Naval Surface News

During a seven-week Arctic transit aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker USCGC Healy (WAGB 20), researchers from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) will study the impact of the extreme environment on crew performance and potential mitigations, as well as advanced Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies in adverse sea conditions.The studies, which commenced with Healy’s departure from Kodiak, Alaska on Aug. 26, will be led by principal investigator Dr. Nita Shattuck, a professor in the NPS Operations Research (OR) department.

Moises DelToro at GE Vernova’s Power Conversion business, discusses how deploying a Ship’s Electric Grid is a flexible way to accommodate growing energy demands for naval and coast guard vessels.A new age of electrificationWe’re in a new naval era and it is reshaping views about fleet mixes and capabilities. Modern fleets need to be mission-configurable, highly capable for military advantage, adaptable for technology insertion, but still affordable. The growing demand for vessel power is increasingly an enabler for mission systems, not just for platform propulsion.

With a lame-duck CNO, a divided Congress and the impending launch of the next Presidential election cycle, America’s naval market is locked into something of a fragile and fearful autopilot, cruising inexorably towards whatever excitement 2024 might bring.Materially, don’t expect much change: The demand for naval platforms will continue to outstrip available funding, meaning there will be little movement or growth in America’s major shipbuilding programs of record. The procurement outlines are already set.

Louisiana-based boat builder Metal Shark announced it has expanded its executive team with a newly recruited appointment from the U.S. Navy and Department of Defense Naval Surface Warfare Center – Carderock (NSWC). Jason Marshall joins Metal Shark as Executive Vice President – Programs, following a 30 year career with NSWC’s Combatant Craft Division (CCD).Marshall most recently served as CCD’s In-Service Systems Engineering Branch Head (2019-2023), managing the team of project managers and systems engineers responsible for the Navy’s sustainment combatant craft…

When Ukraine successfully deployed self-driving “drone” boats for a major attack on the Russian navy at Sevastopol in Crimea in September 2022 it was a defining moment that changed the future of naval warfare. Uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) have been used before, but this was the first instance of multiple, armed USVs, used simultaneously in combination with aerial drones for a successful, offensive naval operation on a military target.Several Russian ships were damaged in the attack…

The demand for warships is strong, and the Navy continues to receive support from the Congress to build more ships. The Navy is working to achieve a fleet of about 355 ships, plus a fleet of about 150 unmanned vesselsBut to achieve something close to that goal requires more than demand, and even more than money. For one thing, it requires an industrial base that can build, repair and sustain that fleet.While Navy leadership acknowledges the challenges of a stressed supply chain…

Brendan Smith brings more than a decade of maritime experience to his role as president of Seaward Services, a marine services company specializing in the operation, maintenance and repair of government and privately owned vessels. The company is part of the Hornblower Group.During his 6.5 years with the U.S. Navy, he served aboard the nuclear-powered submarine USS Santa Fe, and his roles included chemistry and radiological controls assistant (CRA), quality assurance officer (QAO) and combat operations instructor.

The U.S. Navy has long valued the potential of additive manufacturing (AM) and 3D Printing.AM refers to the depositing of material layer by layer to create an object. For the Navy, it’s not practical to carry every replacement part for every system on a ship, and it can be difficult to forecast if or when parts will fail. AM provides a flexible source of supply in being able to make parts instead of ordering them and waiting for them to arrive, especially for warships at the far end of the supply chain.

The U.S. Navy on Thursday announced it has relieved the commanding officers of two of its U.S. East Coast warships, USS Carney (DDG 64) and USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19).In separate statements, the Navy said it relieved Cmdr. Alexa Jenkins and Capt. Michael D. Nordeen, citing loss of confidence in their ability to command.Jenkins, who served as commanding officer of the USS Carney (DDG 64) since June 2022, was relieved by Capt. Jennifer Blakeslee, commodore, Naval Surface Squadron 14 (CNSS 14).Jenkins will be temporarily reassigned to the staff of Commander, Naval Surface Squadron 14, and Capt.

Explosive charges aboard the ship enabled battle damage assessment (BDA) teams to respond to actual damageThe former Austin-class amphibious transport dock USS Denver (LPD 9) was sunk in a blaze of glory as a target ship during the recent Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise 2022. The 9,600-ton, 561-foot Denver, which was commissioned in 1968 and served until being retired in 2014, had been stored with other inactive ships at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, before being sunk about 50 miles north of Kauai in about 15…

“If we desire to secure peace,” President George Washington once observed, “it must be known that we are at all times ready for war.” During the late 1790s, the U.S. government commissioned naval engineers and shipbuilders to design and build large warships capable of agile maneuvering and stowing an excess amount of weapons.With the passing of the Naval Act of 1794, Washington secured the authorization to procure the Navy’s first six frigates – a wooden-hulled, three-masted warship with either a 38 or 44-gun capability.

