General Dynamics Company News

Last month U.S. ship owner Tote Inc. shocked the maritime community in ordering the world’s first LNG-powered containerships; in one fell swoop energizing the U.S. shipbuilding sector. On the occasion of this historic contract, top executives from TOTE, NASSCO and MAN spoke to Maritime Reporter & Engineering News to weigh in on the deal’s significance. In recent decades, particularly in the large commercial ship niche, it is fair to say that the U.S. has not been a world force.

Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding – Newport News, Newport News, Va., is being awarded a $12,000,000 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-08-C-2100) for emergent and supplemental work for the accomplishment of the fiscal year 2008 Extended Drydocking Selected Restricted Availability (EDSRA) of USS Enterprise (CVN 65). The CVN 65 FY08 EDSRA is a ship depot availability of approximately 16-month duration. EDSRAs are similar to overhauls in that they restore the ship, including all subsystems that affect combat capability and safety, to established performance standards. Additionally, an EDSRA provides an opportunity to perform hull inspections and recoating, and other maintenance related evolutions below the waterline that cannot be accomplished while the ship is waterborne.

The Navy accepted delivery of the guided-missile destroyer Stockdale from General Dynamics Bath Iron Works during a ceremony in on Sept. 30. Designated DDG 106, the new destroyer honors Medal of Honor recipient Vice Adm. James Bond Stockdale (1923-2005), the legendary leader of American prisoners of war (POWs) during the Vietnam War. Stockdale is the 56th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. The ship will be able to conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection. Stockdale will be capable of fighting air, surface and subsurface battles simultaneously and contains a myriad of offensive and defensive weapons designed to support maritime warfare.

Bath Iron Works Corp., (a General Dynamics Company), Bath, Maine, is being awarded an $83.4m modification to previously awarded contract to exercise an option for DDG 51 and FFG 7 Class Integrated Planning Yard Services. The contractor will provide expert design, planning, and material support services for both maintenance and modernization. Work will be performed in Bath, Maine, and is expected to be completed by Sept. 2009. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, D.C., is the contracting activity.

Bath Iron Works Corp., (a General Dynamics Company), Bath, Maine is being awarded a $20,753,902 modification under previously awarded contract (N00024-06-C-2307) to exercise an option for 233,426 man-hours for Lead Yard Class Services for the DDG 51 Class AEGIS Destroyer Program. This work will provide technical assistance to the Follow Yard in the interpretation and application of the detailed design developed by BIW Corp., the Lead Yard contractor. DDG 51 Class services include: liaison for follow ship construction, general class services, class logistic services, class design agent services and class change design services for follow ships. Work will be performed in Bath, Maine, and is expected to be completed by Jul. 2009.

Electric Boat Corp., a General Dynamics company, Groton, Conn., is being awarded a $39,484,104 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-00-C-2103) to exercise options to conduct studies, perform services and integrate/incorporate technologies for tests/deployment on designated research and development submarines, as well as current and future submarine platforms, and provide engineering and technical support for research and development efforts. Work will be performed in Groton, Conn., and is expected to be completed by September 2005. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today announced that Major General Carl A. Strock, Director of Civil Works, has signed the Record of Decision (ROD) for the Columbia River Channel Improvement Project. Construction of the navigation improvements and associated ecosystem restoration features may now proceed after a cost-sharing agreement is signed. Issuance of the ROD -- a written public record under the National Environmental Policy Act explaining why the agency has decided upon a particular course of action - clears the way for the Corps' Portland District to begin work improving the federal navigation channel that stretches 103 miles between the Pacific Ocean and Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, Wash.

MACSEA Ltd, a provider of software agent technology for prognostic machinery health monitoring, has signed a Co-Operative Research and Development Agreement with Electric Boat Corporation (A General Dynamics Company) of Groton, Conn. The goal is to further develop and demonstrate advanced technology for real-time maintenance decision-making in support of a minimum manned, highly automated and networked information infrastructure on future Navy ships. Key technology development areas include wireless sensors, neural network-based diagnostics/prognostics, and intelligent software agents. One outcome of this research will be prognostic agents capable of operating in a wireless environment to satisfy the Navy’s Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) philosophy of the future…

