Budget includes $14.1B for ships

The Pentagon's 2011 budget will include $14.1 billion for shipbuilding, which will include two DDG-51 destroyers, two Littoral Combat Ships, two Joint High Speed Vessels, one Amphibious Assault Ship replacement, two Virginia-class submarines and one Mobile Landing Platform. The budget is due to be sent to Congress Feb. 1. (Source: Defense News, 01/28/10) Gulf Coast note: Northrop Grumman in Pascagoula, Miss., builds DDG-51s and amphibious assault ships; Austal USA in Mobile, Ala., is building JHSVs and competing to build more LCSs.

JHSV will mean 500 jobs

MOBILE, Ala. - The second installment of a contract to build high speed vessels will mean 500 new jobs at Austal USA by the end of the summer. The Navy awarded Austal $204 million in what could eventually be a 10-vessel, $1.6 billion contract. The Joint High Speed Vessel is an Army-Navy program for shallow-draft ferries to carry troops and equipment in combat zones. Austal started work on JHSV 1 in December and plans to start No. 2 in the summer and No. 3 late this year. Austal has 1,000 workers in Mobile. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 01/29/10; previous post)

Navy official confident in Northrop

The Navy's top acquisition official said this week he's confident in Northrop Grumman's ability to deliver quality ships to the Navy despite problems reported last week on surface ships built at Northrop's Gulf Coast shipyards. Sean Stackley, the Navy's assistant secretary for research, development and acquisition, called the issues "rare" and said Northrop and the Navy are reviewing waterfront processes and procedures to ensure similar problems don't arise in the future. (Source: Daily Press (Newport News, Va.), 01/28/10)

Contract: Austal, $204M

Austal USA of Mobile Ala., is being awarded a $204,238,728 modification to previously awarded contract to exercise options for Ships 2 and 3 of the Joint High Speed Vessel program. The JHSV will provide high speed, shallow draft transportation capability to support the intra-theater maneuver of personnel, supplies, and equipment for the Navy, Marine Corps and Army. Work will be performed in Mobile, Ala., and is expected to be completed by July 2012. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 01/28/10)

Contract: Lockheed, $9.8M

Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems and Sensors, Moorestown, N.J., is being awarded a $9,800,000 modification to previously awarded contract for engineering services for DDG 51 class and CG 47 class Aegis combat system installation, integration, test and fleet life cycle engineering support. Eight percent of the work will be done in Pascagoula, Miss., but the most, 45 percent, will be done in Moorestown, N.J. Other work sites are in Maryland, Maine, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Florida and California. Work is expected to be completed by September 2010. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 01/28/10)

LCS bid package released

WASHINGTON -- The Navy released its final bid package for a littoral combat ship buy that could be worth billions of dollars in work to the winner, representatives of the two competing contracting teams confirmed Tuesday. General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin are the two competing teams. Austal USA in Mobile, Ala., is part of the General Dynamics team. The bids are due back in March. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 01/27/10)

Oceanographers help in Haiti

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- Oceanographers from the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command at Stennis Space Center are heavily involved in relief efforts in Haiti. Stennis-based personnel are conducting hydrographic surveys of ports of interest around Haiti to determine navigational hazards for ships bringing aid to Haiti. Personnel from the command's Naval Oceanographic Office have conducted airborne lidar surveys of Port-au-Prince using the CHARTS system aboard a Beechcraft King Air 200 aircraft. Other NAVO personnel are aboard the naval oceanographic 329-foot survey ship USNS Henson. (Source: NNS, 01/22/10)

Navy probes welds

The Navy has ordered a re-inspection of potentially faulty pipe welds on ships built at Northrop Grumman's Pascagoula and Avondale shipyards during the past few years. Inspections target the DDG-51 destroyer and LPD-17 amphibious transport classes of ships, as well as the LHD-8 amphibious assault vessel Makin Island. Inspectors are finding 10 to 15 percent of welds are too thin to meet specifications. The flaws do not pose an immediate threat. Northrop said the company has recertified all of its pipe welders and inspectors and significantly increased inspections on piping systems. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 01/22/10)

