Updates, Developments and Advances in Combat and Patrol Craft
My first visit in 2007 to the American Society of Naval Engineers’ (ASNE) Multi-Agency Craft Conference (MACC) was an eye-opener. Having built a naval architecture career with frigates, destroyers and other large naval and commercial ships, I was eager to learn of the smaller craft used by the U.S. Navy and other government and military bodies. As my flight into Norfolk, Va. descended over Chesapeake Bay, I gazed in amazement as a Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) raced toward Virginia Beach, slowed, glided up the beach and into its shore base.
Engineers Put Next-Generation U.S. Navy Ships to the Test
Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division (NSWCCD) engineers conducted preliminary Ship to Shore Connector (SSC) seaworthiness model tests in the David Taylor Model Basin, April 22 - May 17. SSC is the replacement for the Navy's existing fleet of Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC) vehicles, which are nearing the end of their service life. SSCs - like the LCACs they replace - will be primarily used to haul vehicles, heavy equipment, and supplies through varied environmental conditions from amphibious ships to over the beach.
LCAC 91 Achieves High Speed on Algal Blend
The U.S. Navy successfully concluded its final alternative fuel demonstration for the year today with the Dec. 7-9 operational tests of the 50/50 algae-derived, hydro-processed algal oil and petroleum F-76 blend in a Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC) amphibious transport vehicle at Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City. The tests also marked the fastest speed achieved to date by a U.S. Navy surface craft using alternative fuel blends, as LCAC 91 reached speeds the crafts maximum speed of 50 knots, Dec.
NAVFAC Southeast Awards Contract for Littoral Warfare Systems Facility
Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southeast awarded a $12.5 million contract on April 28 to Harry Pepper & Associates, Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla. for the design and construction of a Littoral Warfare Systems Facility at Naval Support Activity Panama City, Fla. The Littoral Warfare Systems Facility will be a center of excellence for research, development and integration of existing and future adaptive force packages. These modular and deployable packages will provide warfighting capability to nontraditional and unconventional maritime platforms within Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Panama City Division's global maritime partnerships.
Navy Modernizes Amphibious Ships and Hovercraft
Invisible to approximately 5,000 people witnessing the USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19) commissioning ceremony, Dec. 15, a newly modernized landing craft air cushion (LCAC) 39 sat certified and ready for transport within the well deck of the Navy's newest amphibious ship. Mesa Verde had already finished its requisite LCAC certification Dec. 7, which qualify the ship to recover an LCAC and embark on the ship's mission of transporting Marines, their supplies, and equipment, according to Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Panama City Division Project Engineer Rhett Plash. Plash works with NSWC PCD LCAC in-service engineering activity and operations. "We're actually a part of the team that performs well deck certifications," Plash said.
