CG airlifts cruise passenger

NEW ORLEANS - Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans medical evacuated a 68-year-old passenger from a cruise liner some 180 miles off Southwest Pass, La., on Sept. 27. Coast Guard District 8 headquarters received a request to “medevac” the man who was reportedly suffering a seizure. CGASNO launched an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew; and an HC-144 Ocean Sentry crew from Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas. The NOLA helicopter airlifted the passenger ashore, where he was transported to West Jefferson Medical Center in stable condition. (Source: CG District Eight 09/28/15)

Contract: Austal, $13.4M

Austal USA, Mobile, Ala., is being awarded a $13,398,209 cost-plus-award-fee order under previously awarded basic ordering agreement N00024-15-G-2304 to provide all supplies, services, labor and material in support of the pre-shock trials emergent availability for PCU Jackson (LCS 6). This order is for execution of LCS 6’s emergent availability to be conducted prior to full ship shock trials. Efforts will include program management, test plan and integrated master schedule development, and work package execution and testing. Work will be performed in Mayport, Fla., and is expected to be completed by June 2016. Fiscal 2015 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $9,131,542; and fiscal 2010 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $1,611,449, will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion, and Repair Gulf Coast, Pascagoula, Miss., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 09/29/15)

Report outlines GoM gains

A new report, called “The Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System: 10 Years of Protecting and Preserving the Gulf,” was published by the non-profit Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System Regional Association (GCOOS-RA). The report outlines the group’s work to improve access to ocean observing data that helps protect and preserve the GoM and coastal residents. The improvements include developing early warning systems for harmful algal blooms; integrating data that supports improved weather and hurricane forecasts; safer navigation in the Gulf’s ports; and educating residents on the important role the Gulf plays in their daily lives. GCOOS-RA is responsible for bringing representatives of the maritime industry, governmental and non-governmental groups, marine scientists and resource managers to combine ocean data in order to get timely information about the Gulf of Mexico. Source: Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System Regional Association 09/29/15)

Hornbeck awarded $26M MSC pact

Hornbeck Offshore Operators LLC of Covington, La., was awarded a $26,615,520 modification under a previously awarded Military Sealift Command contract to exercise a one-year option for the operation and maintenance of four blocking vessels. The contract includes a 215-day base period, nine one-year option periods and one 150-day option period. The cumulative value of this contract when option one is exercised will be $44,159,520. Work will be performed at sea worldwide, and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2016. Military Sealift Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DOD 09/28/15)

Weeks Marine earns $6M dredge pact

Weeks Marine Inc. of Covington, La., was awarded a $6,521,000 Army contract for maintenance dredging of the Brazos Island Harbor jetty channel and an option for the Brazos Island Harbor entrance channel at San Padre Island, Texas. Estimated completion date is Feb. 12, 2016. Army Corps of Engineers is the contracting activity. (Source: DOD 09/28/15)

Hooks earns Army dredging contract

Mike Hooks Inc. of Westlake, La., was awarded a $9,848,000 modification to a previously-awarded contract for maintenance dredging of the Calcasieu River and Pass, in Calcasieu and Cameron parishes, in Louisiana. Estimated completion date is June 15, 2016. FY 2014 Army operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $9,848,000 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans is the contracting activity. (Source: DOD, 08/25/15)

Textron Marine earns $56M pact

Textron Marine & Land Systems of New Orleans was awarded a $56,176,864 Foreign Military Sales contract to Afghanistan for 55 Mobile Strike Force vehicles and related fielding hardware and field service representative services. Work will be performed in Slidell, La., with an estimated completion date of April 28, 2016. Army Contracting Command at Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity. (Source: DOD, 08/25/15)

More shrimping waters to open

BILOXI, Miss. – The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources will open additional waters for shrimping starting at 6 a.m. Monday, Sept. 28. (Source: Miss. Dept. of Marine Resources 09/25/15)

Miss. sub plays cat-and-mouse

One of the Navy’s most advanced nuclear submarines, USS Mississippi, was 400 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean in August near Hawaii when a sonar operator detected the thumping sound of the seven-blade propeller on a Chinese attack sub that the Pentagon calls a “Shang”. Within seconds, SSN-782 had banked right and hit its nuclear-powered propulsion system for one of the Navy's most difficult moves: Sneaking up on and shadowing an enemy sub without being detected. In the end, Mississippi was actually chasing a phantom – not a real Chinese sub – during a deep-sea training exercise. These cat-and-mouse training events are the unseen effects of the White House’s decision to send more of the Navy’s fleet into the Asia-Pacific Region in the past four years as part of its strategic rebalance that is intended to reassure partner-nation allies’ nerves about China's military aggression. (Source: LA Times 09/25/15) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding Note: USS Mississippi was commissioned at the Port of Pascagoula, Miss., in June 2012.

