Navy’s fingers are crossed on this one
November 21st, 2011 | Board of Inspection and Survey LPD-17 Photos San Antonio class | Posted by Bill McMichael
The sixth San Antonio-class ship completed its acceptance trials last week, and the Navy is sure hoping that the future USS San Diego can jump out of the gates after its December delivery without the problems that have plagued the rest of the class.
Dock Landing Ship 22 has something going for it: It wasn’t built at Avondale, La. While all five previous 17s have had issues, one, the Mesa Verde, overcame its initial power plant problems and shock trial issues. The Pascagoula, Miss.-built ship is now on its second full deployment, replacing San Antonio, which had to stay home so the finishing touches could be put on a two-year repair job for fixes too numerous to mention. The other Avondale-built 17s had serious issues: New Orleans (propulsion, steering, elevators), Green Bay (steering, engine contaminants), New York (lube oil, bent crankshaft).
The amphibious transport dock ship Pre-Commissioning Unit San Diego. // U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding by Ron Elias
San Diego was also built at Pascagoula. According to Naval Sea Systems Command, during the acceptance trials, Huntington Ingalls Industries, the builder, “successfully demonstrated” systems ranging from main propulsion engineering and ship control systems to combat systems, communications systems, damage control, food service and crew support, and the Shipboard Wide Area Network.
During the at-sea portion of the trials, San Diego “successfully completed” a four-hour full power run, self-defense detect-to-engage exercises, rapid ballasting and deballasting, steering, quick reversal, and anchoring, NAVSEA said.
“The ship fully performed as expected, successfully completing all of the required demonstrations in port and at sea with some of the highest scores seen in this class to date,” said Rear Adm. David H. Lewis, program executive officer for ships. “These trials reflect the hard work the LPD-17 class team has accomplished in order to prepare this capable warship for delivery to the fleet.”
Problems in the first editions of military ships, jets and ground vehicles show up more often than not. But after five of these things, you’d think the design and construction issues would have finally been ironed out. Time will tell.
Sea spray and sea trials
June 15th, 2011 | Amphibious operations Gator Navy LPD-17 Navy Photos RHIB San Antonio class Ships SURFLANT | Posted by Bill McMichael
SURFLANT and the San Antonio wanted to tout what officials are calling a successful second phase of sea trials for the much-troubled ship, so they invited me and five other reporters and photogs to ride out from Rudee’s Inlet in Virginia Beach aboard an 11-meter RHIB Wednesday morning and conduct interviews on board as the amphibious transport dock ship sailed back to Norfolk.
The sea state out where San Antonio was steaming was about a 2, a sailor told me. But at the inlet, he said, it was more like a 4 or 5. It made for an interesting 7 a.m. transit, as you can see:
The above sea spray obviously nailed me, but I was lucky; due to some strange twist of fate, the guys on the port side of the boat were getting the worst of it — there were some really wet clothes, notebooks and cameras when we arrived.
I didn’t catch the boat captain’s name, but I got the sense that he loves this stuff. JUNE 17 UPDATE: Got his name: It’s Ensign Dave Lopez, the boat officer. Thanks, Dave!
San Antonio, coming into range. // Photo by Bill McMichael
All turned out well. And it also seems to be turning out nicely, after years of problems, for the San Antonio. Check out the story here.
One for the history books
June 10th, 2011 | Gator Navy Helicopters LPD-17 Navy Photos San Antonio class Ships testing | Posted by Bill McMichael
No, it’s not a doctored photo. That’s two — TWO — San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships operating simultaneously.
The amphibious transport dock ships San Antonio (left) and New York steam alongside while operating together in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Virginia. // U.S. Navy Photo by MC1 (SW/AW) Edwin F. Bryan
To be fair, two of the other three commissioned ships in the class are also at sea. Mesa Verde and Green Bay are deployed. New Orleans just completed sea trials following a scheduled maintenance period. New York took part in the recent Fleet Week event in New York City and, as you can see in the June 9 photo above, is now underway, conducting unit-level training. But let’s face it: This is a rare pic — particularly since San Antonio is in it.
