Portsmouth Naval News

The U.K. Royal Navy’s NavyX trials ship, XV (eXperimental Vessel) Patrick Blackett, left Portsmouth Naval Base to undergo sea acceptance trials - ensuring the vessel and its onboard equipment is fully functioning and ready to support innovative experimentation.The ship will be used by NavyX innovation and autonomy team to independently test and trial novel technologies, including unmanned underwater vehicles and unmanned surface vehicles, paving the way for advanced experimentation, innovation and future capabilities within the Royal Navy.

Born in 1998 and celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2023, Heger Dry Dock holds a unique position as one of the few engineering firms in the world dedicated to the design and lifecycle engineering of drydocks, primarily floating dry docks. Premal Shah, P.E., President and Principal Engineer, discussed some of the company’s recent contract wins with Maritime Reporter & Engineering News.Specializing in the design and lifecycle maintenance of floating dry docks, Heger Dry Docks was founded 25 years ago, and still run today by one of its co-founders, Bob Heger.

The U.K. Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales has left Portsmouth en route to Rosyth where the £3 billion aircraft carrier will receive repairs after breaking down off the Isle of Wight in August.The 65,000-tonne warship will enter Babcock's dry dock in Rosyth where it will undergo repairs to its starboard propeller shaft which suffered a mechanical defect as the ship left for New York. Inspections by divers revealed the shaft coupling had failed. Since the aircraft carrier returned to Portsmouth Naval Base in early September…

As a rudderless U.S. Navy debates maritime strategy, fleet futures and platform performance, America’s naval shipbuilding industry can look forward to another year of relative stasis.Barring a major geopolitical incident or unexpected maritime provocation, government shipbuilding isn’t going to change course. With Admiral Michael Gilday approaching the final “lame duck” year of his four-year term as Chief of Naval Operations and the 2024 election season looming, the prospect for major changes in the Navy’s demand signal seems limited.Aside from the U.S.

Louisiana shipbuilder Bollinger Shipyards has been awarded a contract to build the multi-mission dry dock caissons at the U.S. Navy's Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY) in Maine, the U.S. Department of Defense said on Monday.Under the $33,704,757 firm-fixed-price contract, Bollinger will provide two graving dock caissons at PNSY for Dry Dock #1N and Dry Dock #1W. Caisson construction includes steel fabrication, installation of mechanical and electrical systems, and a full testing…

Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) awarded a $1.7-billion construction project, an effort toexpand and reconfigure a dry dock complex at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY) in Kittery, Maine, to increase the shipyard's capacity to maintain, modernize, and repair the Navy's attack submarines and return them to the fleet on time.The seven-year project, part of the Navy's comprehensive Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP), will construct an addition to Dry Dock 1 within the existing flood basin area…

Captain Dianna Wolfson took the helm Friday as the 110th commander of Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) and first female leader in its 253-year history.Wolfson also holds the distinction of becoming the first female commander of any of the nation’s four public shipyards when she assumed command in June 2019 of Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF).This marks her third NNSY tour, with previous assignments as Operations Officer and Project Superintendent for the USS Newport News (SSN 750) Engineered Overhaul.NNSY…

Built by Dakota Creek Industries in Anacortes, Wash., the first of the U.S. Navy's new fleet of six YT 808-class tugs was delivered in October after completing the last construction phase. Measuring 90 feet long and 38 feet 3 inches wide, the YT 808 vessel is powered by twin Cat 3512E marine engines, each rated at 1,810 horsepower. The engines drive two Schottel SRP 340 fixed-pitch z-drive thrusters providing a top speed of 12.5 knots and an expected bollard pull of 40 metric tons.The new series of Robert Allan Ltd.-designed tugs are the Navy's first vessels built to meet the U.S.

Maritime navigational safety near two U.S. Navy installations in Kings Bay, Ga., and Portsmouth, N.H. has been improved thanks to new Physical Oceanographic Real-Time Systems, also known as PORTS, installed by NOAA and the U.S. Navy. They are the first new PORTS in two years, and the 34th and 35th in the nationwide network.The system near Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, the East Coast home to America’s Ohio-class submarines, is an integrated series of sensors which will provide critical real-time information on oceanographic and meteorological conditions.

The U.S. Navy is mobilizing 1,629 Reservists to support aircraft carrier and submarine maintenance at its four public shipyards starting in July. This mobilization will help reduce the maintenance backlog that has developed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.In March, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) authorized weather and safety leave for shipyard personnel who fell under the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) "high risk" category for extreme complications tied to the COVID-19 virus.

Cianbro Corp., Pittsfield, Maine, is awarded a $157,949,610 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of a super flood basin and extending portal crane rails for Dry Dock #1 located at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNS).  Work will be performed in Kittery, Maine, and is expected to be completed by March 2022.  Fiscal 2019 military construction, (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $157,949,610 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website with one proposal received.  The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N40085-20-C-8500).

