P’cola CG crew to be honored

Two Coast Guard 8th District crews - from Pensacola and Houston - will be recognized for outstanding performance in the line of duty at the Coast Guard Foundation’s annual tribute in New Orleans on March 13. The Pensacola-based small boat crew is to be honored for their role in a daring rescue of a boat operator who had been stabbed multiple times by a violent person at sea. (Source: Coast Guard Foundation 02/25/15)

Giffords hits Mobile River

The soon-to-be USS Gabrielle Giffords, named for the former Arizona congresswoman, hit the waters of the Mobile (Ala.) River for the first time Feb. 26 outside Austal USA shipbuilding. Workers were still putting finishing touches, to the formerly-named Littoral Combat Ship, before an August launch and delivery to the Navy. Giffords, who served on the House Armed Services Committee while in Congress, was severely wounded in a shooting in Arizona that left her partially paralyzed. She is the spouse of retired Capt. Mark Kelly, who served in the Navy for 25 years. (Source: New York Daily News 02/26/15)

Purchase of vessel OKd

JACKSON, Miss. —The State College Board on Wednesday approved the University of Southern Mississippi's purchase of a new research vessel. Southern Miss is buying the Point Sur from the San Jose State University Research Foundation for $875,000. It will cost another $125,000 and three weeks for the 135-foot vessel, built in 1980, to travel from Monterrey, Calif., to Gulfport, through the Panama Canal. Funding came in a grant from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. The purchase provides the school with a vessel that can be used for research projects in the Gulf of Mexico. The ship can accommodate 13 researchers and technicians and a crew of eight. (Sources: University of Southern Mississippi, 02/25/15, Hattiesburg American, 02/26/15)

Mabus: Protecting Navy shipbuilding

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has made the protection of shipbuilding a top potential priority in case sequestration remains for the Navy’s FY 2016 budget. But the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee (HAC-D) said something will have to giveway to maintain the desired shipbuilding accounts if the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011 (sequestration) continues. “I’m going to do everything I can to protect shipbuilding,” said Mabus in response to questioning from HAC-D chairman Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ). Something will have to give way to maintain desired shipbuilding accounts if sequestration remains, the chairman said. Ships are the most difficult aspect of naval power to reconstitute after budget cuts, Mabus continued. The industrial base needs to be maintained. But Frelinghuysen set the tone. Navy’s portion of the president’s budget request was $13 billion over budget caps established by law. “We will cut the $13 billion with you or without you,” the chairman said. He also requested a list of Navy programs that could be cut or reduced if budget caps remain. The “president’s budget is the minimum required to meet the president’s strategy,” Mabus remarked. “Funding below the president’s budget will require a new strategy,” he said. (Source: Sea Power 02/26/15) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding Note: SECNAV Mabus is a former governor of Mississippi. Huntington Ingalls Industries builds ships for the Navy at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss. On March 21, Ingalls Shipbuilding will christen its 10th San Antonio-class Amphibious Transport Dock (LPD 26) and named for former Marine and U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania. Murtha’s daughter, Donna, is serving as ship sponsor and will perform the traditional honor of breaking a bottle of American sparkling wine across the ship’s bow at the ceremony.

Contract: Huntington Ingalls, $6.7M

Huntington Ingalls Inc., Pascagoula, Miss., is being awarded a $6,730,000 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-05-C-2221) for the first increment of the Coordinated Shipboard Allowance List (COSAL) in support of USS America (LHA 6). The items from the LHA 6 COSAL support outfitting the ship for testing and deployment. The COSAL is the process whereby equipment is identified along with their repair parts, consumables and material for logistical support. The COSAL specifies the range and depth of all equipment which has been validated to be onboard a ship. Included in this allowance are operating space items, storeroom items, repair parts, special tools and maintenance assistance modules required to maintain the ship. Specific repair part allowances are designated during the COSAL process to support preventive and corrective maintenance during extended and un-replenished periods at sea. The COSAL is instrumental in supporting fleet and vessel readiness for mission. Work will be performed in Pascagoula and is expected to be completed by February 2016. Fiscal 2012 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $6,730,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Supervisor of Shipbuilding Gulf Coast, Pascagoula, is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 02/23/15)

Miss. HII angling for oiler pact

Huntington Ingalls Industries is trying to angle a contract to construct a new fleet and class of Navy oilers at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss. In January, Defense News and Inside The Navy trade publications reported that the Navy wants to bundle a limited-competition for the new oiler between Ingalls and General Dynamics’s NASSCO. Combining the contracts, the Navy says, is justified because Ingalls and NASSCO are the only two shipbuilders capable of building both a new class of oiler and the new amphibious assault ship class (LHA-8). A Congressional Research Service report says the $674.2 million requested in the Navy's FY 2016 budget would purchase the first 17 oilers. Oilers handle the Navy’s underway replenishments (UNREPS) delivering fuel to warships and their aircraft. The current fleet of Navy oilers includes 15 Henry J. Kaiser class ships. Ship-life expectancy is 35 years. The oldest reaches that age in 2021. The Kaiser ships were built at Avondale (La.) Shipyards, which is now under HII. Avondale no longer builds ships for the Navy. HII is considering ways to redevelop the site with an eye on the oil and gas sector. (Newport News (Va.) Daily Press 02/20/15)

