Navy In San Diego News

San Diego shipbuilder General Dynamics NASSCO said it has been awarded $600 million in U.S. Navy contract modifications for long-lead-time material to support construction of the seventh and eighth ships in the John Lewis-class fleet oiler (T-AO) program, as well as the sixth ship in the Expeditionary Sea Base (ESB) program.The contract modifications for long-lead-time material provide $500 million for T-AO 211 (Thurgood Marshall) and T-AO 212 (Ruth Bader Ginsburg), and $100 million…

The combat dolphin program in the Crimean city of Sevastopol will be preserved and redirected towards the interests of the Russian Navy, according to a report by official news agency RIA Novosti. The program, dating to the 1960s, was previously scheduled to be disbanded by the Ukrainian navy in April, but the facility and the dolphins themselves have now become Russian following the recent reunification of Crimea with Russia. The dolphins are trained to patrol open water and attack or attach buoys to items of military interest…

USNS Montford Point (MLP 1) departs San Diego  for Naval Station Everett, Wash. Montford Point is the Navy’s first mobile landing platform, delivered to the Navy in San Diego May 14 and expected to be fully operational in fiscal year 2015. The ship, crewed by 33 contract mariners working for a company under charter to Military Sealift Command, will perform system tests during the voyage to its temporary layberth. Montford Point is scheduled for final contract trials in September, with its core capability set installed later this year.