Navy hospital ship to end deployment

The Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort’s six-month deployment will end Sept. 25 – delayed one day due to East Coast weather conditions - for about 100 military and civilian personnel when it moors overnight at Naval Station Mayport, Fla. Another 900 will continue on to the ship’s home port in Norfolk, Va. During the deployment, ship personnel provided medical care to about 122,000 patients across an 11-nation Caribbean tour, according to the Navy. (Source: Florida Times Union 09/24/15) Gulf Coast Maritime Note: Among the sailors disembarking from Comfort at Mayport are 19 from Naval Hospital Pensacola, Fla.

Pensacola mulls RESTORE marina

The City of Pensacola is seeking $2.1 million in RESTORE funds – monies owed Gulf Coast states following litigation against BP for the Deep Water Horizon oil spill - for a 48-slip, day-use marina at Community Maritime Park downtown. The draft application is expected to be submitted by Sept. 29. If awarded, the money the funds could be available by 2017. It should take less than a year to build and remove underwater debris posing potential navigation hazards. “It is going to add a terrific venue for tourism development,” said Rebecca Ferguson, economic policy coordinator for the city. The marina’s focus is designed to support maritime and marine sports leisure projects, Ferguson told the Community Maritime Parks Associates board of trustees Sept. 22. The marina will possibly offer kayaking and paddle boarding as well as for hosting fishing and sailing tournaments. The $1.7 million breakwater designed to protect the future marina has already been completed; and both were both of the original design for Maritime Park. (Pensacola News Journal 09/23/15)

LCS ops test rescheduled to fall

The Littoral Combat Ship program could begin final mine countermeasures mission (MCM) package testing in November, according to Navy officials. Reliability concerns have delayed the Gulf of Mexico testing for several months. The MCM package was originally supposed to finish its initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) in September in order to reach initial operational capability by Sept. 30. Several reliability issues popped up during the summer’s technical evaluation aboard USS Independence (LCS-2), LCS mission modules program manager Capt. Casey Moton said in July. Problems ranged from issues from LCS’ ship frame to mission package components failing or not properly integrating with other components. The Navy has taken the time off to focus on fixing procedures and improving equipment reliability, says Naval Sea Systems Command spokesman Chris Johnson. IOT&E is tentatively scheduled to begin in November “pending a decision to proceed,” said Johnson. The Navy’s Commander of the Operational Test and Evaluation Force makes the decision to proceed, but he wouldn’t say when that would happen. (US Naval Institute News 09/15/15) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding and Maritime Note: Independence Class LCS are built at Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Ala. USS Independence was home-porting at NAS Pensacola, Fla., during Gulf of Mexico tests.

CSS Hunley’s crusty image

For more than a century, Confederate States of America’s submarine CSS Hunley had rested on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean outside of the Charleston, S.C., harbor, and covered by encrustations. When it was raised 15 years ago, it looked more like a barnacled sea monster than the world’s first combat submarine to sink an enemy warship. CSS Hunley, which was built at Mobile, Ala., sunk during a winter 1864 battle. On Sept. 17, researchers announced experts had now removed more than half a ton of encrustations; and are working to remove them from the interior. Now, CSS Hunley looks more like the ancestor of the U-boat and today’s submarines. (Source: Washington Post 09/17/15)

Navy fires SeaRam from LCS-4

During a live-fire exercise off the West Coast, the Navy fired for the first time, a missile from a Raytheon SeaRAM launcher from an Independence-class Littoral Combat Ship. SeaRAM combines two Raytheon products: The radar and electro-optical system from the Phalanx Close-In Weapon System with the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM), a self-guided supersonic missile that can take down cruise missiles and close-flying aircraft. After the Navy used the SeaRAM to detect and track an inbound threat, sailors in USS Coronado (LCS-4) fired a RAM block 1A from the system, which intercepted the target. This test marked a major milestone toward full operation and dployment of the SeaRAM system aboard Navy ships, Raytheon VP Rick Nelson said in a news release. SeaRAM launchers have also been installed on USS Independence (LCS-2). The Navy is considering whether to equip its new frigate versions of the LCS ship with SeaRAM, according to Defense Daily. (Source: Defense Daily 09/17/15) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding Note: All Independence-class LCS are built by Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Ala.

