Destroyer christening Saturday

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- The Navy will christen its newest Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, Ralph Johnson (DDG 114), Saturday during a 10 a.m. ceremony at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula. The ship is named for Marine Pfc. Ralph Henry Johnson, who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for actions during the Vietnam War. Johnson used his body to shield two fellow Marines from a grenade, absorbing the blast and dying instantly in March 1968. The future Ralph Johnson is the 64th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. It will commission in 2017 and homeported in Everett, Wash. (Source: DoD, 03/31/16)

Contract: Ingalls, $618M

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- Huntington Ingalls Industries' Ingalls Shipbuilding division has received a $618 million contract modification to fund construction of the Arleigh Burke-class (DDG 51) guided missile destroyer DDG 123 for the U.S. Navy. The ship is the fourth of five destroyers the company was awarded in June 2013. Ingalls previously was awarded $55 million in advance procurement for DDG 123, making the full contract $673 million. Ingalls has delivered 28 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to the Navy. Destroyers currently under construction at Ingalls are John Finn (DDG 113), Ralph Johnson (DDG 114), Paul Ignatius (DDG 117), Delbert D. Black (DDG 119) and Frank E. Peterson Jr. (DDG 121). (Source: HII, 03/30/16)

Contract: Textron, $174M

Textron Inc., New Orleans, is being awarded a $174,012,150 modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-12-C-2401) for the option exercise for construction of Landing Craft, Air Cushions (LCACs) 104 through 108 and their associated technical manuals under the Ship to Shore Connector (SSC) program. The SSC program is the functional replacement for the existing fleet of LCAC vehicles, which are nearing the end of their service life - designed for a 30-year service life. The SSC mission is to land surface assault elements in support of Operational Maneuver from the Sea, at over-the-horizon distances, while operating from amphibious ships and mobile landing platforms. Work will be performed in New Orleans (27 percent); Indianapolis, Ind. (26 percent); Camden, N.J. (15 percent); Norway (8 percent), Great Britain (5 percent); Livonia, Mich. (4 percent); Chanhassen, Minn. (3 percent); Cincinnati, Ohio (3 percent); Metairie, La. (3 percent); Huntington, Calif. (2 percent); Eatontown, N.J. (2 percent); Corona, Calif. (1 percent); and Gold Beach, Ore. (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by October 2020. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 03/30/16)

LHA-6’s deck strengthened

The Gulf Coast-built amphibious ship USS America (LHA-6) headed back to sea March 21 after completing a 10-month maintenance period that included the strengthening of its landing deck to accommodate Marine short takeoff and vertical landing F-35B Joint Strike Fighters. The big deck “amphib,” commissioned in 2014, required additional work to take the day-to-day stress of operating STOVL F-35Bs. The ship is the first of two America-class amphibs built without a well deck for support of F-35s and tilt-rotor MV-22 Ospreys. Tripoli (LHA-7) is to undergo a similar but shorter maintenance period, but some of that deck-strengthening is already underway at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss. The unnamed LHA-8 will be built with a stronger deck and well deck to allow for the deployment of amphibious landing craft. The LHA-8 contract will be awarded to either Ingalls or General Dyanmics’ NASSCO yard in San Diego. One yard will build the amphib while the other gets six John Lewis-class (T-AO-205) fleet oilers. (Source: US Naval Institute News 03/22/16)

Contract: Boeing, $13.4M

The Boeing Co., Huntington Beach, Calif., is being awarded $13,381,495 to exercise a cost-plus-incentive-fee option to a previously awarded contract (N00178-15-C-2016) to continue to provide design agent and technical engineering services in support of the AN/USQ-82(V) Gigabit Ethernet Data Multiplex Systems (GEDMS) program. GEDMS is a shipboard network used for DDG 51 class destroyers. The GEDMS network transfers inputs and/or outputs for the machinery control systems, damage control system, steering control system, AEGIS combat system, navigation displays, and interior communications alarms and indicators. It was designed to replace the mile of point-to-point cabling, signal converters, junction boxes, and switchboards associated with conventional ship’s cabling. GEDMS is being forward-fitted on DDG 51 new construction, back-fitted to Flight I/II DDG 51-78 and Flight IIA DDGs 79-107, LHD Capstone ships and AEGIS Ashore installations. This contract combines purchases for the Navy (91 percent); and the governments of Australia (3 percent); Korea (3 percent); and Japan (3 percent), under the Foreign Military Sales program. The work will be performed in Huntington Beach (72 percent); Arlington, Va. (11 percent); Bath, Maine (9 percent); Pascagoula, Miss. (3 percent); Georgetown, D.C. (3 percent); Richardson, Texas (1 percent); and Fairfax, Va. (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by March 2017. The Naval Surface Warfare Center - Dahlgren Division, Dahlgren, Va., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 03/22/16)