Austal-built ferry bound for Haiti

One of two high-speed catamarans built at Austal USA in Mobile, Ala., for Hawaii Superferry Inc. is headed to Haiti for relief efforts. Huakai is the second vessel Austal built for Hawaii Superferry. The Maritime Administration reposessed Huakai and its sister vessel, Alakai, in July after Hawaii Superferry filed for bankruptcy. Based in Virginia, Huakai is one of five MARAD ships being mobilized to help Haiti. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 01/20/10)

Aqua Green taps into high-growth field

STONE COUNTY, Miss. - A company that's been operating an aquaculture facility in Stone County for the past two years already has its sights set on growing to meet the demand for seafood. Richard Cuneo, sales and marketing manager for Aqua Green LLC, said the company hopes to eventually establish two or three additional facilities in Perkinston that would push production to as much as 3 million pounds a year. (Source: Alliance Insight, 01/10)

"Star Wars" ship commissioned

MOBILE, Ala. - The newest Navy warship, a 379-foot aluminum three-hulled vessel, was commissioned Saturday in Mobile. The USS Independence is a new breed of ship designed to be fast and to operate in shallow water. Built by Austal USA, part of the General Dynamics team, it's competing against Lockheed Martin's conventional monohull littoral combat ship for billions of dollars of follow-on orders. The Lockheed Martin ship, commissioned in 2008, is in Norfolk, Va., awaiting deployment to the Caribbean. The Independence is heading to Virginia for testing before its permanently homeported in California. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead, who said the ship looks like something out of Star Wars, said the new class of ships would be useful for a wide range of missions, including responding to humanitarian disasters like the earthquake in Haiti. (Source: Reuters, WKRG-TV, 01/16/10)

Signal buying Bender

MOBILE, Ala. - Bender Shipbuilding and Repair Inc. is being purchased by Signal International Inc., and will become known as Signal Ship Repair. The $31.25 million deal was made at a bankruptcy auction in New Orleans and should be finalized around January 22. Dick Marler, Signal's president and chief executive officer, said the company will invest $5 million in capital improvements initially. The other bidder was Vision Technologies System, parent company of Pascagoula’s VT Halter Marine, which in December said it wanted to buy Bender for $21 million. Bender sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this past summer. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 01/15/10; WKRG-TV, 01/15/10)

Commissioning set for Saturday

MOBILE, Ala. – The littoral combat ship, LCS-2 Independence, will be commissioned Saturday in Mobile, the same city where it was built by Austal USA. Millions of dollars in military equipment for use with littoral combat ships, including a helicopter and an unmanned boat, will be at Mobile Landing for the event. The 11 a.m. commissioning marks it official move to U.S. Navy hands. It comes as the Navy puts final touches on a bid package to buy another two littoral combat ships this year, with as many as eight more orders to follow by 2014 for the winning team. The two teams competing are one led by Lockheed Martin and the other, which includes Austal, led by General Dynamics. (Source: Mobile Press Register, 01/12/10, 01/15/10; NNS, 01/13/10)

Colle Towing lands contract

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - Colle Towing Co., a marine transportation company and shipyard, has won a $9.5 million contract to build a tug for Houston-based Signet Maritime Corp. The tug will be used in Signet's expanding U.S. Gulf and overseas harbor, ship assist and ocean rig transport businesses, the companies said in a joint news release. Colle began work on the tug this month and is slated to deliver it next spring. (Source: Mississippi Press, 01/12/10)

LCS reflects small-crew push

MOBILE, Ala. – The littoral combat ship now being fitted out at the Austal USA shipyard is an example of the Navy's push to reduce the number of crew members. The ship, which will be named the Independence, has a core crew of 40, but another 15 accompany mission packages and nearly two dozen support aviation operations. That means a fully-staffed crew of 78, well under the 200 one might expect of a 379-foot vessel. Austal and contract workers are now correcting problems noted by the Navy. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 01/05/10)