach contest. Mrs.

Newport training complex. Newport, Rhode Island for the commissioning ceremony on 18 October. Pier 2 at Coddington Cove, Naval Station Newport. ship to come alongside the dock. un-mooring exercises in varying wind and environmental conditions. officers per year. ported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.