Carl Levin News

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…

The U.S. Navy accepted delivery of the future guided missile destroyer USS Carl M. Levin (DDG 120) from General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, Jan. 26.Delivery represents the official transfer of the ship from the shipbuilder to the Navy. Prior to delivery, the ship conducted a series of at-sea and pier-side trials to demonstrate its materiel and operational readiness.“Delivery of this ship will provide critical capacity to our surface fleet today and well into the future,” said Capt. Seth Miller, DDG 51 program manager, Program Executive Office (PEO) Ships.

The future USS Carl M. Levin (DDG 120) completed acceptance trials on December 9, returning to General Dynamics Corp’s Bath Iron Works (BIW) Bath shipyard after spending two days at sea.During acceptance trials, the ship and its crew performed a series of demonstrations for review by the U.S. Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV). These demonstrations are used by INSURV to validate the quality of construction and compliance with Navy specifications and requirements prior to delivery of the ship to the U.S. Navy.

USS Detroit (LCS 7) was commissioned in its namesake city of Detroit on October 22. Adm. Phil Davidson, commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, officially placed the vessel in commission. "Today is about service. Cmdr. Michael P. Desmond, who command LCS Crew 108 “Ghost Riders,” assumed command of Detroit. "USS Detroit is truly blessed to have the opportunity to commission in its namesake city. Speakers included Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters. "Cmdr.

Nearly 6,500 people gathered in front of the General Motors building at the Port of Detroit for the commissioning ceremony for the U.S. Navy’s new Freedom-variant littoral combat ship (LCS), USS Detroit (LCS 7), on October 22, when the ship was officially placed in commission by Adm. Phil Davidson, commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command. “When a ship is commissioned she is placed in service of the American people and is given the charge to do one thing: to execute the Navy's mission – to be prepared to conduct prompt, sustained combat incident to operations at sea,” Davidson said.

The Navy will commission its newest Freedom-variant littoral combat ship, Detroit (LCS 7), during an 11 a.m. EDT ceremony Saturday, Oct. 22 on Detroit's waterfront. Detroit is the sixth U.S. ship in our nation's history to be named in honor of city of Detroit. Adm. Phil Davidson, commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, will deliver the ceremony's principal address. Barbara Levin, wife of former U.S. Senator Carl Levin, serves as the ship's sponsor. "This ship represents so much. It represents the city of Detroit, the motor city. It represents the highly-skilled American workers of our nation's industrial base, the men and women who built this great warship and it represents the American spirit of hard work, patriotism and perseverance," said the Honorable Ray Mabus, secretary of the Navy.

Today, during a ceremony in Detroit, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced that the next Arleigh Burke class destroyer, DDG 120, will be named Carl M. Levin in honor of the longest serving senator in Michigan history. During his 36 years in the Senate, Levin was a member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services and its chair for more than nine years. He also served as chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, as a member of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. He led the Senate in adoption of the Defense Authorization Acts from 2007 through January 2015 when he retired.

The Guarding Our Great Lakes Act, a bipartisan legislation designed to protect the Great Lakes from the threat of invasive Asian carp, has been introduced by U.S. Congressman Dave Camp (R-Mich.), Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.). Additional cosponsors of the bill include Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Congresswoman Candice Miller (R-Mich.) and Congressman Gary Peters (D-Mich.). In 2012, Rep. Camp and Sen. Stabenow secured passage of the Stop Invasive Species Act, to expedite the Great Lakes Mississippi River Interbasin Study (GLMRIS) being conducted by the Army Corps of Engineers, which was supposed to formulate a plan to prevent Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that two U.S. Areas of Concern, Deer Lake in the Lake Superior basin and White Lake in the Lake Michigan basin, have been removed from the binational list of toxic hotspots that were targeted for cleanup in the U.S.-Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. After decades during which only one U.S. Area of Concern was delisted, federal agencies have accelerated cleanup actions during the past five years by using Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding.

The U.S. Navy christened the future USS Detroit (LCS 7), the fourth Littoral Combat Ship of the Freedom variant, in a ceremony at Marinette Marine Shipyard in Marinette, Wisconsin, Oct. 18. The Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable Ray Mabus, delivered the principal address at the ceremony, and Barbara Levin served as the ship's sponsor. As ship sponsor, Levin is considered a permanent member of the ship's crew and is expected to advocate for the well-being of both ship and crew. Levin, wife of U.S. Senator Carl Levin from Michigan, has been a longtime supporter of military families.

The Navy will christen littoral combat ship (LCS) Detroit, on Oct. 18 during a ceremony at Marinette Marine Corporation shipyard in Marinette, Wisconsin. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, will deliver the principal address at the ceremony, and Barbara Levin, wife of U.S. Senator Carl Levin (Michigan), will serve as the ship's sponsor. The ceremony will be highlighted by Levin breaking a bottle of champagne across the bow to formally christen the ship, which is a time-honored Navy tradition.