The new Austal Auto Express 58 catamaran “Lake Express” entered service on June 1. Operating between Milwaukee, Wis., and Muskegon, Mich., “Lake Express” provides a crossing time of 2.5 hours slicing in half the time it would take to drive around the southern tip of the lake, through a congested Chicago. Another Austal vessel, the Australian-built “Spirit of Ontario I”, is scheduled to begin service across Lake Ontario between Toronto and Rochester, New York, on June 18. The establishment of the Austal USA shipyard in Mobile…

American Technology Corp. (ATC) will participate with Bath Iron Works (BIW), a General Dynamics Company in a contract awarded by the U.S. Navy's SMART CARRIER program to Bath Iron Works. ATC and BIW will provide Superior Sound Technology installations in difficult audio communications areas. ATC also announced a separate project with Bath Iron Works for Ship's Force protection. Both projects are expected to bring approximately $175,000 in revenue to ATC over the next five months. Under the U.S. Navy contract, ATC will provide several NeoPlanar(TM) speakers and hardware as well as consulting services. The Navy's objective is to improve audio clarity and intelligibility of communications over shipboard address systems and to achieve other advantages inherent in ATC's NeoPlanar technology.

Bath Iron Works Corporation (a General Dynamics Company), Bath, Maine, is being awarded a $76,613,742 cost-plus-award-fee modification under previously awarded contract (N00024-06-C-2305) to exercise an option for DDG 51 and FFG 7 Class Integrated Planning Yard Services to provide expert design, planning, and material support services for both maintenance and modernization. Work will be performed in Bath, Maine, and is expected to be completed by September 2008. Contract funds in the amount of $28, 347,085, will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

GE Marine reports that its LM2500 gas turbines will be used to power the United States Navy’s next Littoral Combat Ship (LCS 4). GE will supply the two LM2500 gas turbine modules to Austal USA, Mobile, Alabama. Austal USA is a subcontractor to Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, a General Dynamics company and the prime contractor for the General Dynamics LCS program. “The Independence (LCS 2) -- also built by Austal USA/Bath Iron Works -- features two GE LM2500 gas turbines. The keel for this vessel was laid on January 19, 2006,” said Brien Bolsinger, GE Marine general manager. The General Dynamics trimaran LCS is an agile surface combatant that can be deployed independently to overseas littoral regions…

Bath Iron Works Corporation (a General Dynamics Company), Bath Maine, is being awarded $49,383,758 cost-plus-award-fee modification under previously awarded contract (N00024-06-C-2307) to exercise an option for accomplishment of the Lead Yard Class Services for the DDG 51 Class AEGIS destroyer program. This work will provide technical assistance to the Follow Yard in the interpretation and application of the detailed design developed by BIW Corp., the Lead Yard contractor.DDG 51 Class services include: Liaison for follow ship construction, general class services, class logistics services, class design agent services and class change design services for follow ships. Work will be performed in Bath, Maine, and is expected to be completed July 2008.

The latest Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, Sampson (DDG 102), will be christened Sept. 16 during a ceremony at Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine. The ship is named in honor of Rear Adm. William Thomas Sampson (1840-1902), a naval hero in the Spanish-American War. After graduating first in his class at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1861, Sampson served in the Civil War, during which he survived a mine explosion in 1865. When the United States declared war against Spain following the sinking of the battleship Maine, Sampson assumed command of the U.S. North Atlantic Squadron with the rank of rear admiral. Sailing from Key West, Fla., in 1898, aboard USS New York (CA 2), his squadron established a blockade on the Spanish Fleet in the harbor of Santiago, Cuba.

The newest Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer, Bainbridge (DDG 96), will be commissioned Saturday, Nov. 12, 2005, in an 11 a.m. EST ceremony at Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Rep. E. Clay Shaw, 22nd District, State of Florida, will deliver the ceremony's principal address. Susan Bainbridge Hay will serve as sponsor of the ship named for her great-great-great-grandfather. The new guided missile destroyer honors the outstanding and heroic service of Commodore William Bainbridge who served in the Navy from 1789-1833. Four previous ships have been named in honor of Bainbridge, including a 259-ton brig (1842-1863), two destroyers (1902-1920 and 1921-1945), and a nuclear-powered cruiser (1962-1997). Cmdr. John M.

