Current Navy News

On a windswept island 50 miles north of Seattle sits a U.S. Navy monitoring station. For years, it was kept busy tracking whale movements and measuring rising sea temperatures. Last October, the Navy gave the unit a new name that better reflects its current mission: Theater Undersea Surveillance Command.The renaming of the spy station at the Whidbey Island naval base is a nod to a much larger U.S. military project, according to three people with direct knowledge of the plans:…

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…

The U.S. Navy has many assets other than its seaborn vessels to care for, and recently it adopted new standards to protect those that are fuel-related. Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) contracted with Master Painter Institute (MPI) services to establish product standards for interior carbon-steel fuel pipes, interior welded fuel tanks, exterior steel systems and waterfront steel structures. These new standards, known as the MPI 500 Series Standards, are for use in numerous aspects of work involving specialized Department of Defense (DoD) petroleum…

This week, PVA submitted comments in support of the Coast Guard's proposal to reduce the size of the current Navy Pier Southeast Safety Zone within the Chicago Harbor.PVA's Chicago members requested the association's support of this proposal, which would reduce the size of the Safety Zone and provide relief to local operators. Coast Guard proposed this change to allow the Chicago Harbor Lock to remain in full operation during regularly scheduled periodic fireworks displays. As…

Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc Chief Executive Mike Petters urged the U.S. Navy to accelerate its new LX(R) dock landing ship program to fiscal 2018 from 2020 to avoid significant costs associated with restarting a production line. The production-line gap would occur when building of the LPD-28 warship ends about two years before the LX(R) is due to start. Petters told Reuters the move would save money by averting a costly break in production of the ships, which the Navy has decided to base on the LPD-17 amphibious dock warships also built by Huntington Ingalls.

The Executive Control Board of the National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP) has selected a new round of research and development projects for award, as part of the program's continuing mission to reduce costs associated with U. S. shipbuilding and ship repair. These new projects, valued at over $14.5 million, including cost share, were among those proposed in response to Research Announcement 14-01, issued in June 2015. Objective: This project is a follow-on to the HiDep Weld Tfillet and Butt Weld Development RA project. It aims to implement the results of the new welding process to reduce weld distortion and improve productivity in shipyard panel construction. The new process utilizes induction heating technology and has minimal capital cost requirements.

A brass propeller from the first U-Boat to be sunk a century ago has been given back to the country it belongs to, the U.K. Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) reported. The propeller from the German World War I submarine U-8 was handed over by the MCA to members of the current Navy during a handover ceremony on the German Naval vessel Karlsruhe in the Portsmouth Naval Base. The propeller, recovered along with other historical items following a number of seizures of illegally recovered dive artifacts in the Kent area in 2014…

Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) celebrated the kick off of the Naval Engineering Education Center (NEEC), launching a three-day conference at the University of Michigan, July 26-28. NEEC is a new partnership between NAVSEA and a consortium of 15 top colleges and universities as well as 2 engineering professional societies focused on developing the Navy's future science, engineering and acquisition workforce. “Sailors depend upon you to give them a ship with a technological edge. The NEEC will provide the best minds and training to give the Sailors the technological edge they rely on," said Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the keynote speaker at the Kick-Off event.

Science Applications International Corporation (NYSE:SAI) announced it won a contract from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SSC) - Pacific to evaluate emerging technologies for shipboard navigation, sensors and systems. This single-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite quantity contract has a three year base period of performance valued at $33m, two one year options, six six-month award terms, and a total potential value of more than $94m if all options are exercised. Work will be performed primarily in San Diego. Since 1997, SAIC has provided engineering and management services to SSC Pacific for navigation, Global Positioning System (GPS), command and control, and navigation warfare systems development.

reached a major production milestone -- the hull turnover -- at Textron Marine & Land Systems (TM&LS) in New Orleans, La. on May 2, 2002. TM&LS, the current Navy prime contractor, hosted the hull turnover ceremony at its main LCAC production facility to mark the completion of the hull assembly line process and the beginning of the craft assembly station process. or "deep," skirt system to contain the cushion of air it rides on, enhanced engines, and new communications and navigation systems. service life will be extended from 20 to 30 years. Marine Air/Ground Task Force. The craft have the ability to operate independently of tides, water depth, underwater obstacles, or beach gradients.

This two week course is designed for E5 and above, or E4 personnel who have taken the Store keeper basic course. The course will assist Storekeepers in regaining skills that may not have been practiced during drill weekend due to non-availability of training platform. Designed for E5 and above, and E4 who have taken the Yeoman (Basic). The purpose of the course is to provide students at the E5/E6 level with training that will refresh their basic Yeoman skills and introduce them to materials specific to the requirements for the next Advancement examination. By providing organized and intensive training, students can make practical application of current Navy administrative concepts and procedures under limited supervision.

Northrop Grumman Corporation has received a $1.45b U.S. Navy shipbuilding contract for the construction and further development of a new San Antonio (LPD 17)-class ship. The contract is for the construction of one new amphibious transport dock ship, Arlington (LPD 24), and for long lead material procurement for Somerset (LPD 25). Current Navy plans call for Northrop Grumman to build at least nine ships in the class. Northrop Grumman delivered the first ship, USS San Antonio (LPD 17), in 2005, and the ship was commissioned in January 2006. Currently, New Orleans (LPD 18), Mesa Verde (LPD 19), Green Bay (LPD 20), New York (LPD 21) and San Diego (LPD 22) are in various stages of construction at the company's shipyards in New Orleans, La., and Pascagoula and Gulfport, Miss.

Several units of the recently established Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) and Naval Beach Group 2 are participating in the combined DELMAR/Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS) exercise on Fort Story, Virginia Beach, Va., in June. The exercise began June 5 and combines active-duty and reserve service members from various Navy and Army commands. The exercise is organized by U.S. Army Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC). During the exercise scenario, these units must work together to provide humanitarian assistance to an area simulated as devastated by a natural disaster. These same skills could be employed if a massive terrorist attack disrupts existing port facilities. "This is like a mission of presence," said Cmdr.

The fate of New England's shipbuilding industry and thousands of jobs will depend on a series of top-level discussions that began yesterday at the Defense Department, where Navy officials are scrambling to salvage long-term plans to buy new warships and submarines built at shipyards in Maine and Connecticut. The region narrowly escaped the closure last summer of its two largest naval facilities, in Kittery, Maine, and Groton, Conn., but its multibillion-dollar ship manufacturing sector remains in jeopardy, according to defense officials and lawmakers. The Pentagon is seeking major budget cuts to help reduce the federal deficit and finance the priorities of the war on terrorism -- $7 billion worth next year alone -- and is considering further reductions in the size of the naval fleet…