CG searching for missing boater

NEW ORLEANS – The Coast Guard, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Okaloosa County (Fla.) Fire Department and good Samaritans are searching for a missing woman after a boat capsized near the East Destin Jetties in Destin, Fla., early March 18. The woman, described as 5-foot 2-inches tall and about 120 pounds, was wearing a leopard print top and black skirt; and speaks with a Russian accent. She was on a boat with 10 other people when it struck the Destin jetties and capsizing about 5:14 a.m. Coast Guard Sector Mobile directed the launch of a CG Station Destin small response boat and a special purpose shallow water crew. Four of the 10 rescued people were transferred to local hospitals. Anyone with information on the missing woman is requested to contact Sector Mobile at (251) 441-6211. (CG District Eight 03/18/16)

Contract: Austal, $14M

Austal USA, Mobile, Ala., is being awarded a $13,974,187 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-11-C-2301 to exercise an option for special studies, analyses and review efforts for the Littoral Combat Ship Program Office, PMS 501. Work will be performed in Mobile (72 percent); and Pittsfield, Mass. (28 percent), and is expected to be complete by March 2017. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 03/17/16)

LCS/Frigate schism heats up

There’s been little progress as to the direction of the Littoral Combat Ship-to-Frigate program since the Defense Secretary directed the Navy to cut 12 LCS and pick one builder. The Navy has basically ignored that direction. On March 15, the furtive schism spilled onto a Senate subcommittee’s hearing floor. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told lawmakers the program’s future would be made by the “next administration and by Congress,” not SECDEF Ash Carter. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) praised Carter’s decision to cut production. Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, where one of the two LCS variants is built, basically said it ain’t over until the fat lady sings. McCain railed about cost overruns, development and war-fighting mission packages falling behind schedule. Sessions picked McCain’s comments apart using Mabus and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson. Mabus: The current cost per ship is “a good bit below” congressional cost caps – 50 percent below the first in-class ship. It’s unclear how the schism will play in Congress. McCain wields heavy influence, but the LCS program has its industrial base spread across all 50 states – with a potential coalition of support. (Source: US Naval Institute News 03/16/16) Gulf Coast note: The Navy previously planned to buy 52 small surface combatants – LCSs and follow-on frigates – and continue building ships at both Marinette (Wis.) Marine and Austal USA in Mobile, Ala., through the remainder of the program. Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City, Fla., has assisted in the development and testing of the LCS mine-countermeasures warfare mission package. LCS 2 (Independence) has been testing the MCM package in the Gulf of Mexico over the past few months.

PC skipper relieved of command

Cmdr. Jeremiah Daley, commanding officer of the coastal patrol ship USS Typhoon, based with the Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain, was relieved of command March 12 due to the loss of confidence in his ability to command, the Navy said. Commander Patrol Coastal Squadron One’s Cmdr. Jake Douglas relieved Daley after an investigation into unsatisfactory performance and a poor command climate. The Navy offered no other details. Lt. Cmdr. Scott Whitworth, Patrol Coastal Squadron One's operations officer, has temporarily assumed command. Daley, who commanded USS Typhoon since May 2015, has been reassigned to Commander, Task Force 55 in Bahrain. (Source: Stars and Stripes 03/13/16) Gulf Coast note: Coastal Patrol Ships were built at the Bollinger (La.) Shipyard.

