Naval Sea Systems Command News

For more than a decade, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division has invested in regional schools through STEM events, robotics competitions and technology donations, recognizing that the next generation of scientists and engineers is already sitting in today’s classrooms.On Feb. 13 and 14, NSWCDD will host its annual Innovation Challenge at Dahlgren, called IC@D for short, for middle and high schoolers at the Fredericksburg Convention Center. The invitation-only event will…

Damen Shipyards Group has announced the selection of its Landing Ship Transport (LST) 100 design by Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). According to the navy, up to 35 LST100 vessels will be constructed at shipyards in the United States for the Medium Landing Ship programme (LSM). This US Navy initiative aims to enhance capability to transport and land Marine Corps units in contested environments.Proven standard platformNAVSEA released the RFI (Request for Information) to the industry at the beginning of 2025.

Marine solutions company TAI Engineers, part of S&B, has welcomed Matt Garner as its new president.Garner succeeds Bill Krewsky, who will retire in September.He brings more than 28 years of executive leadership and technical expertise in maritime technology and defense systems.Most recently, he served as Vice President of Engineering at Trident Maritime Systems, where he led global engineering teams across four countries.His career includes senior leadership roles at Gibbs & Cox and nearly two decades with the U.S.

For the U.S. Navy, boats perform missions from mundane maintenance chores such as hull scraping and cleaning overboard discharges to clandestine special forces insertion and extraction. Some boats are about as basic as you can imagine, and some are equipped with sophisticated combat systems and weapons. Big or small, they all perform indispensable tasks for the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.Boats that are carried on and launched from ships are referred to as “shipboard boats,” to distinguish them from boats based at installations ashore.

To ensure safe passage, high-value assets such as Navy aircraft carriers require escorts when entering or exiting crowded harbors. The Perception Autonomy for Vessel Escorts (PAVE) system from Charles River Analytics automates the process to reduce the number of people required and increase the speed for each mission.The company has now won a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II contract sponsored by the Naval Sea Systems Command which is worth up to $1.8M.While PAVE is not the first of its kind…

American Fan working with Ingalls Shipbuilding and other shipbuilders to provide ventilation fans for ten Flight III destroyersFairbanks Morse Defense (FMD), a portfolio company of Arcline Investment Management (Arcline), has been awarded multiple purchase orders for its Ohio-based business unit, American Fan, to provide cooling and ventilation fans for ten Flight III Arleigh Burke guided-missile destroyers. The equipment will be installed on future destroyers including USS Thomas Kelley (DDG-140), USS Ernest E. Evans (DDG-141), USS Charles J. French (DDG-142), USS Richard J.

What has been described as the most transformational warship in the U.S. Navy has been transformed again. USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) recently completed modifications to remove her main guns and replace them with a hypersonic missile capability. The work to have her guns removed to make space for new weapons was conducted at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss. With the modifications, Zumwalt  now carries four “all-up round canisters” for the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) missile in place of the forward Advanced Gun System (AGS) gun mount.

Silver Ships, a boatbuilder based in Theodore, Ala., announced the successful completion of reactivation and crew familiarization training for four Coastal Fast Response Boats (CFRBs) recently delivered to the Montenegrin Navy. The training, which spanned two weeks, concluded with a graduation ceremony attended by officials from the Montenegrin Navy, the Ministry of Defense, and the U.S. Embassy. U.S. Ambassador Judy Rising Reinke was present to commend the crews and present training…

U.S. Navy leadership held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on July 30 to celebrate the modernization of Berth 6 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The $35 million project marks a milestone in the ongoing Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP), aimed at upgrading facilities to support the Virginia and Los Angeles-class submarines.Originally constructed in 1903, Berth 6 has undergone extensive repairs and upgrades to its dockside utility services. Enhancements include a fenced electrical substation yard…

Combat craft are used by both large and small navies, and every navy, coast guard or maritime service operates some kind of boats.The U.S. Navy’s boats are used for a variety of tasks from personnel and cargo transport to ship repair and maintenance to environmental response.The combat craft range from pull sized patrol boats down to ridged-hull inflatable boats (RIBs) armed with machine guns. Boats include shipboard RIBs, maritime security boats, dive support boats, workboats…

When Richard Schwarz joined SAFE Boats International as chief financial officer in 2015, he brought to the company a healthy dose of experience in defense and aerospace manufacturing, primarily gained on the financial side of the business. About 2.5 years later, he transitioned to become chief executive officer of the Pacific Northwest boatbuilder, which constructs aluminum vessels for a diverse set of customers.“The mix changes from month to month, year to year, but the primary areas where our customers sit are state and local law enforcement…

Austal USA celebrated the christening of the company’s 19th Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) today – the future USS Pierre (LCS 38). Ship sponsor Larissa Thune Hargens executed the ceremonial bottle break over the bow of Pierre.Hargens, a native of South Dakota, graduated from Bethel University, in Saint Paul, Minn., with a bachelor’s degree in political science and history. Since graduating, Hargens has held several positions with the University of Sioux Falls in South Dakota and currently owns her own LLC, Red Writer, where she does freelance marketing and social media.

