Keel Laying Ceremony for Spearhead (JHSV 1)
Just over six months after the official opening of Austal’s new Module Manufacturing Facility (MMF) in November 2009, Austal USA hosted a keel-laying ceremony at its shipyard in Mobile, Alabama on July 22, to signify the erection of the first modules on the U.S. Department of Defense’s next generation multi-use platform, the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV). This is part of a 10-ship program potentially worth over $1.6b. Keel Laying is the formal recognition of the start of the ship’s module erection process.
Latest Army Vessel Honors Black American Hero
The logistics support vessel Major General Robert Smalls (LSV-8) - the first Army vessel named for an African American - was inducted into the Army's watercraft fleet yesterday during a commissioning ceremony at Baltimore's historic Inner Harbor. The 314-ft. long, 5,412-ton vessel officially joined the Army Reserve's 203rd Transportation Detachment as more than 300 guests looked on. Smalls is the second of two improved LSVs based on the six earlier Gen. Frank S. Besson-class vessels. Her sistership, Staff Sgt. Robert T. Kuroda, LSV-7, joined the Reserve's Honolulu-based 548th Trans. Det.
FastCat Is Shuffled From Navy to Army
HSV-X1, the 96-m Wave Piercing Sealift Catamaran, which is formally known as Joint Venture and currently on charter to the U.S. military from Bollinger/INCAT USA, has entered the next level of its experimental program - its recent transfer from the U.S. Navy to the U.S. Army. The vessel has been involved in a partnership of component commands from the U.S. Navy, Army, Marine Corps, U.S. Special Operations Command and Coast Guard, which are together exploring operational implications and opportunities of new marine technologies that are bringing higher speeds, longer ranges and increased payload capacities to surface vessels. With administrative control of HSV-X1 transferred to the U.S.
