Dewey arrives in San Diego

SAN DIEGO - The Navy’s newest destroyer has arrived at its new homeport of San Diego. Dewey conducted training and readiness drills on its way from the Northrop Grumman Shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. The ship also made a port visit to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where crew members did community service projects. Dewey is the 55th ship in the Arleigh Burke class of destroyers. Dewey’s commissioning is scheduled for March 6 at Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station. (Source: Navy Times, 11/24/09)

Two die in shipyard blast

MOSS POINT, Miss. – Two people died and four were injured late Friday after an apparent flash fire in a tank on a 120-foot tugboat at VT Halter Marine in Moss Point. A crew was cleaning the tank and getting it ready to paint when there was an explosion. The cause is not yet known. The company has 200 workers at its Escatawpa site. VT Halter Marine builds small naval ships, research ships, tug-barge combinations and oilfield support vessels. (Sources: Sun Herald, 11/20/09, Mississippi Press, 11/21/09)

Shipbuilder offers contract extension

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - Northrop Grumman wants to extend the current labor contract with workers by two years, and in doing so, has offered a December bonus, two raises and no increase in health care coverage for workers during the two years. The unions have endorsed the proposal. Workers on each shift are expected to receive handouts explaining the terms when they go to work Monday. Union workers at the Ingalls, Avondale and Gulfport yards will have the Thanksgiving holidays to consider the offer. A vote is planned for Dec. 1. The current three-year contract is set to end in March. (Source: Sun Herald, 11/20/09)

LCS completes acceptance trials

MOBILE, Ala. - The future USS Independence, LCS 2, successfully completed acceptance trials this week. Acceptance trials are the first opportunity to test the ship and its systems. During two days underway, the ship completed demonstrations of the combat systems suite, steering, anchoring and propulsion. The ship achieved a top speed of almost 45 knots during the full power demonstration. The ship is expected to be turned over to the Navy next month, with commissioning Jan. 16 in Mobile, Ala. The ship was built by Austal USA, and is a new breed vessel designed for littoral, or near shore, service. (Source: NNS, 11/19/09)

LPD-17 class life-cycle awarded

TEWKSBURY, Mass. - Raytheon has been awarded a $197 million Navy contract for life-cycle engineering and support of the LPD 17 class, the Navy's new generation of amphibious warfare ships. As a member of the LPD alliance, Raytheon is the total ship electronics systems integrator for the LPD 17 class as well as the prime contractor for life-cycle engineering and support. Work on the LPD 17 program is performed in San Diego, Calif.; Portsmouth, R.I.; and by Raytheon Technical Services Company, New Orleans, La., and San Diego. (Source: Raytheon, 11/12/09) Gulf Coast note: The LPD-17 class is built by Northrop Grumman at its Gulf Coast shipyards.

Cutter turned over to CG

PASCAGOULA, Miss – The Coast Guard on Friday accepted delivery of the Waesche, the second of the new National Security Cutters built at Northrop Grumman’s Pascagoula shipyard. The ceremony held on the 418-foot Waesche’s flight deck signaled the transfer of ownership of the ship from Northrop Grumman Corp. to the Coast Guard. The Bertholf, the first of eight planned Legend-class cutters, was delivered to the Coast Guard in May 2008 at the Pascagoula shipyard. The third cutter, the Stratton, is about 30 percent complete in the Pascagoula shipyard. (Source: Mississippi Press, 11/07/09)

NOAA slates dedication, commissioning

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - NOAA officials will commission the Pisces, the agency’s newest and most advanced fisheries survey vessel on Friday. It will also dedicate the agency’s new fisheries laboratory on the same day. The recently completed NOAA laboratory replaces the facility that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The ship and laboratory will support fisheries research in the Gulf of Mexico, southeastern United States, and Caribbean. (Source: Sun Herald, 10/03/09)

Signal gets $50M contract

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - Signal International will construct components to be used in a drillship reliability upgrade program for Noble Corp., an offshore drilling contractor for the oil and gas industry. The $50 million contract was announced Monday. The work will be performed at shipyards in Pascagoula and Orange, Texas. (Source: Mississippi Press via AP, 11/03/09)

USS New York in NYC

NEW YORK - The Northrop Grumman-built USS New York, LPD 21, arrived in New York Monday to the cheers of well-wishers who lined the waterfront. The ship, built in New Orleans, left its homeport of Naval Station Norfolk, Va., Oct. 29 to make the voyage to its namesake for a 10-day long celebration and a commissioning ceremony scheduled Nov. 7. More than seven tons of steel recovered from the World Trade Center was used for the ship’s hull. (Source: NNS, 11/02/09)

