DDG 121 fabrication begins

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- Huntington Ingalls Industries' Ingalls Shipbuilding division on Wednesday marked the start of fabrication for the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121) for the U.S. Navy. The start of fabrication signifies that 100 tons of steel have been cut. DDG 121 is the third of five DDG 51 destroyers the company was awarded in June 2013. The five-ship contract, part of a multi-year procurement in the DDG 51 program, allows Ingalls to build ships more efficiently by buying bulk material and moving the skilled workforce from ship to ship. (Source: HII, 04/27/16)

Contract: Austal, $9.9M

Austal USA, Mobile, Ala., is being awarded a not-to-exceed $9,937,228 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-11-C-2301 to provide procurement and engineering efforts in support of scope changes on fiscal 2015 and fiscal 2016 ships. This modification will incorporate additional accommodations to increase crew size on the LCS Independence variant ships. Austal will provide supplies, services, labor and material for this effort, which includes program management and subcontracting management. Work will be performed in Mobile and is expected to be completed by August 2019. The Supervisor of Ship Building Gulf Coast Detachment, Mobile, Ala., is the contacting activity. (Source: DoD, 04/22/16)

LPD 26 completes sea trials

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- Huntington Ingalls Industries announced today the successful completion of acceptance sea trials for the company’s 10th San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, John P. Murtha (LPD 26). The ship, built at HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division, spent six days with the test and trials team performing more than 200 trial events that included both an in-port and underway portion. (Source: HII, 04/19/16)

Mayor snubs christening over MS law

Mayor Charlie Hales of Portland, Ore., has canceled his trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s christening of his city’s namesake amphibious transport dock ship because of the Magnolia State’s recent enactment of a law he deems anti-gay. USS Portland will be christened in Pascagoula on May 21. Hales also temporarily banned city travel to Mississippi until the law is overturned. The ship will be commissioned in Portland at an undetermined date in the future. (Source: Mississippi Business Journal 04/14/16 and KOIN 04/06/16)

GoM oil spill, dolphin deaths linked

GULFPORT, Miss. - More than a thousand dolphins have washed ashore from the Gulf of Mexico since 2010. A study, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, claims to show that those deaths were directly or indirectly caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. (WLOX 04/12/16)

Anti-ship missile to deploy with LCS

The Navy will soon deploy a Naval Strike Missile (NSM) aboard a Littoral Combat Ship, which can detect and destroy enemy targets up to 100 nautical miles. NSM was developed by the Norway-based firm Kongsberg. The U.S. Navy is planning to utilize the Foreign Comparative Testing program to procure and install the NSM aboard USS Freedom (LCS 1). In 2014, the NSM was successfully test fired from the Gulf Coast-built USS Coronado (LCS 4) to demonstrate a surface-to-surface weapon capability. Kongsberg is working with Raytheon to establish American-based NSM production facilities, according to Scout.com. “The (NSM) is the size, shape and weight that fits on both classes of the Littoral Combat Ship,” said Gary Holst, senior director for Naval Surface Warfare. (Source: Scout.com 04/08/16) Gulf Coast Maritime Note: There are currently two variants of LCS – Independence class built at Austal USA in Mobile, Ala., and Freedom class in Wisconsin. The Navy has been directed to reduce the number of future LCS buys to 40 (from 52) and to choose one variant and builder. Also, the NSM is being developed for Norway’s variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.