The newest Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer, Bainbridge (DDG 96), will be commissioned Saturday, Nov. 12, 2005, in an 11 a.m. EST ceremony at Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Rep. E. Clay Shaw, 22nd District, State of Florida, will deliver the ceremony's principal address. Susan Bainbridge Hay will serve as sponsor of the ship named for her great-great-great-grandfather. The new guided missile destroyer honors the outstanding and heroic service of Commodore William Bainbridge who served in the Navy from 1789-1833. Four previous ships have been named in honor of Bainbridge, including a 259-ton brig (1842-1863), two destroyers (1902-1920 and 1921-1945), and a nuclear-powered cruiser (1962-1997). Cmdr. John M.

EnSolve Biosystems has been awarded a Phase II Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant from the U.S. Navy to develop a fully automated biomechanical system for removal of oily wastes from ships’ bilge water. This contract builds on the work conducted in the Phase I research completed in February 2002. With the option, the contract value is approximately $750,000. The new biomechanical technology would replace the existing mechanical oily water separators currently used by the Navy. These mechanical systems have proven to be unreliable and require high maintenance efforts. According to Dr. Jason Caplan, president and CEO of EnSolve, the research program for the U.S. Navy will be based on technology originally developed by the company for the commercial marine market.

Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. Bainbridge for its newest destroyer, DDG 96. As the U.S. General Dynamics Company in Maine. Bainbridge. from 1789-1833. The U.S. CGN-25), 1962-1997. hanger facility into the original design. two SH-60B/R Helicopters. groups.

National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO), a General Dynamics Company, received $2 million for the first phase of an estimated $25 million contract to convert a U.S. Navy Strategic Sealift Program vessel to meet the readiness capabilities of the U.S. Marine Corps. Included in Phase I will be the development of design changes, material specifications, as well as the planning for the Phase II conversion effort, effective immediately. The vessel set for conversion - USNS Soderman - is scheduled to arrive at NASSCO during the summer of 2000, and is expected to finish on March 1, 2001. The conversion encompasses added living quarters for 50 additional personnel, changing of the stern ramp to an in-water ramp and upgrading of the helicopter landing deck to an all-weather flight deck.

National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO), a General Dynamics company, has been appointed the prime contractor on $17.4 million in research and development contracts awarded by the Maritech Advanced Shipbuilding Enterprise (ASE) program. In addition to Maritech awarded funds, industry participants will invest $23.5 million of their own funds in the projects for a total cost of $40.9 million. Leading a team of U.S. shipbuilders, marine design and technology firms and universities on two-three projects for the construction of Navy and commercial ships, NASSCO will receive about one-half of the R&D award amount, with the remainder to its research partners.

National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO), a General Dynamics company, has been appointed the prime contractor on $17.4 million in research and development contracts awarded by the Maritech Advanced Shipbuilding Enterprise (ASE) program. In addition to Maritech awarded funds, industry participants will invest $23.5 million of their own funds in the projects for a total cost of $40.9 million. Leading a team of U.S. shipbuilders, marine design and technology firms and universities on two-three projects for the construction of Navy and commercial ships, NASSCO will receive about one-half of the R&D award amount, with the remainder to its research partners.

While consolidations and closures continue to reshape the ship and boatbuilding industry worldwide, 1999 ended on some positive notes, particularly for ship and boat building companies in the United States. U.S. builders, who have watched U.S. Navy business dwindle for more than a decade, have – with the help of the U.S. Maritime Administration – invested hundreds of millions of dollars and an endless amount of effort to restructure their shipyard’s structures, machinery and work flows. The result: a smaller but more capable base of companies that are geared to fulfill demands of traditional clients down the block as easily as they fulfill the demands of customers around the world. The efforts of many U.S.

While consolidations and closures continue to reshape the ship and boatbuilding industry worldwide, 1999 ended on some positive notes, particularly for ship and boat building companies in the United States. U.S. builders, who have watched U.S. Navy business dwindle for more than a decade, have – with the help of the U.S. Maritime Administration – invested hundreds of millions of dollars and an endless amount of effort to restructure their shipyard’s structures, machinery and work flows. The result: a smaller but more capable base of companies that are geared to fulfill demands of traditional clients down the block as easily as they fulfill the demands of customers around the world. The efforts of many U.S.