Atlantic Marine to work on oiler

MOBILE, Ala. - A Navy oiler not used for more than a dozen years has been handed over to the Chilean government, and Mobile's Atlantic Marine will play a key role in its $30 million revitalization. Chile acquired the vessel in May under a foreign military sales agreement, where it pays the U.S. government a reactivation fee and the government handles the work. In this deal, the price tag was $29.95 million, which includes repairing or replacing equipment and training the sailors. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/25/09)

LCS completes builder's trial

MOBILE, Ala. – Independence, the high-speed trimaran combatant ship being constructed by shipbuilder Austal USA as part of the General Dynamics Littoral Combat Ship Team, successfully completed a series of tests known as builder's trials on Oct. 18 in the Gulf of Mexico. The trials included more than 50 demonstration events to test the ship and all its systems in preparation for final inspection by the Navy before delivery. Events during the trials included reaching a sustained speed of 44 knots during the required four-hour full-power run, with a top speed in excess of 45 knots. (Source: General Dynamics via PR Newswire, 10/21/09)

Northrop Grumman 3Q report

Northrop Grumman Corp. reported that third quarter 2009 earnings from continuing operations totaled $487 million compared with $509 million in the third quarter of 2008. Third quarter 2009 net pension adjustment reduced earnings from continuing operations by $47 million compared with an increase to earnings from continuing operations of $42 million in the third quarter of 2008. (Source: Northrop Grumman, 10/21/09) Gulf Coast note: Northrop Grumman has shipbuilding operations in Pascagoula and Gulfport, Miss., and Avondale, La.

Makin Island commissioning set

NORTH ISLAND, Calif. – The Pascagoula, Miss.-built USS Makin Island will be formally commissioned in a ceremony on Naval Air Station North Island Saturday. The ship arrived in San Diego in mid-September, bringing over 1,000 sailors and their families to the San Diego community. Makin Island is the final amphibious assault ship built in the LHD-1 Wasp-class, but is the first of the class built with gas turbine engines and electric drive, as well as other energy saving systems. (Source: NNS, 10/19/09)

LCS takes trial run

MOBILE, Ala. - The littoral combat ship Independence left its dock at Austal Tuesday for a day at sea, according to Jim DeMartini, General Dynamics Corp. spokesman. The ship, currently in builder's trials, is expected to head out at least one more time before it is handed over the U.S. Navy in mid-November for final inspection. One of a new class of shallow-water warships, it was built at Austal USA's Mobile shipyard as part of a team led by General Dynamics. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/14/09)

USS New York departing New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS, La. – The USS New York is scheduled to leave the New Orleans area Tuesday after more than three years of construction at Avondale. The 684-foot amphibious transport dock ship, which contains more than seven tons of steel from the World Trade Center, will head for its namesake city, where it will be commissioned Nov. 7. Then it will move to its homeport of Norfolk, Va. The ship was built by Northrop Grumman’s Avondale shipyard. (Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, 10/13/09)

Navy secretary visits shipyard

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus toured Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding’s shipyard in Pascagoula and the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport Thursday. “The most impressive thing here is the quality of the workforce,” Mabus said of the shipyard workers. Mabus, former governor of Mississippi who was appointed to the secretary’s post in May, toured a variety of ships under construction, including Gravely, San Diego, Waesche and Dewey. (Source: GlobeNewswire, 10/08/09)

Bender creditors file complaint

MOBILE, Ala. - Bender Shipbuilding's unsecured creditors are worried over the shipyard's plan to sell most of its Mobile assets, alleging that Bender is pursuing a deal that favors management and would likely leave creditors out in the cold. The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors late Tuesday filed a limited objection. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/08/09)

Austal may have another union vote

MOBILE, Ala. - A union could get a third try at organizing Austal USA’s workers after an administrative law judge ruled the shipyard committed unfair labor practices before an April 2008 election. Austal said it is considering appealing the decision, released last week, to the full National Labor Relations Board. If the shipbuilder does not appeal, the decision will become binding and workers will vote for the third time in seven years on whether they want to be represented by the Sheet Metal Workers International Association. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/07/09)

Cutter shines in acceptance trials

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - The Northrop Grumman-built Waesche, the second in a new class of cutters, successfully completed its Coast Guard acceptance trials in the Gulf of Mexico this week, the company said Friday. Waesche, under construction at the Pascagoula shipyard, is the second in the U.S. Coast Guard’s Legend class, an eight-ship national security cutter program. Delivery is expected in early November. The WMSL 751 performed well this week during testing of propulsion, electrical, damage control and combat systems, the company said. The ship's builders trial was in August. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/03/09)

Bender expects to have new owner

MOBILE, Ala. - Most of Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co.'s Mobile operations will have a new owner by Dec. 15. That’s according to documents obtained by the Press-Register and the shipbuilder's chief executive, Tom Bender. The shipyard has hired New Orleans-based Global Hunter Securities LLP to handle the sale of about 80 percent of its property along the Mobile riverfront. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/01/09)