Port of San Diego, Navy Partner on Blue Economy

By Karen Robes Meeks

The Port of San Diego’s Blue Economy effort has acquired a significant partner in the US Navy.

The port and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport have signed a Partnership Intermediary Agreement to help push the innovation of a Blue Economy, which seeks to balance economic growth and coastal preservation in the San Diego area.

“Our role in the arrangement with the Port of San Diego is to provide expertise, and collaborate, where possible, in developing ocean technologies that may benefit the US Navy,” said NUWC Division, Keyport Deputy Customer Advocate Jay Cavalieri. “This arrangement allows the Port of San Diego to identify possible technologies, and together we will work to develop a plan to test, evaluate and transition those technologies to the Fleet. This PIA is really a starting point for future efforts and I'm excited about the partnership because it allows Keyport to gain a different view into non-traditional companies and ideas. Our Ballast Point Facility is a perfect location to test and evaluate some of those emerging technologies.”

According to Port Chairman Rafael Castellanos, the ports leadership in the Blue Economy is well established with cargo, shipbuilding and fishing industries and now the port is leading the way into the next generation of opportunities on its dynamic waterfront.

“I am pleased that we have achieved one of the goals I set this year of coming to an agreement with the US Navy to further drive innovation in San Diego Bay,” said Castellanos.

BAE Systems Awarded $36 Million Ship Upgrade Contract

By Mark Edward Nero

BAE Systems has received a $36.7 million contract from the US Navy for the repair and maintenance of the amphibious transport dock ship USS New Orleans, which will be the first ship to be repaired in the company’s new drydock in San Diego. The contract includes options that, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value to $51.5 million.

BAE says it will begin work on the 684-foot-long ship in January 2017. Work to be performed includes structural and tank repairs, propulsion system repairs, and ventilation and auxiliary systems repairs, as well as preservation of the crew habitability systems and spaces.

The labor onboard the ship is expected to be completed in March 2018.

BAE Systems has purchased a 55,000-lifting-ton, 950-foot-long drydock for the San Diego shipyard, which will be operational in early 2017. The company already has a 26,000 lifting-ton drydock at the site. In addition to another drydock in the port, the combination of three drydocks will support the growth of ships in the San Diego port and help the Navy to maintain its operational requirements, while keeping ships in their homeport for extensive repairs.

The surface ship fleet in San Diego, excluding aircraft carriers, is expected to grow from the current 59 ships to 70 by 2020, as the Navy increases its focus on Asia-Pacific operations. BAE has said its $100 million investment in a new drydock and other capabilities will support the increased size of the fleet.

“We made the strategic investment to meet the ship repair needs of the Navy,” BAE Systems Ship Repair Vice President and General Manager Joe Campbell said. “Soon, with two large drydocks in our shipyard, we’ll enhance the San Diego industrial base’s ability to repair warships in their homeport, providing the key maintenance and modernization work needed for the ships’ continued service to our nation and the stability for the ships’ crews.”

POLB Receives 125 Acres of Land from Navy

By Mark Edward Nero

Port of Long Beach officials joined with US Navy, Maritime Administration and California Environmental Protection Agency representatives on Aug. 30 to commemorate the ownership transfer of 125 acres of a former Naval complex to the City of Long Beach.

The acreage was part of the former Long Beach Naval Station & Naval Shipyard that the Navy agreed to transfer to the port as part of the ongoing defense base closures that began with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s.

US Navy and City of Long Beach officials first worked out a lease agreement for the port to take control of the 500-acre complex on Terminal Island in 1998, allowing the Port of Long Beach to break ground on the new container terminal.

The official transfer of ownership is taking place in stages, as environmental issues are resolved. In 2001, the Navy deeded more than half the property to the City of Long Beach. After the current transfer of 125 acres, there are only two smaller parcels left to be transferred in the next few years.

The land transfer process being completed in stages allows for environmental cleanup of the property as needed. Depending on the condition of the land, the process has allowed for most of the property to be safely developed and used as soil and sediment investigations are being completed.

The Maritime Administration, or MARAD, which works to complete the transfer of surplus federal property for the development of seaports, is facilitating the process for the site.

Navy Awards Vigor Ship Overhaul Contract

By Mark Edward Nero

The US Navy has awarded Portland, Oregon-based Vigor Marine a $9.3 million contract for a 71-calendar day shipyard availability for the regular overhaul and dry docking of USNS Henry J. Kaiser (T-AO 187).

The Navy’s Military Sealift Command in Norfolk, Virginia is the contracting activity. Work is to include general services, clean and gas free tanks, ballast tank blast and paint, cargo tank blast and paint, cargo and ballast tank close up survey, expansion joint structural steel replacement and port and starboard main engine 72,000-hour overhaul.

Also included: starboard main engine coupling and shaft brake replacement, dry docking, underwater hull blast and paint, propeller maintenance, 15-year tailshaft inspection and repair underway replenishment quad cargo gear survey blocks and sheaves.