CG suspends search for boaters

NEW ORLEANS – The Coast Guard suspended the search for two missing boaters in the Claiborne County, Miss., area of the Mississippi River on Sunday night, March 13. GC response crews, including those from Aviation Training Center at Mobile, Ala., had covered some 930 river miles and searched for more than 84 hours. Commander Coast Guard Sector Lower Mississippi River, Capt. Timothy Wendt, offered “condolences” to family and friends of the missing boaters; and thanked volunteers and groups from the Natchez and Jackson counties’ game wardens, Claiborne County Sheriff’s Office, Tensas (La.) Parish and the Civil Air Patrol. The search is suspended pending further information. (CG District Eight 03/14/16)

La. sailor earns surface SOY award

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Naval Surface Force Atlantic has named its 2015 Sea and Shore Sailors of the Year (SOY) during a March 3 ceremony here aboard Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story. Legalman 1st Class (LC1) Shallon Davis of Patterson, La., was selected as Shore SOY; and Culinary Specialist 1st Class Christopher Roth was named Sea SOY. Davis is a Naval Surface Squadron 14 staff and waterfront paralegal for six surface ships at Naval Station Mayport, Fla. Both Davis and Roth will advance to compete for U.S. Fleet Forces Command SOY. If Davis wins FFC’s Shore award, she will compete at the Chief of Naval Operation's Sailor of the Year level. (Source: Navy News Service 03/04/16)

GAO: Navy pays for builders’ defects

WASHINGTON – A General Accountability Office report claims the Navy’s use of fixed-price incentive contracts are profiting ship-building companies to fix their on construction mistakes. “The shipbuilder earns the same level of profit for correcting defects as it does for building the ship,” the GAO report claimed, despite contract guarantees to the contrary. Additionally, according to GAO, “the award of follow-on, cost-reimbursement arrangements to correct remaining defects – under which the contractor also (profits) - creates an apparent disincentive for quality ship construction.” Shipbuilders paid 11 percent of the cost to fix five of six ships in the study, GAO said, while the government picked up the tab on 89 percent. GAO praised the Coast Guard for its use of warranties on the Fast Response Cutter (FRC) program where shipbuilders bore the brunt of the costs – 59 percent. (Source: Defense News 03/03/16. View the GAO report) Gulf Coast Maritime Note: Among the GAO’s six-ship contracts studied were three Gulf Coast shipbuilders: Amphibious transport dock Somerset (LPD 25) delivered from Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss., in 2013; Littoral Combat Ship Coronado (LCS 4) delivered by Austal USA of Mobile, Ala. in 2013; CG National Security Cutter Hamilton (WMSL 753) delivered by Ingalls in 2014; and the CG Fast Response Cutter Paul Clark delivered in 2013 from Bollinger (La.) Shipbuilding. None of the ships were first in their class, which initially have more defects and cost more than follow-on ships.

Navy, SECDEF at odds over LCS

Both Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson told Congress that the service still has plans for acquiring 52 Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). However, Defense Secretary Ash Carter doubled down on his December decision to delete 12 of those LCS, or new Fast Frigates. “Forty is enough, and the Navy's own war-fighting analysis indicates that,” Carter told reporters in Seattle, where he met with Microsoft and Amazon executives. It’s the “right decision” allowing the Navy to “have the right kinds of ships, lethality and to make investments in technology,” he said. (Source: Defense Daily 0/04/16) Gulf Coast Maritime Note: SECDEF’s decision also requires the Navy to choose just one of the two shipbuilders to continue work on LCS – Austal USA of Mobile, Ala., or Marienette (Wis.) Marine.

Contract: Austal, $14.7M

Austal USA, Mobile, Ala., is being awarded a $14,656,227 modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-11-C-2301) to exercise options for post-delivery support of littoral combat ships USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10) and USS Omaha (LCS 12). Austal 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 sail-away and follow-on post-delivery test and trials period. Work will be performed in Mobile (70 percent); Pittsfield, Mass. (20 percent); and San Diego, Calif. (10 percent), and is expected to be complete by July 2017. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 03/01/16)

$700M MCM drone orders risk

The Navy halted the awarding of a $700M contract to Lockheed Martin for a second batch of 18 Remote Multi-Mission Vehicles to “address existing” deficiencies and to pursue more promising technologies to bolster current mine-hunting capabilities for its Littoral Combat Ships. Mine-countermeasures (MCM) is one of three warfare mission packages for LCS. Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City, Fla., has assisted in development and testing of the MCM packaging for LCS. The alternative technologies may include General Dynamics’ Knifefish unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) – at least through 2019. Bluefin Robotics, a leading provider of UUV solutions, developed Knifefish at its Panama City facility. NSWC Panama City is the contracting activity for the General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems program. The $700M order was to be part of an $868M program for 54 of the Remote Multi-Mission Vehicles. The Navy has spent $109M to date on eight drones, and had planned to issue a $400M pact in February for an additional 18 until the Navy decision on Feb. 26. (Source: Bloomberg News 02/29/16)