Old Navy News

Sustainable shipping company Fairtransport informs it will bring a second engineless sailing cargo vessel into service September 26, 2015. The wooden ship, Nordlys, which is Norwegian for “Northern Light,” is a ketch rigged trawler built in 1873 at the Isle of Wight. After years of sailing cargo around the Norwegian coast, the ship was handed over to Fairtransport by its former owner, Johan Sande. A two-year refit project began in September 2013 at the old navy shipyard Willemsoord in Den Helder…

Two cargo barges have popped up on either coast of the country, prompting wild rumors about whether Google is behind the floating enigmas and what projects could possibly be in store, reports the Christian Science Monitor. On the edge of Treasure Island, an old Navy base in the San Francisco Bay, the 250-foot long, 72-foot wide, four-story tall cargo barge with the registration BAL 0010 is not open to the public, and is heavily guarded at all times. It is also attached to a warehouse called Hangar 3, which has also been heavily guarded since it started working with a new tenant last year.

Maritime charity, the Royal Alfred Seafarers’ Society, has launched a nationwide campaign designed to mark the Year of the Seafarer and to capture modern-day seafaring sayings, which will form part of the maritime linguistic inheritance that we perhaps unknowingly use every day. As part of the campaign, the Society is teaming up with the author of naval slang and jargon guide ‘Jackspeak’ Rick Jolly OBE, a former Royal Navy surgeon-captain, to produce a new compendium of modern nautical terms for the next edition of his book. The Society is calling on serving and retired members of the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy, fishermen and port workers nationwide to get involved in the ‘Royal Alfred Gung Ho Language Workshop’…

Sailors assigned to Amphibious Construction Battalion (ACB) 2 had the opportunity to test the Improved Navy Lighterage System (INLS) during the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS) exercise June 15-21. The JLOTS exercise was a test of the military's ability to move equipment and sustainment supplies to specific areas without the benefit of a fixed port facility. The exercise increased interoperability and improved military readiness by alleviating situational sustainment issues.

Forest City Washington broke ground recently on The Yards, a 42-acre redevelopment on property that used be part of the Washington Navy Yard. The area, formerly called Southeast Federal Center, will be home to 2,700 residential units, 1.8 million square feet of office and retail space. D.C. officials estimate that the project will have 3,700 residents and add 7,700 jobs, which would generate $450 million in annual paychecks. The project will create a $42m public park on 5.5 acres fronting the Anacostia River. Forest City will construct the park, designed by M. Paul Friedberg and Partners. The park will be dedicated to the District upon completion. [Source: Washington Business Journal]

The storm that lashed the lower North Island has caused wreckage from an old navy frigate sunk near Wellington last year, to be washed ashore. The former HMNZS Wellington was sold to the Sink F69 Trust, which sunk it about 500 meters off Island Bay – virtually in Cook Strait – on November 14. Prior to the sinking Island Bay man, some warned that the lightly built ship would break up very quickly and become a danger to divers, not the tourist and diving area the trust claimed it would be. Residents in the area found the ship’s wreckage, scattered along the length of the beach. The Wellington police about 4.45pm and notified them of the wreckage. A diving team would go down once the weather settled down and check out the wreckage. (Source: stuff.co.nz)

Clean up crews working on the Cooper River Oil Spill are concentrating their efforts today on the remaining heavily concentrated areas of recoverable oil between Piers Delta and Pier Papa on the Old Navy Base in Charleston. Contractors will also be replacing saturated absorbent boom with new absorbent boom to facilitate collections efforts. To date, more than 700 gallons of oil has been recovered using skimmers, absorbent pads and boom. The spill still remains a mystery but more than 100 people from 10 different federal, state and local agencies are aggressively working to clean up the oil spill. Presently, over $225,000 has been spent on the recovery effort and the ceiling for the clean up was raised from $500,000 to $750,000 today.

The new Catamaran HSV 2 Swift was delivered to the U.S. Navy yesterday during a celebration in Hobart, Australia. High ranking US Military officers joined with invited guests to witness the handover of the 98 metre Wave Piercing Catamaran HSV 2 Swift, Incat Hull 061. Guests were welcomed on board HSV 2 Swift by His Excellency The Honourable Sir Guy Green, AC, KBE, CVO, Governor of Tasmania. With the Royal Australian Air Force band playing, flags flying and the usual pomp and ceremony associated with such events, the 80 or so US officers and crew were joined by representatives of the Australian Defence Force, invited guests and the entire Incat workforce.

The Coast Guard’s newest cutter will arrive at its homeport at Pier Papa on the old Navy base in Charleston, S.C., on Thursday. The Coast Guard Cutter Oak, a 225-ft. buoy tender, is the eleventh ship of the Juniper Class and was christened on January 26, 2002 in Marinette, Wis. The Oak and its crew left Marinette November 2 and traveled through the St. Lawrence River and down the Atlantic seaboard. The Oak and crew will join sister cutters, now operating in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, which form a new fleet of technically advanced and highly capable buoy tenders. Lt. Cmdr. James M. Cash assumed command of the newly built cutter Oak on October 17, 2002. He and his five officers and 42 member crew’s primary mission is to maintain the largest buoys in the Coast Guard inventory.

When Austal Ltd. of Henderson, Western Australia, started looking last year for a CEO to lead its U.S.-based operations, the job description must have been daunting. They wanted a leader to take the helm of their newly built shipyard in Mobile, Ala., and turn it into a major contractor for both military and commercial vessels in the United States. Austal had recently entered the U.S. market for the first time, intent on competing with higher-profile rivals such as Incat/Bollinger, Derecktor Shipyards and Kvaerner. The company settled on Alan Lerchbacker, 50, an energetic former Navy Aquanaut with a business background, who took the position in February 2002. Lerchbacker had never heard of Austal until a headhunter contacted him.