Britain's newest aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales sails into home port of Portsmouth Naval Base for the first time.The £3.1 billion warship left Rosyth dockyard, Scotland, where it was built in September before undergoing eight weeks of sea trials.The ship’s arrival into Portsmouth represents the culmination of 16 years of work by the ACA – a unique alliance relationship between BAE Systems, Babcock, Thales, and the UK Ministry of Defence.More than 10,000 people across the UK have been involved in the program to deliver the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers, with six British shipbuilding yards across the country playing a vital role in the ships’ design and construction.Sir Simon Lister…

Oceaneering International Inc., Chesapeake, Virginia (N64498-19-D-0001); Huntington Ingalls Inc., Newport News, Virginia (N64498-19-D-0002); and General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, Connecticut (N64498-19-D-0003), are being awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite quantity multiple award contracts with firm-fixed-priced ordering provisions for Submarine Safety (SUBSAFE) and Level I engineering and technical services in the amounts of $827,674,072; $874,341,811; and $1,110,350,671, respectively. This requirement is for management and technical services for the support installation, troubleshooting, repair, and maintenance of main and auxiliary weapons…

The first of the U.K. Royal Navy's next-generation Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV) has been formally commissioned into the fleet.Commissioned last week at her home base of Portsmouth, HMS Forth represents the second ship to join the Royal Navy in less than six months, following aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth commissioned in December. The warships are part of the government’s £178 billion plan to bolster its Armed Forces over the next decade.HMS Forth is the first of five new OPVs designed for counter-piracy…

An alliance team led by BAE Systems has won the contract to resolve propulsion issues that have been plaguing the U.K.’s most advanced air defense warships. The team, which also includes Cammell Laird and BMT, has been tasked to improve the resilience in the Royal Navy’s Type 45 Destroyer power and propulsion system by replacing the existing two diesel generators, fitting an additional diesel generator and modifying the high voltage system on each ship. The warships had reportedly suffered a number of breakdowns at sea due to problems with their propulsion systems.

The U.S. Navy’s next Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), Tulsa (LCS 16), has moved a step closer to deliver with the completion of acceptance trials on March 8. An industry team led by shipbuilder Austal USA performed comprehensive tests while LCS 16 was underway in the Gulf of Mexico in order to demonstrate to the Navy the successful operation of the ship’s major systems and equipment. LCS 16 will be the eighth Independence-variant LCS built by Austal for the U.S. Navy and the second delivered so far in 2018.

The U.K.’s newest aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth was commissioned into the Royal Navy fleet this morning by Her Majesty The Queen. Serving as the ship's Lady Sponsor, The Queen addressed guests before the ship's Commanding Officer, Captain Jerry Kyd, and read the commissioning warrant at a ceremony in Portsmouth Naval Base. The ceremony, attended by Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson and military chiefs, marked the first time the Queen has visited the new warship since the formal naming ceremony in Rosyth in July 2014.

After a two-year restoration at historic Dry Dock 1 at Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston National Historical Park, America's oldest commissioned warship, USS Constitution was refloated July 23. Since entering dry dock on May 18, 2015, ship restorers from the Naval History and Heritage Command Detachment Boston, and teams of Constitution Sailors have worked tirelessly side-by-side to bring Old Ironsides back to her glory. Captain Robert S. Gerosa, Jr., commanding officer of Constitution, said he was proud of the hard work and dedication of his Sailors during the restoration. "The significance of the water coming in the dry dock is the start of the evolution," said Gerosa. "It's the start of getting Constitution back in the water.

The Virginia-class  nuclear-powered attack submarine USS New Hampshire has arrived at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY) for maintenance work, AP reported. It is the fifth Virginia-class submarine and the third U.S. Navy ship to be named in honor of the state of New Hampshire. USS New Hampshire (SSN 778) will complete scheduled maintenance work and several system upgrades while in the Shipyard. New Hampshire is the first Virginia-class major maintenance availability for the shipyard since completing the inaugural availability on USS Virginia (SSN 774) in 2012. It is designed to excel in anti-submarine, anti-ship and strike warfare; special operations; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. The submarine has a crew of 15 officers and 117 enlisted personnel.

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard delivered USS Providence (SSN 719) back to the Fleet 23 days ahead of schedule and on budget April 7. USS Providence arrived at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard December 4, 2015, for a Pre-Inactivation Restricted Availability (PIRA). The project team and ship's crew worked seamlessly throughout the maintenance availability to meet the Naval Sea Systems Command's mission priority of the on-time delivery of ships and submarines. "As a team, the shipyard with the captain and crew of Providence, focused on the positive plan forward," said project superintendent, Mark Ayotte.

The U.K.'s first maritime autonomous systems testing service is set to launch later this year. BAE Systems said it has been awarded £457,000 (approximately $594,700) in grant funding from the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to design and deliver the U.K.’s first dedicated autonomous systems testing service. Based around Portsmouth, Southampton and the South East of the Isle of Wight, BAE Systems will work with ASV Global (ASV), Blue Bear Systems Research (Blue Bear)…

A multimillion pound refit has been carried out on Portsmouth-based Type 23 Frigate, HMS Westminster, to return her to the forefront of naval capability. Her extensive maintenance period, as part of the £600 million Maritime Services Delivery Framework (MSDF), has been carried out by a team of more than 800 people at Portsmouth Naval Base, U.K. The upkeep program on the 24-year-old Duke Class frigate has followed several busy years of deployments across the globe and includes upgrades to weapons and marine systems that will enhance her warfighting capabilities for years ahead.

An unexploded World War Two bomb was found in Portsmouth Harbour on England's southern coast on Wednesday, halting traffic of cross-channel ferries at the port. The 500 lb bomb was discovered by a barge dredging the harbour ahead of the arrival of HMS Queen Elizabeth - the Royal Navy's new 65,000 tonne aircraft carrier. "This is the third piece of historic ordnance found in the harbour during the dredging works since September," said Bill Oliphant, Captain of Portsmouth Naval Base. The Royal Navy said disposal experts will tow the bomb out of the harbour and destroy it in open waters off the eastern Isle of Wight but the timing will depend on tides and weather conditions. Reporting by Adela Suliman