Navy takes delivery of Dewey

The Navy took delivery of its 57th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, the Dewey, Aug. 17. The 9,500-ton ship built by Northrop Grumman in Pascagoula, Miss., completed its combined super trial in June in the Gulf of Mexico. The Dewey, hull number DDG 105, is named for Adm. George Dewey, the Navy hero of the Battle of Manila Bay in the Spanish-American War. The Dewey’s commissioning is scheduled for December. (Source: Navy Times, 08/24/09)

Austal takes hit on earnings

A $23 million write-down on loans to bankrupt client Hawaii Superferry Inc. took a bite out of annual earnings for Australian shipbuilder Austal Ltd. Austal earned $7.65 million in the year that ended June 30, down 82 percent from the previous year. Austal runs a shipyard in Mobile, Ala., that’s expected to play a big role in future growth through military contracts. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 08/22/09)

Ship handed over to Navy

NEW ORLEANS - Northrop Grumman Ship Systems delivered the $1.2 billion ship that will become the USS New York to the Navy at 9:11 a.m. Friday. It will be formally named this fall in its commissioning in New York City. The ship has forged in its bow stem 7 1/2 tons of steel from the World Trade Center, which collapsed during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It's the fifth of 10 San Antonio-class landing platform dock ships. (Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, 08/21/09)

Contract: Northrop Grumman, $16M

Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Miss., is being awarded a $15,978,754 modification to previously awarded contract to exercise options for the accomplishment of follow yard class services for the DDG 51 Class Aegis destroyer program and will provide expert design, planning, and material support services for both DDG 51 ship construction and modernization. Work will be performed in Pascagoula and is expected to be completed by August 2010. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 08/21/09)

Horizon delivers crew boat

MOBILE, Ala. - Horizon Shipbuilding delivered the 182-foot aluminum crew boat Isla San Gabriel to a Mexican customer, part of a $17 million, two-vessel contract the Bayou La Batre shipbuilder won in early 2008. A sister vessel is scheduled for delivery in October. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 08/21/09)

Atlantic Marine Holding CEO retires

MOBILE, Ala. - Ron McAlear is retiring as chief executive officer of Atlantic Marine Holding Co., but will remain as a senior adviser to Atlantic Marine's board of directors. McAlear came to Mobile in 2003 to run Atlantic Marine's local operations, which was purchased by J.F. Lehman & Co. in 2006. Atlantic Marine has about 1,400 full- and part-time employees. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 08/20/09)

Cutter completes builder's trials

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - The Northrop Grumman-built Waesche, second in a new class of national security cutters, successfully completed builder's trials in the Gulf of Mexico this week. Propulsion, electrical, damage control and combat systems were tested. Waesche, under construction at the Pascagoula shipyard, is the second in the Coast Guard's Legend class, an eight-ship national security cutter program. A third cutter is about 25 percent complete at the Pascagoula yard. (Source: Mississippi Press, 08/19/09)

Mobile manatee study launched

MOBILE, Ala. - Up to two dozen manatees make their summer homes in Mobile Bay and the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, and researchers want fishermen, boaters and beachgoers to help find them this week. Over the next few days, Dauphin Island Sea Lab scientists will be joined by about six Florida experts as they scour the area in an airplane, three boats and on foot to look for manatees. The effort is part of the Mobile Manatee Sighting Network's ongoing study of Alabama's seasonal manatee population, which scientists say has increased. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 08/18/09)

New GCRL lab to open in March

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. – A new 5,260 square-foot red snapper lab at the Cedar Point site of the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory will be finished by March 2010, allowing lab workers to abandon a temporary wooden structure. The red snapper facility, which received a $1.3 million National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration grant, is one of several coming to the University of Southern Mississippi's Ocean Springs facility. (Source: Mississippi Press, 08/17/09)

Barge-builder plans layoffs

MADISONVILLE, La. - A barge-building yard in St. Tammany Parish will begin the first in a series of layoffs next month in preparation for eventual closure. About 235 people work for Trinity Marine Products, which builds tank barges for the offshore oil industry. The company plans to complete eight barges already under construction. The first cuts involve 88 workers. (Source: Times-Picayune, 08/07/09)

Raytheon to review hydrographic course

Raytheon has been awarded a task order to develop and support recertification of curricula through the Naval Education and Training Professional Development and Technology Center in Pensacola, Fla. It was issued under an existing Navy contract. The performance period is to March 31, 2010. Raytheon will review and revise existing course curricula for the education of junior officers and foreign navies in the essentials of hydrographic science. (Source: Raytheon via PRNewswire, 08/05/09)

Singapore Technologies 2Q report

Singapore Technologies Engineering reported its profit fell 9 percent for the second quarter of 2009 to $75.91 million from the second quarter 2008. It's the parent company of VT Halter Marine, which has 1,500 workers at shipyards in Pascagoula, Moss Point and Escatawpa, Miss., and ST Mobile Aerospace Engineering, which has 1,200 workers at Brookley Field Industrial Complex in Mobile, Ala. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 08/05/09)

Both LCS teams submit bids

Bids to build the next Littoral Combat Ships were submitted by both industry teams to the Navy. Lockheed Martin’s proposal was sent July 31 and General Dynamics was sent by the Aug. 3 deadline. The competition winner will receive two construction contracts and the other team one for the ships in the 2010 budget, with a cost cap is $460 million per ship. (Source: Defense News, 08/03/09) Gulf Coast note: The Lockheed team includes Bollinger Shipyard of New Orleans and the General Dynamics team includes Austal USA of Mobile, Ala.

Lockheed submits LCS FY10 proposal

The Lockheed Martin-led team submitted its proposal for the Littoral Combat Ship fiscal year 2010 contract to the Navy July 31. A contract is expected to be awarded this coming fiscal year for additional LCSs. The Navy is proceeding with a limited competition with winners of the Flight 0 phase of the program, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics. (Source: Lockheed Martin via PRNewswire, 08/03/09) Gulf Coast note: Bollinger Shipyards in New Orleans is part of the Lockheed team and Austal USA of Mobile, Ala., is part of the General Dynamics team.