GE Marine reports that its LM2500 aeroderivative marine gas turbines will be used to power the United States Navy’s new Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. GE has received orders for the initial three of an expected nine new Flight IIA ships. The new destroyers are being built as part of the U.S. Navy’s DDG 51 program.
“The successful DDG 51 program already includes 57 destroyers delivered, with five additional ships under construction, all powered by GE LM2500 gas turbines. The U.S. Navy has been pleased with the performance and reliability of our engines on the Arleigh Burke class ships, as well as on the Ticonderoga class cruisers and Perry class frigates. Mean time between removal of the LM2500 gas turbines is roughly 23,000 hours, which equates to about 17 years in service. Therefore it is a natural fit that GE’s LM2500s have been selected to power the DDG newbuilds,” said Brien Bolsinger, GE Marine general manager.
According to a presentation made at the Sea Air Space 2010 conference by Captain Peter C. Lyle, U.S. Navy, DDG 51 program manager, “The capability of DDG 51 Class ships being built today is markedly more advanced than the initial ships of the class. The benefits of competition, employment of mature technologies, design stability, fixed price contracting, commonality, and economies of scale promise to provide these highly capable ships to the fleet on cost and on schedule.”
The new vessels for the DDG 51 program are being built by General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi. GE will provide four gas turbine modules per vessel. Included in GE’s contract will be the LM2500 gas turbine, base and enclosure assembly, pneumatic starter and single cooler lube storage and conditioning assembly.
The LM2500 gas turbines will be manufactured and tested at GE’s Evendale, Ohio, facility. Delivery of the gas turbine modules to the shipbuilders for the initial three new ships is expected to commence in 2011 and to be completed by 2013.