County OKs funding for ceremony

MOBILE, Ala. – The Mobile County Commission approved a $40,000 contract with the Mobile Council Navy League to market the Jan. 16 commissioning ceremony for the littoral combat ship Independence, built by Austal USA for the General Dynamics team. The Navy pays for the ceremony and donations pay for receptions, gifts and special celebrations leading up to the event. Community leaders have said the ceremony could further Mobile's emergence as a military shipbuilding center. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 12/29/09) Note: To the west of Mobile, Pascagoula, Miss., is already a well-known military shipbuilding center.

Contract: VT Halter, $86.7M

VT Halter Marine Inc., Pascagoula, Miss., is being awarded an $86,742,759 firm-fixed-price contract for detail design and construction of one oceanographic survey ship, T-AGS 66. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $87,100,607. Work will be performed in Moss Point, Miss., and is expected to be completed by April 2013. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 12/22/09)

Independence delivered to Navy

MOBILE, Ala. - The General Dynamics Littoral Combat Ship Team delivered Independence, LCS 2, a high-speed trimaran combatant ship, to the Navy Friday. The ship was constructed by team member Austal USA in Mobile. The delivery of Independence was preceded by the keel laying of its sister ship, Coronado, LCS 4, on Dec. 17. LCS 2 will remain in Mobile awaiting its commissioning Jan. 16, 2010. Independence is the second littoral combat ship delivered to the Navy. The first ship, Freedom, was built by the Lockheed Martin team. (Source: PRNewswire, 12/18/09)

Austal OKd to start JHSV work

MOBILE, Ala. - Austal USA received approval from the Navy and Department of Defense to start work on its first Joint High Speed Vessel. JHSV is a 103-meter military transport ferry that’s part of a potential $1.6 billion, 10-vessel contract. Fortitude, or JHSV 1, will carry military equipment, including vehicles and a helicopter, and troops at speeds of up to 43 knots. Austal is also building its second of two 127-meter littoral combat ships, Coronado, and held a keel laying this week. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 12/17/09)

VT Halter parent wants to buy Bender

VT Halter Marine of Pascagoula’s parent company, Vision Technologies Systems, has offered $21 million cash for Bender Shipbuilding & Repair's Mobile shipyard, kick-starting a special auction process intended for companies in Chapter 11 bankruptcy to quickly sell property and repay debts. According to court documents, VT Halter would also assume certain Bender debts and liabilities. Vision Technologies is a subsidiary of Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd., which owns ST Aerospace Mobile at Brookely Field Industrial Complex. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 12/16/09)

Keel authentication ceremony held

AVONDALE, La. - Northrop Grumman held a keel authentication ceremony Friday for Somerset (LPD 25), the ninth ship in the LPD 17 series of San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships being built by the company. Somerset is named in honor of the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93, who prevented terrorist hijackers from reaching their target on Sept. 11, 2001. Somerset is the county in Pennsylvania in which United Flight 93 crashed. Construction of is taking place at the Avondale shipyard, with fabrication support from the three other company facilities in Pascagoula and Gulfport, Miss., and Tallulah, La. The 684-foot, 105-foot-wide LPD transport dock ships are used to transport and land Marines, their equipment and supplies by embarked air cushion or conventional landing craft and Expeditionary Fighting vehicles, amphibious assault vehicles, augmented by helicopters or vertical takeoff and landing aircraft such as the Osprey. (Source: Northrop Grumman, 12/11/09)

Contract: Northrop, $18.6M

Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Miss., is being awarded an $18,604,845 modification to previously awarded contract to exercise options for the accomplishment of follow yard class services for the DDG 51 class AEGIS Destroyer Program and will provide expert design, planning and material support services for both DDG 51 ship construction and modernization. Work will be performed in Pascagoula and is expected to be completed by August 2010. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 12/10/09)

Cost looms too large in LCS competition?

Three members of the Alabama congressional delegation said in a letter to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus that the service is putting price ahead of quality and performance in preparing a winner-take-all showdown to buy up to 10 littoral combat ships. A draft bid request released last month is structured “to buy the cheapest ship without consideration of any other factor,” wrote Sen. Richard Shelby, Sen. Jeff Sessions, and Rep. Jo Bonner. The Navy is dramatically changing its approach to procuring the littoral combat ships. Instead of continuing with two hull designs, one built by General Dynamics and the other by Lockheed Martin, the Navy will choose a single structure. Austal USA, in Mobile, Ala., is part of the General Dynamics team. (Sources: Mobile Press-Register, Aviation Week, 12/04/09).

Contract: Northrop Grumman, $170.7M

Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, Inc., Pascagoula, Miss., is being awarded a letter contract with a not-to-exceed amount of $170,700,000 for long lead time material in support of construction of DDG 113 under the DDG 51 Class destroyer program. This contract provides propulsion gas turbines, generators, controllable pitch propeller and other components to support construction of DDG 113. Work is anticipated to be performed in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Alabama, Indiana, Louisiana., Mississippi, New York, Texas, Virginia and Washington. Work is expected to be completed by January 2013. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 12/02/09)

Workers OK contract extension

PASCAGOULA, Miss. – Union members voted to accept an offer by Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding to extend their work contract by two years. The vote was about 2,300 for an 275 against, according to the Sun Herald. The extension provides for a $1,000 bonus, a maximum 55-cent raise in January and another in early 2011. Workers keep the same health care coverage costs they negotiated in 2007. The contract will now run until March 2012. (Source: Sun Herald, 12/01/09)

Unions vote today on contract

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - Members of unions at the Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding Ingalls yard will begin voting today on extending the contract. Union leadership endorsed the move, saying it benefits both the workers and the company. If ratified, the contract will not end until March 2012 and will include two raises of 55 cents each for journeymen, less for other workers, and a $1,000 bonus in mid-December that would take the place of a cost-of-living raise set for early next year. (Source: Sun Herald, 12/01/09)

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)