Naval Surface Warfare Center News

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…

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.

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.

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…

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…

“Synergy” is an overused word. But in the case of the “Advanced Naval Technology Exercises” that are held around the country, ANTX is truly a sum greater than its parts.ANTXs are conducted by the Naval Research & Development Establishment (NR&DE) and hosted at the various Naval Warfare Centers to demonstrate emerging technologies and innovations aimed at solving Navy and Marine Corps problems and addressing mission priorities and gaps. They are not so much exercises, which usually denotes training, but more like technology demonstrations.

New Lighting Technology offers bright ideas for better interior and exterior lighting that saves money, manpowerThe U.S. Navy is leaving traditional lighting behind for Solid State Lighting (SSL) with very long-life solid-state light-emitting diode (LED) lighting. Technology has illuminated new ways to light ships that are safer, more efficient and more affordable. Taking advantage of the new technology has its challenges, such as finding cost effective lighting that is rugged…

For those operating equipment on, under or near the water for commercial or recreational purposes, the corrosive effects of saltwater can be costly. For the U.S. Navy, the ramifications could be much more severe.As a doctoral student in mechanical engineering and applied mechanics at the University of Rhode Island, Irine Neba Mforsoh studied the long-term effects seawater and ultraviolet radiation have on the materials used to coat marine structures.After earning her doctorate in spring 2021…

Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane) and Hydronalix, Inc. of Green Valley, AZ, signed a Cooperative Research And Development Agreement (CRADA) entitled AISUM Prize Challenge Hardware Support. Agreement number: NCRADA-NSWCCD-21-419. NSWC Crane is hosting an Artificial Intelligence for Small Unit Maneuver (AISUM) Prize Challenge with contestants from industry and academia. With the strategic goals of developing software that can be supported by a variety of hardware, non-proprietary robotic autonomy baseline component architecture and software were required.

Fincantieri Marinette Marine and its board of directors announced that Mark Vandroff will be taking over as CEO effective July 7, replacing Jan Allman who has led the Wisconsin shipyard since 2014.“Our company’s continued growth afforded us an opportunity to expand our senior leadership team and to better organize to exceed our customer’s needs,” said Dario Deste, CEO of Fincantieri Marine Group. “Jan [Allman] has done a tremendous job working with partner Lockheed Martin and the Navy on the Littoral Combat Ship and Multi-mission Surface Combatant programs…

U.S.-based naval architecture and marine engineering firm Gibbs & Cox, Inc. announced Tuesday that the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division (NSWCPD) awarded the company a $20 million prime contract.The NSWCPD provides the Navy's primary technical expertise for naval machinery research and development and in-service engineering, as well as machinery cybersecurity and lifecycle engineering.Gibbs & Cox said its contract will have a five-year operating period with a work scope including maintenance functions for the materials, structures, environmental and protection divisions.

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) said it has been awarded a developmental contract by Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division (NSWCCD) to provide manufacturing design drawings, engineering, fabrication, inspection, and assembly of prototype propulsor, shafting and bearing components as well as the equipment needed to support propulsor research and development, testing and evaluation.GA-EMS will work with NSWCCD to develop new propulsor components for both surface ships and submarines.

Bristol Harbor Group, Inc. (BHGI) said Tommy Linden has joined the company's naval architecture and marine engineering practice as a naval architect. Linden graduated from Webb Institute with a B.S. in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. During his time at Webb, he interned at BHGI, as well as the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division, Eagle Bulk, Newport News Shipbuilding, and General Dynamics Electric Boat.Linden is a member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) and the American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE).Bristol, R.I.