Portland, Ore. based shipbuilding and repair company Vigor Marine has been awarded a $131,151,747 firm-fixed-price contract action to accomplish the USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) 2C1 dry-docking selected restricted availability (DSRA).The contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $131,826,808.Work will be performed in Seattle (77%) and Everett, Wash. (23%), and is expected to be completed by February 2024.This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(3).

The U.S. Coast Guard announced it has selected Inventech Marine Solutions of Bremerton, Wash., to build the next generation of over the horizon (OTH V) cutter boats. The first delivery order for four OTH Vs was placed August 3 with a value of $1.973 million. These four OTH Vs will be used for operational test and evaluation before the program moves to full production. The 10-year contract supports delivery of up to 200 boats with a total value of approximately $103 million.Beyond the similarities of speed and weight between the OTH V and the OTH IV it is replacing…

The future USNS Apalachicola (EPF 13) is performing a series of planned test events assessing autonomous capabilities integrated into the shipboard configuration, demonstrating that a large ship can become a self-driving platform.Known as Unmanned Logistics Prototype trials, each test event increases the perception capabilities and complexity of behaviors demonstrated by the autonomous systems. Test evolutions to date include point-to-point autonomous navigation, vessel handling…

Batteries for maritime power have been picking up big momentum, benefiting from the most basic concept within Econ 101: supply and demand.On May 19 Corvus Energy announced it would establish a lithium ion battery manufacturing facility in Port Bellingham, Wash., just north of Seattle. Corvus Energy is a leading supplier of battery energy storage systems (BESS) for marine applications. Its systems already power more than 30 North American vessels, as well as 29 hybrid port cranes and 11 land-based drilling rigs.Geir Bjørkeli…

“We are trying to reduce not only our time to start a design, but we want to have a good design the first time. We want to eliminate any rework that would cost us time and money later in our program schedule,” said John Moser, Hardware and Metrology Engineer from Weapons Control and Integration, referring to the latest technological advance, using 3D scanning as a reverse engineering capability. Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division has begun to use this process to provide…

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.

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) said on Friday it has been awarded a task order from Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division (NSWCCD) to conduct a manufacturing assessment of several new propulsor bearing concept designs for U.S. Navy submarines. The task order is under the Propulsor Demonstration Hardware (PDH) Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract previously awarded to GA-EMS.“Manufacturing feasibility evaluations such as this are crucial steps in determining whether a new concept design will deliver greater performance…

Fairbanks Morse Defense (FMD), a portfolio company of Arcline Investment Management, said it has been awarded a contract by Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) to provide essential parts through Hunt Valve for the Ford Class aircraft carriers CVN 78 – CVN 81.Hunt Valve, acquired by Fairbanks Morse Defense in 2021, manufactures valves and electromechanical actuators for naval defense applications. The contract, valued at approximately $2 million, covers parts that will be delivered during the second and third quarters of 2022.

Leadership has added a new face in the contracting department at Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD). Michael Brian Donaldson assumed the role of deputy chief of the contracting office (DCCO) in December, with management responsibility for a team of more than 110 contracting specialists, contracting officers, cost analysts, policy analysts and other contracting professionals.The contracting department at NSWCDD executes several thousand contract actions in a typical year, with a collective value of approximately $950 million.

Videos of U.S. military personnel stopping drug-smuggling boats are exhilarating and frightening. They are not Hollywood movies but real-life, dangerous encounters on the high seas. In each of those instances, the use of force applies. The High Power Microwave (HPM) Weapon Systems Division at Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) makes those encounters safer for everyone involved.“A significant portion of what we do focuses on vessel stopping,” said Kevin Cogley, HPM Weapon Systems Division head.

“DDG-51 hull form is maxed out in nearly every mission area. Meanwhile, the threat marches on.”Rear Adm. Paul Schlise, director for surface warfareThe U.S. Navy’s highly successful USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) surface combatant program is still going strong and growing in capability. Nearly 40 years later, new ships are still being built. But, the navy said, the ship cannot support the systems of tomorrow needed to meet the future threat.“DDG 51 has been in production for over 40 years with basically the same hull we started with in 1985…

It takes determined leadership to bring a culture of innovation to large and historic institutions like the U.S. Navy. Regarded as a successful leader in electromagnetic systems certification at Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD), Jillian Berry is passionate about her work, displaying a high level of expertise everyday on the job.The Department of Navy selected Berry as the 2022 recipient for the prestigious Civilian Service Commendation Medal (CSCM) in recognition of her exceptional work…