Video reef fishing for data

Somewhere off the coast of Florida, a fishing boat bobs in the swell. Nate Bacheler helps swing a large metal fish trap over its side. It’s no ordinary trap; and Bacheler’s no ordinary fisherman. He is a biologist with NOAA Fisheries. In each trap are two HD video cameras. Scientists are using the trap-videos to estimate the population size of reef fish, including important species in the Southeast, like the red snapper and gag grouper. Video allows scientists to collect precise abundance data on species for a NOAA-conducted Southeast Reef Fish survey. Fishermen are also working alongside scientists to improve data collection. "We're helping in every way we can to get the most accurate data," said Jimmy Hull, a commercial fisherman from Ponce Inlet, Fla, about 10 miles south of Daytona Beach. "I'm in this so we can have sustainable fisheries forever,” he said. Scientists expect to use the combined trap/video data in upcoming stock assessments for red snapper and gray triggerfish. (Source: Science Daily 02/18/15) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding and Marine note: Red snapper is the most economically important reef fish species for coastal communities in the Gulf of Mexico. Some government agencies have considered it in peril due to overfishing. Red snapper represents a vital economic commodity to these coastal fishing communities; and supports highly lucrative commercial and recreational fisheries. The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is hosting public workshops across NW Florida in March to gather public input on the Gulf of Mexico recreational red snapper season.

Guest workers awarded $14M

NEW ORLEANS – Five Indian guest workers were awarded $14.1 million by a federal jury Wednesday on claims they were defrauded and made to live in squalid conditions after being lured to work in Pascagoula, Miss., following Hurricane Katrina. More than 200 other workers' claims are pending against Signal International LLC of Mobile, Ala., a marine and fabrication company. The suit claimed Signal falsely promised to help the workers apply for and receive greens cards. But the plaintiffs said they were the victims of a labor-trafficking scheme by Signal, an immigration lawyer and an Indian labor recruiter. The trial is the first in a series of suits spearheaded by the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center. The company said it disagrees with the ruling and is evaluating all of its options, including an appeal. (Sources: multiple, including AP via Sun Herald, Mississippi Press, 02/18/15)

P’cola undersea pipe plant

For the past five-plus years, the Port of Pensacola, Fla., has been a service depot for a wide range of ships and vessels that service exploration, surveying, pipe-laying and harvesting of oil and gas. Port client Offshore Inland Marine & Oilfield Services will team with Houston-based DeepFlex to build a major undersea pipe manufacturing plant tentatively scheduled to open in the latter part of 2015. “It’s a huge economic development project,” said Port Director Amy Miller. The flexible composite pipe – to be stamped with ‘Made In Pensacola’ - will be deployed to oil and gas production projects across the world. The plant is expected to produce 62 miles of special pipe a year. Overall, offshore expenditures in the Gulf of Mexico are expected to reach $167 billion from 2013-16. It can only grow higher as more areas of the Gulf are explored, Miller said. “There is evidence that there is oil and natural gas producing capacity in the eastern Gulf from the Louisiana/Mississippi border eastward to Florida territorial waters.” (Source: 850 Magazine Feb-March 2015)

NASA awards company for barge work

MORGAN CITY, La. -- Conrad Industries Inc. has received the NASA Space Flight Awareness Supplier Award based on its work with the conversion of the NASA Pegasus barge. This annual award honors outstanding performance by hardware, software, or service suppliers who support NASA human space flight programs. Awardees are chosen based on their production of high-quality products, excellent technical and cost performance, and adherence to schedules. The barge, long used to transport shuttle external tanks for the Space Shuttle program, has been lengthened from 260 to 310 feet to accommodate components for the Space Launch System program. The upgraded Pegasus is set to transport the first major SLS hardware from New Orleans to NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., for testing as early as next year. (Source: PRNewswire, 02/12/15)

Contract: Bath Iron Works, $13M

Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, is being awarded a $13,027,540 cost-plus-award-fee/cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-12-C-2313) for DDG 51 Class Flight III upgrade design services and associated data. The main goal of the Flight III upgrade is to replace the SPY-1D(V) radar with the Air and Missile Defense Radar. This modification to the existing DDG 51 Class Lead Yard Services contract will allow for DDG 51 Class Flight III upgrade design efforts, along with procurement of Design Vendor Furnished Information in support of the Flight III design. One percent of the work will be done in Pascagoula, Miss., but most will be done in Brunswick, Maine (69 percent); Bath (28 percent); and Washington, D.C., and is expected to be completed by December 2017. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 02/06/15)

Contract: Ingalls, $13.5M

Huntington Ingalls Inc., Pascagoula, Miss., is being awarded a not-to-exceed $13,503,584 cost-plus-award-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-12-C-2312) for DDG 51 Class Flight III upgrade design services. The main goal of the Flight III upgrade is to replace the SPY-1D(V) radar with the Air and Missile Defense Radar. This modification to the existing DDG 51 Class Lead Yard Services contract will allow for DDG 51 Class Flight III upgrade design efforts, along with procurement of Design Vendor Furnished Information in support of the Flight III design. Work will be performed in Pascagoula (98 percent) and Washington, D.C. (2 percent), and is expected to be completed by February 2016. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 02/06/15)