Blood Bank News

Fincantieri-led consortium Raggruppamento Temporaneo di Impresa (RTI) has won a contract to build a second Logistic Support Ship (LSS) for the Italian Navy, which also includes the option for a third ship.The consortium signed the contract with OCCAR (Organisation Conjointe de Cooperation sur l’Armement) the international organization for joint armament cooperation.The LSS will be fully built at the Castellammare di Stabia shipyard in Italy, with delivery scheduled for 2025. The value of the contract is around  410 million euros ($462,3 million) including the combat system.

Hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) arrived in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations May 24 in support of Pacific Partnership 2016. Now in its 11th year, Pacific Partnership is a multilateral, disaster relief preparedness mission conducted in the Indo-Asia-Pacific Region. "Partner nations, who invited Pacific Partnership 2016 to visit, refined our mission's focus this year," said Capt. Tom Williams, U.S. Navy, Pacific Partnership 2016 mission commander. Pacific Partnership 2016 will conduct stops in Timor Leste, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Palau, with partners from around the Pacific -- including Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Eastern Shipbuilding Group said it partnered with OneBlood to host a four-day blood drive at the shipbuilder’s Allanton and Nelson locations from November 19-22. Over the four-day drive, Eastern employees donated 342 units of blood, besting the previous record of 292, with 203 from Allanton and 139 from Nelson. OneBlood, formally known as Northwest Florida Blood Bank, collects donations across the Gulf and Atlantic Florida and serves over 200 hospitals and healthcare centers across the same region with life-saving blood. Amanda Fitzhugh, Eastern’s HR Generalist and OneBlood’s Robert E.

The humanitarian organization Mercy Ships is taking the day to celebrate the heroic role that numerous blood donors play onboard its hospital ship, the Africa Mercy, which is currently docked in the West African port city of Lomé, Togo. Mercy Ships provides free surgical, medical and dental care to developing West African nations, along with health and medical training and infrastructure development. Its flagship, the Africa Mercy, is equipped with a state-of-the-art hospital featuring six operating theaters, recovery wards with 78 beds, a CT scanner, an X-ray machine and a laboratory.

The Lewis and Clark-class of dry cargo/ammunition ships - the Navy's newest class of logistics ships, also called T-AKEs - grew July 14 when Military Sealift Command accepted delivery of the 10th ship in the class, USNS Charles Drew. The currently deployed T-AKEs operate as part of MSC's combat logistics force - allowing Navy ships to stay at sea, on station and combat ready for extended periods of time. "As our 10th ship in the T-AKE class, USNS Charles Drew is another milestone for MSC," said Capt. Jerome Hamel, commander, Sealift Logistics Command Pacific, MSC's office in San Diego.

General Dynamics NASSCO, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), launched the U.S. Navy’s newest supply ship, USNS Charles Drew (T-AKE 10), during a christening ceremony at the shipyard. The ship is named in honor of Dr. Charles R. Drew, the African American surgeon and hematologist who pioneered the procedures for the safe storage and transfusion of blood. Vice Adm. Regina Benjamin, the Surgeon General of the United States, was the ceremony’s principal speaker. Mrs. Bebe Drew Price, the eldest daughter of Dr. Drew and the ship’s sponsor, christened the ship by breaking the traditional bottle of champagne against the bow before the 689-foot-long ship slid into San Diego Bay. More than 1,300 people attended the ceremony.