Shipyard expansion ready for bid

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- VT Halter Marine's multimillion-dollar south yard expansion is ready for bid. Jackson County Port Authority commissioners agreed unanimously to advertise the project for bid at a Thursday morning special meeting. The new ship repair facility, to be built at the Bayou Casotte shipyard in Pascagoula, will create 400 jobs while diversifying the company’s offerings and increasing its customer base. The company currently employs about 2,200 workers at its Moss Point, Pascagoula and Escatawpa yards. (Source: Mississippi Press, 03/28/13)

VT Halter launches ship

MOSS POINT, Miss. -- The 253-foot oceanographic survey vessel U.S. Naval Ship Maury was christened and launched Wednesday at VT Halter Marine's shipyard. The all-steel T-AGS 66 is an enhanced version of the T-AGS 60 class used by the Navy to gather data and provide information to the military and improve undersea warfare technology and ship detection. It can carry a crew of 67. It was named in honor of Matthew Fontaine Maury, the first superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory an author of the first textbook of oceanography. He was also considered the father of world meteorology. He died in 1873. VT Halter has built six of the original T-AGS 60s. (Source: Mississippi Press, 03/27/13)

GD wins $26M contract for MK46

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. -- General Dynamics Land Systems has been awarded a $25.7 million contract to produce eight MK46 30mm Naval Weapon Systems for the U.S. Navy for use on San Antonio-class (LPD-17) ships and the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) class. The MK46 is an all-weather, day/night, fully stabilized weapon system. General Dynamics has delivered 30 MK46 systems to the Navy since 2005. It is the main deck gun for LPD-17 ships and is the secondary gun battery for Littoral Combat Ships. Work will be done in Woodbridge, Va.; Tallahassee, Fla.; Lima, Ohio; Westminster, Md.; Sterling Heights, Mich.; and Scranton, Pa. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in September 2014. (Source: General Dynamics via PRNewswire, 03/26/13) San Antonio-class ships are built by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss., and one of two versions of the LCS is built by Austal USA in Mobile, Ala.

Ingalls to fill 3,000 positions

PRICHARD, Ala. -- Huntington Ingalls Industries plans to hire 3,000 people for its Pascagoula, Miss., shipbuilding facility over the next 12 months to fulfill existing ship orders. A job fair to help fill those positions will be held at 5 p.m. Friday at the Sunlight District Auditorium at 809 Seminary Street in Prichard. Bill Glenn, manager of public affairs for Ingalls Shipbuilding, confirmed the company has partnered with a consortium of ministers across the Gulf Coast to help attract the necessary applicants to fulfill such a strong demand for skilled workers. (Source: al.com, 03/20/13)

Contract: Austal USA, $20M

Austal USA LLC., Mobile, Ala., is being awarded a $19,987,274 modification to previously awarded contract to exercise options for class service efforts and special studies, analyses and reviews for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program. Austal USA LLC will assess engineering and production challenges and evaluate the cost and schedule risks from affordability efforts to reduce LCS acquisition and lifecycle costs. Work will be performed in Mobile, Ala. (72 percent) and Pittsfield, Mass. (28 percent), and is expected to complete by March 2014. Fiscal 2012 Shipbuilding and Conversion, Navy funding in the amount of $19,987,274 will be obligated at time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 03/15/13)

Hydroid UUV in full production

Hydroid Inc. of Pocasset, Mass., has begun full-rate production the Navy Littoral Battlespace Sensing (LBS) Unmanned Underwater Vehicle. The Navy conducted more than a year of test and evaluation before ordering the LBS UUV. The end user of the UUVs will be the Naval Oceanographic Office at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., which acquires and analyzes open oceans, coastal waters, and harbors data. The U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command in San Diego ordered the immediate production of three LBS UUVs, based on the Hydroid REMUS 600 UUV, and one Shipset consisting of a launch and recovery system (LARS), a LARS flat rack, a mission van, a maintenance van, and vehicle support equipment. The REMUS (Remote Environmental Measuring Units) UUV projects funders include the U.S. Office of Naval Research in Arlington, Va.; the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in Arlington, and the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence in London. Hydroid is a subsidiary of Kongsberg Maritime AS in Kongsberg, Norway. (Source: Military and Aerospace Electronics, 03/08/13)

LPD leaves Pascagoula

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- Ingalls Shipbuilding's amphibious transport dock Arlington left the Pascagoula yard Friday morning, headed toward Norfolk for an April 6 commissioning. LPD 24 is a 684-foot-long vessel designed to transport up to 800 Marines, their fighting vehicles and aircraft. It's the 8th in the LPD 17-class to be built by the company. The ship is named Arlington for Arlington County, Va., where American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, killing 184 people. (Source: Mississippi Press, Sun Herald, 03/08/13)

Keel-laying ceremony held

MOBILE, Ala. -- BAE Systems Southeast Shipyard Alabama LLC held a keel-laying ceremony this week for the second of two dump scows being built for Illinois-based Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. Construction of the 295-foot-long, 62-foot-wide Hull 108 started in October, as did construction of the first dump scow, Hull 107. Both vessels will be delivered by August. The vessels are used to transport and dump sediments acquired while dredging waterways. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 03/06/13)

Contract: Bath Iron Works, $12.3M

Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, is being awarded a $12,326,893 modification to previously awarded contract to exercise an option for post-delivery support for the USS Coronado (LCS 4). Bath Iron Works will perform the planning and implementation of deferred design changes that have been identified during the construction period. The corrections and upgrades are necessary to support Coronado's sailaway and follow-on post-delivery test and trials period. Work will be performed in Mobile, Ala. (76 percent); Bath, Maine (18 percent); and Pittsfield, Mass. (6 percent), and is expected to be complete by February 2014. Fiscal 2009 Shipbuilding and Conversion, Navy funding in the amount of $12,326,893 will be obligated at time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 03/04/13)

Contract: Austal, $681.7M

Austal USA, Mobile, Ala., is being provided funding in the amount of $681,721,789 under previously awarded contract for construction of two fiscal 2013 Littoral Combat Ships. Work will be performed in Mobile, Ala. (51 percent); Pittsfield, Mass. (13 percent); Cincinnati, Ohio (4 percent); Baltimore, Md. (2 percent); Burlington, Vt. (2 percent); New Orleans, La. (2 percent) and various locations of less than two percent each totaling 26 percent. Work is expected to be complete by June 2018. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 03/04/13)