Mobile, Ala. shipbuilder Silver Ships announced it has delivered the first four coastal fast response boats (CFRB) under a contract award worth $6.12 million from the Naval Sea Systems Command.The vessels were designed and constructed as a part of the U.S. Navy Foreign Military Sale (FMS) program and will benefit the NATO Navy, while the other three boats support a Central American Navy upon delivery.The seven custom-designed military CRFBs feature specialized communication and navigation equipment. These durable, 46-foot deep-vee hull vessels feature a cabin and WING collar system.

U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command has exercised an option with Conrad Shipyard to build another Yard, Repair, Berthing, and Messing (YRBM) barge.The award is a $18,484,619 firm-fixed-price modification to a previously awarded contract for the detail design and construction and  includes exercise of a design changes option.Work will be performed in Amelia, La., and is expected to be completed by June 2025. The new barge will be delivered to Norfolk, Va.The YRBM barge is an ABS A1 Accommodation Barge with a 151’-4” x 49’-4” x 14’ footprint.

The United States' Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro is directing a comprehensive analysis of the Navy shipbuilding portfolio amid ongoing labor issues and supply chain shortages that have negatively impacted vessel delivery timelines.Del Toro tasked newly-confirmed Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development & Acquisition (ASN RD&A) Nickolas Guertin and Commander Naval Sea Systems Command Vice Adm. James Downey to conduct the analysis, with an interim progress…

Tech company Leidos was recently awarded a new task order by Naval Sea Systems Command to manage, operate and maintain the U.S. Navy’s Overlord and medium unmanned surface vessels (USVs). The single-award task order has a one-year base period of performance and two one-year options. The task order has a maximum value of approximately $95 million if all options are exercised.“Leidos is leading a new era of naval operations,” said Gerry Fasano, Leidos Defense Group president. “The Leidos team has unmatched experience and expertise in autonomous vessel design and operations…

Silver Ships recently completed the first deliveries under the Naval Sea Systems Command of seven 11-meter Open Center Console (OCC) vessels and two 8-meter Open Center Console (OCC) vessels, under the Naval Special Warfare Surface Support Craft Contract. The U.S. Navy has also conducted Pre-Delivery Inspection and Testing (PDIT) of three vessel variants included in the contract.The Naval Special Warfare (NSW) Surface Support Craft (SSC) contract entails construction of five different vessel variants of the Ambar series rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIB).

Not every vessel in the U.S. Navy is built for major combat operations on the high seas. There are large numbers of boats and service craft that provide essential services to the sea services, the nation and its partners.The U.S. Navy procures about 100 small boats per year. Some of these boats are based on commercial designs, procured to a Navy developed specification that tailors the requirements to the end user needs. They are procured and managed by two Naval Sea Systems Command program offices—PMS 300 and PMS 325.Compared to warships and auxiliaries…

The U.S. Navy has long valued the potential of additive manufacturing (AM) and 3D Printing.AM refers to the depositing of material layer by layer to create an object. For the Navy, it’s not practical to carry every replacement part for every system on a ship, and it can be difficult to forecast if or when parts will fail. AM provides a flexible source of supply in being able to make parts instead of ordering them and waiting for them to arrive, especially for warships at the far end of the supply chain.

Explosive charges aboard the ship enabled battle damage assessment (BDA) teams to respond to actual damageThe former Austin-class amphibious transport dock USS Denver (LPD 9) was sunk in a blaze of glory as a target ship during the recent Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise 2022. The 9,600-ton, 561-foot Denver, which was commissioned in 1968 and served until being retired in 2014, had been stored with other inactive ships at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, before being sunk about 50 miles north of Kauai in about 15…

“If we desire to secure peace,” President George Washington once observed, “it must be known that we are at all times ready for war.” During the late 1790s, the U.S. government commissioned naval engineers and shipbuilders to design and build large warships capable of agile maneuvering and stowing an excess amount of weapons.With the passing of the Naval Act of 1794, Washington secured the authorization to procure the Navy’s first six frigates – a wooden-hulled, three-masted warship with either a 38 or 44-gun capability.

Phoenix International Holdings Inc. announced it has been awarded a $112 million cost-plus-award-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for worldwide undersea deep ocean search and recovery operations and engineering and technical support to the U.S. Navy Director of Ocean Engineering, Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV). Work will be performed worldwide and is expected to be completed in September 2027.Commenting on the award, Phoenix President Patrick Keenan stated, “Phoenix has a long history of providing undersea operations services to the U.S.

The U.S. Navy said it has retrieved a fighter jet that was lost from an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea last month.The F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft, which blew off the deck of the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) in "unexpected heavy weather" on July 8, was recovered by a team from Task Force (CTF) 68, Naval Sea Systems Command's Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV), Harry S. Truman, Naval Strike Fighter Wing Atlantic, and U.S. Sixth Fleet embarked on the multi-purpose…