Firm delivers new PCs to Eglin

A Florida powerboat company, which sells small, fast heavy-sea boats to the military, has delivered two of its 27-foot high performance patrol craft to Eglin Air Force Base in late January. Hann Powerboats sent the PCs to Eglin as part of an open-ended contract that has the company building an indefinite number of vessels for the AF. The two fiberglass-hull boats are the first that the AF will use for active patrol duty. Eighty-six other boats delivered under the contract were built to be towed at high speed and used for live-fire exercises. The PCs, powered by a pair of 200-hp engines that can hit speeds up to about 61 mph and survive in seas as high as 13 feet, are designed to carry small arms and are bullet resistant. Hann also builds boats for the Navy, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and to a Nigerian oil company, facilitated by the U.S. Department of Commerce. (Source: Bradenton Herald, 01/30/15)

CSS Hunley’s hull being revealed

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - A century and a half after it sank and more than a decade after it was raised, scientists are finally getting a look at the hull of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, the first sub in history to sink an enemy warship. What they find may finally solve the mystery of why the hand-cranked submarine sank during the Civil War. "It's like unwrapping a Christmas gift after 15 years," said Paul Mardikian, senior conservator on the Hunley project. Last May, it readied for a sodium hydroxide bath to loosen encrustation. In August, scientists used air-powered chisels and dental tools to begin the task of removing the coating. Today, about 70 percent of the outside hull has been revealed. Hunley sank the Union blockade ship USS Housatonic off Charleston in February 1864; but the sub and its eight-man crew never made it back to shore. CSS Hunley was discovered off the South Carolina coast in 1995, raised in 2000 and brought to a conservation lab in North Charleston. (Source: The Associated Press, 01/30/15) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding: After the start of the American Civil War in 1861, Horace Lawson Hunley joined James R. McClintock and Baxter Watson in building the submarine Pioneer at New Orleans - before falling to U.S. Navy forces in 1862. The trio later constructed two submarines at Mobile, Ala., the second of which was named H.L. Hunley. This sub was originally built in Mobile by Park and Lyons Machine Shop from a cylindrical steam boiler.

Panama City firm acquired by HII

Huntington Ingalls Industries announced Jan. 30 it was acquiring the Panama City, Fla.-headquarters of the Engineering Solutions Division of The Columbia Group, a leading designer and builder of unmanned underwater vehicles for domestic and international customers. As a previous stand-alone division within The Columbia Group, ESD employs some 30 engineers, analysts, craftsmen and technicians. ESD will operate as the Undersea Solutions Group, a subsidiary of HII, and will report to Newport News (Va.) Shipbuilding's Submarine and Fleet Support division. (Source: HII, 01/30/15) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding: HII is the largest industrial employer in Virginia and Mississippi; and has operations in Louisiana and Alabama. HII’s Pascagoula shipyard builds the LHA 6 class of large-deck amphibious ships and is the prime builder of the Navy's newest fleet of San Antonio (LPD 17) class amphibious assault ships.)

Signet delivers tug

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- Signet Maritime has taken delivery of its ninth technologically advanced ASD tug in less than four years, company leaders said. The Signet Vigilant was constructed at Signet Shipbuilding and Repair in Pascagoula. The 30-metric-ton bollard pull, EPA Tier 3 compliant, ASD vessel is the first Castleman Maritime design for Signet. The new tug will operate from Signet's Pascagoula division, where it will perform rig escort, ship assist and barge assist work. (Source: Mississippi Press, 01/27/15)

DBB: Rework future vendor contracts

The Defense Business Board (DBB) issued a series of recommendations Jan. 22 calling on the Pentagon to cut $125 billion in spending through 2020 with reductions in services and reworking vendor contracts, early retirements and reductions in administrative costs. The report, at the direction of Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work’s October 2014 memo, also calls on DBB to form a Task Group to recommend changes to DOD’s current plans for modernization. DBB released its findings a week before FY 2016’s defense budget was due to be released. The early retirements, of more than 1 million, were identified in the fields of human resources, health care, financial, logistics, acquisition and property management fields. The biggest cost initiatives ID’d are: From $49 billion to $89 billion through "rigorous vendor negotiations" for contracted goods and services; $23 billion to $53 billion through retirement and attrition of defense civilians and contractors; and $5 billion to $9 billion in IT data center consolidation. The study also includes deep reviews of its business processes with Lockheed Martin, Pepsi, Hewlett Packard and IBM. (Source: Defense News, 01/25/15) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding Note: A Lockheed Martin consortium designs and builds the Freedom class variant of the Littoral Combat Ship at a shipyard in Marinette, Wis. The second LCS variant, an Independence class, is built at Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Ala. Lockheed also produces multi-variants of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Eglin AFB, Fla., is home to initial F-35 maintenance and pilot training.