The launch and christening ceremony of LCS 7 (the future USS Detroit) will take place Saturday morning, Oct. 18, at the Marinette Marine Corporation shipyard in Marinette, Wisconsin, where the Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ships are built. The U.S. Navy and the Lockheed Martin-led industry team will launch the seventh Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Detroit at Marinette Marine Corporation (MMC). Before launching the ship into the Menominee River, ship sponsor Barbara Levin will christen the ship with the tradition of smashing a champagne bottle across the ship’s bow.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., co-chair of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force, and four colleagues introduced legislation requiring a federal assessment of Great Lakes waters with significant cultural, historic or archaeological value for possible preservation as federal marine sanctuaries. The Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Assessment Act would direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to submit to Congress a report and recommendations on possible Great Lakes sanctuaries. Today, the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary on Lake Huron near Alpena, Mich., which protects scores of historic shipwrecks, is the nation’s only freshwater federal sanctuary. Cosponsors are Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., a vice chair of the Great Lakes Task Force; Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Sen.

There has been a lot of speculation of late that the gargantuan ice fields covering the Lakes this winter will, when they finally melt, raise water levels significantly and ships will carry more cargo each trip. That is, frankly, very far from certain. First, water levels are devilishly hard to predict. For example, in May of 2012 the water level on Lake Michigan/Huron was predicted to be as high as 8 inches above long term average (LTA) by October, but when autumn rolled around, Michigan/Huron was actually eight inches below LTA. Second, since the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) rarely gets enough money to keep up with the natural rate of siltation (3.3 million cubic yards per year)…

Ship construction programs move ahead, but it’s not smooth sailing. Navies and Coast Guards everywhere face budgetary pressure, even in the U.S. which has the largest Navy in the world. The balance between desire for capacity and capability and pressure for affordability has never been more acute with the precarious budgetary issues presented by declining defense budgets, sequestration, continuing resolutions and government shutdowns. Even so, there are ongoing major construction efforts to include large nuclear aircraft carriers and submarines…

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert has assured members of the Senate Armed Services (SASC) Committee on the survivability of the littoral combat ship (LCS). Alongside Secretary Ray Mabus the two defended the need for 52 small surface combatants in front of the SASC and in front of media following their testimony. The secretary emphasized how LCS costs have been driven down and Greenert responded to questions on LCS survivability, informs CNO Public Affairs, Washington.

A bipartisan group of Great Lakes senators, led by Great Lakes Task Force co-chairs Sen. Carl Levin and Sen. Mark Kirk, wrote today to Army Corps of Engineers leaders, urging them to direct additional funding for harbor maintenance projects to reduce the backlog of projects in the Great Lakes. The letter, from members of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force to Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy and Chief of Engineers Lt. Gen. Thomas Bostick, asks that…

House and Senate Bills Offer Hope for Lakes Dredging Crisis. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate have taken up legislation that could end the dredging crisis on the Great Lakes. H.R. 335 and S. 218 would require the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (“HMTF”) to spend what it takes in each year for dredging on dredging. Currently, the HMTF spends only one of every two tax dollars it collects for dredging on dredging. The surplus, now approaching $7 billion, is used to mask the size of the Federal deficit rather than maintain the nation’s ports and waterways.

U.S. Senator Rob Portman supports legislation to help ensure funds for harbor maintenance etc. are used as intended. The Senator co-sponsored the Harbor Maintenance Act, bipartisan legislation introduced by Senators Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and Carl Levin (D-MI) to help ensure that funds collected for maintaining and operating federal ports, harbors, and channels are fully used for their intended purposes. “Ohio’s many ports and harbors, including those in Cleveland, Toledo, and across the Great Lakes, are critical to ensuring robust commerce,” said Portman. “We commend Senator Portman and his co-sponsors, and urge their colleagues to support this bill to help continue our nation’s economic recovery,” said William D. Friedman, President and CEO of the Port of Cleveland.

The dredging crisis on the Great Lakes will again dominate Lake Carriers’ Association’s efforts in 2013. LCA’s 2012 Annual Report released today stressed that inadequate dredging took a real toll on Great Lakes shipping in 2012. “The drought has pushed water levels on Lake Michigan and Huron to record lows,” the Association noted. “The water level in the St. Marys River also declined as 2012 wore on; by year’s end ships were loading to less than 26 feet. In 1997, the last period of high water, ships routinely locked through the Soo drafting 28 feet or more.

Seventh Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) takes shape as Lockheed Martin team lays keel of the future 'USS Detroit'. The event was part of a time-honored keel laying ceremony that took place at the Marinette Marine Corporation shipyard in Wisconsin. The Lockheed Martin-led LCS team includes ship builder Marinette Marine Corporation, a Fincantieri company, naval architect Gibbs & Cox, as well as hundreds of domestic and international suppliers, including approximately 30 small businesses in Wisconsin and Michigan.

Seasonal Decline in Water Levels Means Great Lakes Dredging Crisis Will Only Worsen. The water levels on the Great Lakes have begun their seasonal decline, so the impacts of the dredging crisis will become even more pronounced in the fourth quarter. Even before the Lakes began their dip, the largest ships were forfeiting more than 6,200 tons of cargo each trip. Each inch that the Lakes decline in the weeks and months ahead will slash another 50 to 270 tons from the already deflated totals. Funding for dredging the Great Lakes has been inadequate for decades.

The end of the Great Lakes dredging crisis took a step closer to reality last week when the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 4348 and included a provision that could lead to substantially increased Great Lakes dredging funding. The amendment directs that all funding collected in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund be spent on dredging each year. “Passage of H.R. 4348 with the Boustany amendment represents further progress in requiring that the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund monies all be spent on dredging each year…