The contract was procured with proposals solicited via the Federal Business Opportunities website; Vigor Marine’s offer was the only one received.

Funds in the amount of $9,319,391 were being obligated at the time of award, and the contract also includes options, which, if exercised, could increase the total contract value to $9.6 million.

The work is to be performed in Portland, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 19, 2016.

Navy Licenses Willard Marine Boat Design

By Mark Edward Nero

Anaheim-based boat manufacturer Willard Marine has executed a licensing agreement with the US Navy for a Willard Marine boat design to serve as the guideline for the Navy’s new 11-meter rigid hull inflatable boat (RIB) government project.

The licensing agreement allows the US Navy to utilize Willard’s Sea Force 1100, US Navy model RIB design to create an all-new Navy 11-meter RIB.

The new RIBs would be used in the Navy’s American fleets around the world. The agreement also allows select international militaries to purchase the vessels through the US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programs.

The Navy said it pursued the licensing agreement with Willard Marine in an effort to “maximize commonality between the old and new 11m RIB platforms, minimize time and money spent on boat operations training, maintenance, repair and service.”

For 27 years, Willard Marine has designed and built US Navy shipboard RIBs that are 7 and 11 meters in length featuring a wide variety of propulsion, deck and outfitting arrangements.

Through the US Navy FMS program, Willard has also provided Sea Force 1100 RIBs to foreign militaries such as Lebanon, Mexico and the Ukraine.

“We are honored that the largest and most prestigious Navy on the globe has chosen a Willard Marine design to serve as their guideline for the new 11-meter RIB design,” Willard Marine President and CEO Ulrich Gottschling said in a statement.

“The US Navy and our allies who leverage the FMS program to procure this boat are assured of a proven, seaworthy design,” he added.

Since its founding in 1957, Willard Marine has developed world-class watercraft for the US military, Department of Homeland Security, foreign governments, law enforcement agencies, search and rescue organizations and private companies. The company also builds commercial vessels originally designed by SeaArk Marine and Crystaliner.

NASSCO Delivers USNS Ship

By Mark Edward Nero

San Diego-based shipbuilder General Dynamics NASSCO on June 12 delivered the US Navy’s newest ship, the USNS Lewis B. Puller, the first purpose-built afloat forward staging base (AFSB) vessel.

The $135 million ship, which is 764 feet long (233 meters), has a beam of 164 feet (50 meters) and can reach a top speed of 15 knots, is named after late US Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Lewis “Chesty” Puller, the most decorated Marine in history.

“Today’s delivery of the USNS Lewis B. Puller to the US Navy symbolizes an immense culmination of efforts made by the hard-working men and women of the General Dynamics NASSCO shipbuilding team,” said Kevin Mooney, vice president of operations at the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard.

Special modifications to the vessel include a 52,000 square-foot flight deck, fuel and equipment storage, repair spaces, magazines, mission planning spaces and accommodations for up to 250 personnel.

The ship is capable of supporting multiple missions including Air Mine Counter Measures (AMCM), counter-piracy operations, maritime security operations, humanitarian aid and disaster relief missions and Marine Corps crisis response. The ship’s also designed to support MH-53 and MH-60 helicopters, and is expected to be upgraded to support MV-22 tilt rotor aircraft.

Construction on the Lewis B. Puller began in 2013. Earlier this year, NASSCO shipbuilders christened the ship with a ceremony at the company’s San Diego shipyard.

In December 2014, the US Navy awarded NASSCO a design-build contract for a Mobile Landing Platform to be configured as an Afloat Forward Staging Base, an assault ship serving as a floating base for amphibious operations.

Construction’s scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2015.

US Navy Orders 5 Willard Marine Boats

By Mark Edward Nero

The US Navy has exercised an option on its contract with Anaheim, California-based Willard Marine for five additional 11-meter rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) in addition to 10 the Navy ordered in 2014.

Willard Marine says it will provide three 11-meter open center console (OCC) boats that will be equipped with twin Cummins QSB6.7 380-hp engines. It will also supply two VBSS (visit, board, search and seizure) boats equipped with twin Cummins QSB6.7 480-hp engines, both versions of which are expected to be paired with Hamilton Jet HJ292 waterjets.

Willard Marine says it has sold a variety of boats to the Navy for 37 years, including nearly 700 11-meter and 7-meter RIBs that are primarily stored aboard and launched at sea from large naval ships deployed around the world.

The US Navy and Coast Guard have procured many 11-meter RIBs in support of their Foreign Military Sales (FMS) divisions.

“The United States Navy and other military agencies have relied upon Willard Marine vessels for nearly 40 years to safely transport service men and women and enable them to successfully complete their missions, often in very challenging sea conditions,” said Willard Marine President and CEO Ulrich Gottschling. “It is with great pride and commitment that we continue building boats that our military can rely upon.”