Over horizon with DDGs, F-35s

Over horizon with DDGs, F-35s The Navy and Lockheed Martin are planning to demonstrate a beyond-the-horizon anti-ship missile detection and technology using an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter by 2016. The Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air (NIFC-CA) system uses Aegis radar, an airborne sensor and SM-6 missile to find, track and destroy approaching threats at ranges beyond the typical radar horizon. NIFC-CA uses an E-2D Hawkeye as an airborne sensor to relay threat information to the ship beyond radar range. LM is working with Naval Sea Systems Command to plan an NIFC-CA demonstration at White Sands (NM) Missile Range by 2016. The idea and demonstration would be to use an F-35 as an airborne relay sensor to replace the E-2D. Alongside this defensive role, NIFC-CA technology can bring offensive firepower to Navy ships and allowing them to attack targets at much greater ranges. NIFCA-CA is slated to deploy later this year with Navy forces as part of the Teddy Roosevelt Carrier Battle Group. Gulf Coast Note: NIFC-CA is part of the Navy’s upgraded Aegis ballistic missile defense system - called Baseline 9 – and also is being engineered into destroyers (DDG 113 through DDG 118). DDG 113 John Finn, DDG 114 Ralph Johnson and DDG 117 Paul Ignatius are either under construction or been awarded for build at Huntington Ingalls’ shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. Also, initial F-35 pilot and maintenance training is conducted at Eglin AFB, Fla. (Source: Defense Tech, 01/22/15)

Union rates released

The percent of wage and salary workers who were members of unions in 2014 was 11.1 percent, down 0.2 percent from 2013, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The number of union members, 14.6 million, was little different from 2013. But the drop from 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available, was significant. In that year the union membership rate was 20.1 percent, and there were 17.7 million union workers. In the four states that are part of the I-10 aerospace corridor, the rate went up slightly in three of the four and remained the same in the other. Mississippi had the lowest union membership with a rate of 3.7 percent, same as in 2013. Louisiana had a union membership rate of 5.2 percent in 2014, up from 4.3 in 2013, and Florida had a union membership rate of 5.7 percent, up from 5.4 in 2013. Alabama's union membership rate was 10.8 percent in 2014, up from 10.7 in 2013. (Source: GCAC, 01/23/15)

Work begins on 7th NSC

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- Ingalls Shipbuilding has officially started fabrication on the U.S. Coast Guard's seventh National Security Cutter, Kimball (WMSL 756). Designed to replace the 378-foot Hamilton-class High-Endurance Cutters, Ingalls has delivered the first four ships in the class and is currently building three more NSCs, with advance procurement funding already secured for an eighth ship. The NSCs are 418 feet long with a 54-foot beam, displacing 4,500 tons with a full load. They have a top speed of 28 knots, a range of 12,000 miles, an endurance of 60 days and a crew of 120. (Source: Huntington Ingalls Industries, 01/20/15)

Contract: Int. Marine, $16.6M

International Marine and Industrial Applicators LLC, Spanish Fort, Ala., is being awarded a $16,609,224 firm-fixed-price contract to provide management, material support services, labor, supplies, and equipment deemed necessary to perform depot-level preservation support on USS Nimitz (CVN 68). Work will be performed in Bremerton, Wash., and is expected to be completed by June 2016. Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility, Bremerton, is the contracting activity (N4523A-15-C-0003). (Source: DoD, 01/12/15)

Contract: General Dynamics, $26.2M

General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS), Sterling Heights, Mich., is being awarded a not-to-exceed $26,207,278 firm-fixed-price contract for the production of MK 46 MOD 2 Gun Weapon Systems for the Littoral Combat Ship Mission modules and DDG 1000 Zumwalt Class Destroyer Close-In Gun System with associated Remote Console Assembly units. Work will be performed in Sterling Heights (60 percent), Anniston, Ala. (25 percent), Lima, Ohio (7 percent), Tallahassee, Fla. (6 percent), and Scranton, Pa., (2 percent), and is expected to be completed by November 2016. GDLS is the sole manufacturer for the MK 46 MOD 2 gun weapon system which has been selected to support the anti-surface warfare requirements for LPD-17, LCS and DDG 1000 class ships. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024 15-C-5344). (Source: DoD, 01/09/15) Gulf Coast note: Austal USA builds one variant of the LCS in Mobile, Ala.; Ingalls builds the LPD-17 class ship in Pascagoula, Miss.