Ingalls launches NSC Munro

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- Huntington Ingalls Industries' Ingalls Shipbuilding division launched the U.S. Coast Guard's newest National Security Cutter, Munro (WMSL 755) on Saturday. Munro is the company's sixth NSC and is expected to deliver by the end of next year. Designed to replace the 378-foot Hamilton-class high-endurance cutters that entered service in the 1960s, the NSC cutters are 418 feet long with a 54-foot beam and displace 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 110. (Source: HII, 09/14/15)

Weeks Marine earns dredge pact

Weeks Marine Inc. of Covington, La., was awarded a $25,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for a cutterhead pipeline dredge to dredge Pascagoula Harbor, Miss., with an estimated completion date of Oct. 9, 2016. Bids were solicited via the Internet with three received. Funding will be determined with each order. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Alabama, is the contracting activity. (DOD 09/14/15)

Cuban envoy visits USN hospital ship

Cuba's ambassador to Haiti, Ricardo Garcia Napoles and five Cuban doctors, made a courtesy call on the U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort anchored off Port-au-Prince, Haiti. USNS Comfort, on its fourth humanitarian mission to Haiti, and on its final legs of a six-month deployment across the Caribbean and Central and South America, will be seeing Haitian patients and performing surgeries through Sept. 18. It was an “historic visit in the context of the renewal of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States" after about 50 years, he said. Currently, there are 700 Cuban doctors working in Haiti. Some 800 Haitian doctors have completed medical training in Cuba. (Agence France Presse 09/12/15) Gulf Coast Maritime Note: There are 19 Naval Hospital Pensacola, Fla., personnel currently serving aboard Comfort. In 2010, Comfort provided two months of vital assistance to Haiti following a deadly earthquake that killed more than 250,000 people and crippled the country's infrastructure. That visit including some 35 personnel assigned from Naval Hospital Pensacola.

OII-PC secures GoM umbilicals pact

HOUSTON - Oceaneering International, Inc. of Houston announced Sept 8 it had secured a contract from Shell Offshore to supply umbilicals for the deepwater Appomattox development within the Mississippi Canyon of the Gulf of Mexico. The order is for electro-hydraulic steel tube control umbilicals, totaling about 37 miles. Product manufacturing is planned to be performed at Oceaneering's umbilical facility in Panama City, Fla., and is expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2015; and be completed in the third period of 2017. (Source: PR Newswire 09/08/15)

MSU grad heads Yellow Creek Port

JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi Development Authority has announced that Robert Dexter of Tupelo has been named executive director of Yellow Creek Port, a state-owned facility near the confluence of the Tennessee River and Tombigbee Waterway in Iuka. Dexter was to be sworn in Sept. 10. He is the former operations start-up manager for GRAMMER Inc., a German-based manufacturer of seating components to the automotive industry, which set up shop in Tupelo in 2013. Source: Mississippi Development Authority 09/09/15) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding and Maritime Note: Dexter has a master’s degree in business administration from Mississippi State University and holds bachelor’s degrees in accountancy and organizational management from the University of Mississippi and Concordia University.

Contract: HII, $12.5M

Huntington Ingalls Inc., Pascagoula, Miss., is being awarded a $12,511,359 cost-plus-award-fee contract modification to previously awarded contract N00024-12-C-4323 to provide long lead-time material procurement and planning yard services for CG-47-class cruisers and DD 963-class destroyers. Huntington Ingalls provides necessary engineering, technical, planning, ship configuration, data, and logistics efforts for CG 47 and DD 963 lifetime support for both maintenance and modernization. Work will be performed in Pascagoula and is expected to be completed by September 2016. The Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion, and Repair, Gulf Coast, Pascagoula, is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 09/09/15)

Contract: Lockheed, $26.5M

Lockheed Martin Corp., Mission Systems and Training, Moorestown, N.J., is being awarded a $26,523,481 cost-plus-incentive-fee with award-fee, cost-plus-incentive-fee with performance-incentive-fee, firm-fixed-price, and cost-only contract for ship integration and test of the Aegis Weapon System (AWS) for AWS baselines through Advanced Capability Build 16. The Aegis for ship integration and test effort includes management of the physical design, installation, test and maintenance, from concept development throughout a ship's lifecycle. This requires development of design modifications, ship space arrangements, installation/test procedures, and development of an Aegis Combat System including ballistic missile defense cable plant design applicable to Aegis ship design and system technical requirements. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $427,607,895. Work will be performed in Moorestown (44 percent); San Diego, Calif. (19 percent); Norfolk, Va. (18 percent); Bath, Maine (9.5 percent); and Pascagoula, Miss. (9.5 percent); and is expected to be completed by August 2016. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-15-C-5151). (Source: DoD, 09/04/15)

CG rescues 35 from Lake Pontchartrain

NEW ORLEANS – Crews from Coast Guard Station New Orleans and Good Samaritan boaters rescued 35 people Sept. 5 from a sinking houseboat tied to pilings of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway after an afternoon storm. The CG dispatched 45-foot medium response boat crews from CGSNO. One crew evacuated the houseboat with the help of local boaters while the second pumped water from the boat and towed it to a local marina. There were no reported injuries. (Coast Guard District 8 09/06/15)

