Navy Distinguished Civilian Service News

Austal christened USNS Trenton (JHSV 5) January 10 at its shipyard in Mobile, Alabama. USNS Trenton is the fifth of 10 Joint High Speed Vessels (JHSV) that Austal has under contract with the U.S. Navy as part of an overall 10-ship block-buy contract worth over $1.6 billion. The 338-foot catamaran vessel was named Trenton by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, after the capital of the state of New Jersey and the site of George Washington's first military victory during the American Revolutionary War.

Austal christened USNS Trenton (JHSV 5) this morning at its state-of-the-art shipyard in Mobile, Alabama. USNS Trenton is the fifth of ten Joint High Speed Vessels (JHSV) that Austal has under contract with the U.S. Navy as part of an overall 10-ship block-buy contract worth over $1.6 billion. The 338-foot catamaran vessel was named Trenton by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, after the capital of the state of New Jersey and the site of George Washington's first military victory during the American Revolutionary War. According to Secretary Mabus, “Trenton displays American values of community, perseverance and resourcefulness at their very best.

Ms. Virginia A. Kamsky, was chosen to sponsor the ship by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, and was present at the keel laying ceremony for the fifth Joint High Speed Vessel 'Trenton' (JHSV 5), one of ten Austal-designed 103-meter U.S. Navy Joint High Speed Vessels under contract with the U.S. Navy. A traditional keel-laying ceremony marks the first significant milestone in the construction of the ship. Due to Austal’s modular approach to ship manufacturing, all 43 of the modules used to form this 103-meter aluminum catamaran design are already being assembled.

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) announced that Mitchell "Mitch" B. Waldman has been named to the position of vice president, government and customer relations at its Shipbuilding sector. In his new role, Waldman is responsible for the development and management of the sector's government and customer affairs programs and is directly involved and engaged in supporting company business objectives. He will report to Mike Petters, corporate vice president and president, Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding.

After a career leading the modernization of U.S. ship and submarine technology, Dr. William B. Morgan, Head of the Carderock Division's Hydromechanics Directorate, is retiring December 30th with almost fifty years of service. During his career, the Iowa native brought computers into naval engineering, revolutionizing propeller design by shifting from empirical to theoretical, becoming the first in the world to put the theoretical propeller data into a computer. This dramatically reduced propeller noise, enhancing submarine and ship acoustic characteristics. For example, he and his associates developed the highly skewed propeller with its superior vibration and acoustic properties. His largely unheralded work helped the United States win the Cold War. Dr.

Maritime Surveys Ltd., Shoreham, Sussex, U.K., recently took delivery of the first SeaBat 8160 multibeam echosounder system from RESON A/S. The SeaBat 8160 was installed on one of Maritime's survey vessels, the Scotian Shore. Alastair MacDonald, managing director of Maritime Surveys, commented on the success of the sea trials: "The SeaBat 8160 delivered the highest quality multibeam survey data in a swath width of 1,300 meters at 3,000 meters water depth, even when experiencing a near 20 degree roll and 12 degree pitch. The excellent data quality combined with the system's portability makes the 8160 extremely valuable for our operations." During these trials the system was supported by GSE Rentals of Aberdeen who supplied a TSS POS M/V 320 system.