Battleship Park marks 50th

MOBILE, Ala. - One of Alabama Gulf Coast’s best-known attractions – Battleship Memorial Park - will begin a year-long celebration Jan. 9 to mark the 50th anniversary of its opening on Mobile Bay as the USS Alabama (BB-60) went on public display on Jan. 9, 1965. Events will be held later this year to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII and Veterans Day. The USS Alabama saw more than three years of active service during WWII in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. The ship was mothballed after the war, but a fundraising drive brought it to Mobile for display in the new park. (The Associated Press, 12/28/14)

Next Austal LCS: Charleston

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus was in Charleston, S.C., on Jan. 9 to announce the Navy’s next Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) will be named USS Charleston. It will be the sixth Navy ship to bear the name for the Palmetto State city. The newest USS Charleston will be an Independence Class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS 18) that is to be built on the Gulf Coast at Austal USA Shipyards in Mobile, Ala. The 418-foot long, 104-foot wide trimaran hull ship is eexpected to be delivered to the Navy in 2017. Charleston has had a long history of Navy shipyard work; and Charleston Marine Container Inc. builds mission modules for today’s LCS program. (Sources: Charleston City Paper and WNCT-Greenville, NC 01/09/15)

Navy to christen JHSV 5 at Mobile

The Navy will christen the future USNS Trenton – Joint High Speed Vessel 5 – on Saturday Jan. 10 at a 10 a.m. CDT ceremony at Mobile, Ala. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus will deliver the principal address. Virginia “Ginny” Kamsky, CEO of the foreign advisory firm Kamsky Associates Inc. of NYC and Beijing, will serve as the ship’s sponsor. The 338 foot-long aluminum catamaran is under construction at the Austal USA shipyard in Mobile. It represents the men and women of New Jersey and cities along the Delaware River. Upon delivery to the Navy’s Military Sealift Command, Trenton will be designated a United States Naval Ship (USNS) and will have a core crew of 22 civilian mariners with military-mission personnel embarking as necessary. Kamsky serves under a White House appointment as a member of the Navy Secretary’s advisory panel (SNAP) that provides SECNAV with independent advice and recommendations on critical issues facing the Navy. (Source: US Navy 01/07/15) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding: USNS Trenton will be the firth in a series of JHSVs produced by Austal USA in Mobile, Ala.

BIW shipyard lays off 48

BATH, Maine - Bath Iron Works (BIW) notified the shipyard’s largest union on Jan. 6 that 48 workers will be laid off beginning Jan. 21 because of a work shortage in their trades. The 39 pipefitters and nine machinists will be laid off at a time when BIW is hiring workers in other trades reflecting a fluctuating work flow despite it having five DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers at various stages of construction. Most affected workers are expected to be given other work for at least 30 days, but BIW managers and union officials were unable to reach an agreement on a longer-term solution. The Navy is BIW’s only customer. (Source: Portland (Me.) Press Herald 01/06/15) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding Note: Managers insist BIW “must-win” an 11 Patrol Craft Coast Guard cutter upcoming contract to avoid losing as many as 1,200 job when DDG-51 work ends. Two other Gulf Coast competitors for that CG contract are Eastern Shipbuilding of Panama City, Fla., and Bollinger Shipyards of Lockport, La. Both are smaller, more diversified, non-union shipyards.

McCain vows LCS review

U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)  signaled Jan. 7 there will be a review of the Navy's altered-course plans for the Littoral Combat Ship program. McCain said those plans will be “the subject of significant scrutiny and oversight in the coming year." Asked if he expects the Navy to seek funds beyond previous LCS plans to make changes, McCain replied sarcastically: "Of course. Doesn't it always?" In mid-December, the Navy announced plans to convert LCS into a Small Surface Combat Ship, a change that would require a number of upgrades and changes. The SASC chairman for years has often hammered the Navy and Pentagon leaders about LCS design and cost issues. Some proponents have said the senator has, more recently, resisted acknowledging the program's progress. (Source: Defense News 01/07/15) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding Note: Austal USA Shipyard in Mobile, Ala., builds the Independence Class of LCS - one of the two variants under contract to the Navy.

Cochran to head Appropriations

With Republicans winning control of the Senate in November’s mid-term election, all 13 committees will get new leadership beginning this week. The heads of those committees and Veterans' Affairs are some of the most senior members of the Senate. Three are octogenarians and only one will be woman. The gavel of the powerful Appropriations panel, responsible for drafting about 33 percent  of the entire federal budget, will return to Mississippi's Thad Cochran, 77. Cochran was has been a big practitioner of earmarks, home-state goodies such as highway projects, economic development grants and university research dollars. GOP leaders have banned earmarking, but Cochran is likely to back Navy shipbuilding efforts since Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, which makes a variety of Navy ships, is Mississippi's largest private employer. (Source: The Associated Press, 01/05/15)