Marine Group Wins 27 Vessel Contract

By Mark Edward Nero

San Diego-based Marine Group Boat Works, a family-owned boatbuilding and repair company with three yards in Chula Vista, National City and Baja California, was recently awarded three Navy contracts to build five small, powerful steel tugboats; six large steel workboats; and 16 aluminum 60-foot dive boats, for a total of 27 new vessels with a value of over $45 million.

In a fourth separate Navy contract, Marine Group is to dismantle and dispose of two 224-foot Avenger-class Mine Counter Measure ships built in the mid-1980s – USS Avenger and USS Defender – in accordance with state and federal environmental regulations, recycling parts where possible.

The shipyard said that work will begin immediately on all the recently awarded contracts and that the combined period of performance takes its workload and order books well into 2020.

“Our vision was to bring custom boatbuilding back to California where we have trained a new generation of craftsmen,” Marine Group President Todd Roberts said.

Marine Group booked the contracts after the Navy conducted a nationwide call for competitive bids from qualified shipyards with fewer than 500 employees for proven design concepts that would fulfill the Navy’s new fleet missions’ requirements.

The company says its facilities and proximity to various San Diego-area naval bases was also a factor in gaining the contracts.

“Our team has perfected our craft and has become good at what we do. We have a long history with boats of all shapes and sizes. We operate them; repair them; build them. We see problems with them. We see beauty in them. That 360-degree perspective is just how we evaluate and approach our work now,” Roberts said.

“With internal forecasts and data from our past construction of vessels, building these boats will add about 25 jobs and pay out about $22 million to subcontractors and material suppliers,” Roberts said.

For Chula Vista, National City and the region where Marine Group is located, these new construction contracts are expected to lead to about 68 jobs and $58.5 million spent in the regional economy.

BAE San Francisco Wins Overhaul Contract

By Mark Edward Nero

BAE Systems San Francisco Ship Repair said Dec. 14 that it has been awarded a $15.23 million firm-fixed-price contract for a 60-calendar day shipyard availability for the regular overhaul and drydocking of the USNS Matthew Perry.

The work was contracted out by the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command in Washington, DC.

According to BAE, work on the vessel is to include: a main engine overhaul; HVAC support; degaussing system repairs; deck non-skid renewal; ballast tank preservation; cylinder head and liner overhaul; annual lifeboat certification; galley ventilation system cleaning; docking and undocking; propeller system maintenance; bow thruster maintenance; overhauling sea valves; and underwater hull cleaning and painting.

The contract includes options that, if exercised, would bring the total contract value to $15.29 million. Work is to be performed in San Francisco and is expected to be completed by March 15, 2015.

The USNS Matthew Perry, which was christened in 2009, is a 16,446-ton dead weight, 689 foot long military dry cargo ship. It has a maximum dry cargo weight of 5,910 long tons and a maximum dry cargo volume of 783,000 cubic feet.

BAE San Francisco provides maintenance, alterations, and repairs to cruise liners from Alaskan and Mexican trade routes, trans-Alaska pipeline tankers, military vessels, local bay traffic and foreign and domestic bulk carriers and container ships.

The yard’s floating dry dock, which is certified by the U.S. Navy, is among the largest drydocks on North America’s West Coast.

Navy, Scripps Christen Research Vessel

By Mark Edward Nero

The US Navy and Scripps Institution of Oceanography christened the first vessel in the national research fleet named for a female scientist on Aug. 9. A crowd of more than 150 dignitaries formally welcomed the R/V Sally Ride at the Anacortes, Washington shipyard where it is being built.

“This vessel is going to be a general purpose oceanographic research vessel operated through the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System, or UNOLS, for the benefit of entire US academic research community,” Scripps Associate Director Bruce Appelgate, head of Scripps Ship Operations, said.

The Neil Armstrong class of vessels, of which R/V Sally Ride is a member, features a suite of oceanographic equipment, acoustic equipment capable of mapping the deepest parts of the oceans, over-the-side handling gear to deploy and retrieve scientific instruments, emissions controls for stack gasses and new information technology tools both for monitoring shipboard systems and for communicating with land-based sites worldwide.

Substantial construction and outfitting of the 238-foot vessel remains, however. Scripps anticipates taking delivery of the vessel in mid-2015 and then spending at least six months field-testing it.

The R/V Sally Ride will be manned by a commercial crew and operated by Scripps under a charter-party agreement with the Office of Naval Research.

The US Navy now owns six of the nation’s largest oceanographic research ships, and the R/V Sally Ride is now the fifth ship currently serving the Navy to be named for an astronaut. Others include the recently christened R/V Neil Armstrong (AGOR 27), the mobile landing platform John Glenn (MLP 2) and dry cargo and ammunition ships Wally Schirra (T-AKE 8) and Alan Shepard (T-AKE 3).

The R/V Sally Ride was named after Sally Ride, the scientist, innovator and educator who was the first American woman and youngest person in space. Ride later served as director of NASA's Office of Exploration and the California Space Institute at the University of California, San Diego.

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