La. firm earns part of $28M pact

Truston Technologies Inc. of Lafayette, La., was among five east-west coast firms to be awarded a $28 million contract modification Option 1 for worldwide ocean engineering services. The total contract amount after exercising Option 1 will be $56 million. Work is for ocean engineering services in support of projects involving ocean cable systems and ocean work systems, such as shipboard load handling systems and undersea work systems. Work is for various Navy and Marine Corps facilities worldwide. This option period is expected to be completed by September 2016. (DOD 09/02/15)

NW Fla. firm earns sub facility award

Whitesell-Green Inc. of Pensacola, Fla., was awarded $9,932,000 Navy task order under a previous multiple construction contract for construction of a submarine maintenance facility at the Norfolk (Va.) Naval Shipyard. The small-business contract work is to provide for installation of new pilings and construction of the facility with light industrial-type activity and office spaces. Work is expected to be completed by March 2017. (Source: DOD 09/02/15)

HII readying for CG icebreaker bids

WASHINGTON, DC - Huntington Ingalls Industries officials announced Sept. 1 that it had responded to a Request for Information (RfI) from the Coast Guard regarding a new icebreaker ship design and construction after President Obama urged speeding up work on the program. HII spokesman Bill Glenn said the firm – which “has the capability to build both heavy and medium icebreakers” - responded to the RfI back in January when the CG began developing a formal acquisition plan for the program. (Source: Reuters 09/01/15) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding Note: HII’s Pascagoula, Miss., facility built the last U.S. icebreaker, USCG Healy, which was delivered in November 1999.

Contract: Whitesell-Green, $9.9M

Whitesell-Green, Inc., Pensacola, Fla., is being awarded $9,932,000 for firm-fixed-price task order 0007 under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract (N40085-13-D-7776) for construction of a submarine maintenance facility at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. The work to be performed provides for installation of new pilings and construction of a maintenance facility with light industrial-type activity on the first floor and office space on the second floor, ancillary support spaces, site work around the proposed building and incidental related work as required to provide a functional maintenance facility. Work will be performed in Portsmouth, Va., and is expected to be completed by March 2017. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Va., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 09/03/15)

New Freedom LCS named Billings

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus was in Montana on Sept. 2 to unveil the name of the Navy’s newest Littoral Combat Ship after the state’s capitol, Billings. Mabus unveiled renderings of the USS Billings (LCS 15), a Freedom class ship to be built in Wisconsin. Because of competition and cost-containment improvements, SECNAV said the price of LCS ships has been reduced by more than $20 million dollars apiece - from $548 million to about $337 million. (Source: Billings Gazette 09/02/15) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding Note: The Independence-class LCS – even-numbered hulls – are built at Austal USA’s shipyard in Mobile, Ala.

Fla. coastal grant program

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The state Department of Environmental Protection’s Florida Coastal Management Program is accepting applications for the Coastal Partnership Initiative (CPI) grant program. The CPI program promotes protection and management of Florida's coastal resources. The grants support innovative local coastal management projects in four program areas: Resilient Communities, Public Access, Working Waterfronts and Coastal Stewardship. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration makes the funds available on a competitive basis to local governments. (Source: Department of Environmental Protection 09/01/15)

Groundbreaking held for center

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. – The University of Southern Mississippi held a ground breaking for the Marine Education Center at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory. The facility replaces the J.L. Scott Marine Education Center that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The 28,000-square-foot center will function as the education and outreach arm of the Gulf Coast Research Lab. It has waterfront access and boat dock, and includes six structures that will house exhibits, classrooms, labs and more. (Source: University of Southern Mississippi, 08/31/15)

Attorney: CG petty officer cleared

UPDATE
A Louisiana-based Coast Guard petty officer accused of sexually assaulting two women, and other criminal offenses, has been cleared in a New Orleans court-martial, according to defense attorney John Wells. But, a military judge in the New Orleans case did find Petty Officer 2^nd Class Gregory Cooper guilty of "violating a lawful order," according to the CG. He was demoted one pay grade. Cooper's attorney, a retired Navy commander from Slidell, said Sept. 3 that his client was convicted of violating a policy barring fraternization, because of a "consensual relationship." (Times-Picayune 09/03/15)

PREVIOUSLY: Louisiana-based Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Gregory E. Cooper was to face court-martial proceedings Sept. 1 related to allegations of sexual assault, adultery and other violations of military law, the CG announced Aug. 31. The incidents occurred while he was assigned to the Grand Isle, La.-based cutter Sturgeon and the Aids to Navigation Team Puget Sound in Seattle, Wash., according to the CG. The CG did not release details of the allegations, but the disclosure follows a several-year trend within the agency of publicly acknowledging legal action against service members accused of sex crimes. Cooper is temporarily assigned to the 8th Coast Guard District staff in New Orleans, which is located at Hale Boggs Federal Building – site of the court-martial. (Source: Times-Picayune 08/31/15)