The class has been beset with problems from the day in 2005 when the Navy accepted San Antonio and a mountain of mechanical and electrical problems that have limited it to one deployment in five years as a commissioned ship. It’s now in the second phase of sea trials that follow cancellation of this year’s scheduled deployment and extensive — and expensive — repair work ordered by Fleet Forces Command.
Subsequent ships in the class came to the Navy in better shape than San Antonio, but only slightly. In late 2009, inspectors discovered that a bent crankshaft in one of New York’s four diesel engines, our colleague Christopher Cavas reported. Similar problems had surfaced earlier on Mesa Verde and Green Bay. New Orleans had propulsion, communication and well deck/vehicle ramp issues.
Given the problems, and the prodigious efforts to correct them, the above photo struck us as unique.
The entire program has obviously been a mess. Everyone, from Congress and Big Navy to the waterfront, is pulling for the class, and its hard-working crews, to put the problems in the rear-view mirror and fully join the fleet.
San Antonio trials, Part 2
June 8th, 2011 | Amphibious operations LPD-17 Navy Photos San Antonio class testing | Posted by Bill McMichael
The oft-troubled amphibious transport dock ship San Antonio continues its journey from reclamation project to fleet-ready this week during the second phase of special sea trials following an extended maintenance period.
The amphibious transport dock ship San Antonio heads out to sea after departing Naval Station Norfolk to begin its second half of sea trials, which will focus on flight and well deck operations, combat systems testing and improved crew proficiency. // U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (SW) Lolita Lewis.
The ship, the first in its class but deployed only once in its five years in the fleet due to widespread mechanical and electrical problems that forced cancellation of this year’s scheduled deployment, passed the first phase of the trials, held from May 17-26. Afterward, commanding officer Cmdr. Thomas Kait gave his ship and crew an “A+” following comprehensive testing of the ship’s propulsion, steering, electrical, navigation and damage control systems.
This set of trials, which began June 6, is putting the ship through more dynamic twists and turns, testing flight and well deck operations as well as the ship’s combat systems suite, according to the ship’s executive officer, Cmdr. Neil Koprowski.
“I look forward to as successful a second half of sea trials as we had in part one,” Koprowski said. “The crew performed very well, and morale is high. I am completely confident that we will take care of business over the next phase and finish sea trials fully capable, ready to rejoin the fleet.”
Kait said in late May that if all goes well, San Antonio will begin basic training for overseas deployment but could be ready by summer’s end to deploy on short notice should a contingency arise.
Some good news, for a change
May 26th, 2011 | Amphibious operations Gator Navy LPD-17 Maintenance Navy San Antonio class Ships testing | Posted by Bill McMichael
The much-maligned amphibious transport dock ship San Antonio returned to Norfolk Thursday afternoon after 10 days of sea trials, and commanding officer Cmdr. Thomas Kait seemed like a very happy man during a press availability in his onboard cabin.
“I would characterize it as an A-plus,” Kait told reporters. “I don’t know how many times I said `great’ or said, `This is the first time this ship’s done this in two years’.”
Kait said crew morale was sky-high, “just knowing that their gear worked. All the hard work they put forth over the past two years. I know there were a lot of people rootin’ for us who had left the command over the past six months that put a little blood and sweat into it as well. I know they were cheering for us on shore as well.”
This first of two phases of sea trials was dedicated to validating the main diesel engines. Kait said the ship operated about 80 miles off the Atlantic coast to steer clear of shipping and also kept maneuvering to a minimum, all so as not to throw off the vibration analysis equipment and other engine testing gear. A stepped series of tests, each more intense than the previous step, culminated with a full-power demonstration.
“We went full speed on all four engines for one hour,” Kait said. “We did some rudder swing checks. We shut power to the steering units to make sure they’d hold at a 25-degree rudder — which they did fantastic.” The ship then went all astern, full power, and followed that with the same steering checks performed going forward.
There was a bit of vibration as the ship got to 25 knots and up, Kait said — “which we would expect to see.” He received one report of a sailor standing between two main engines while underway who “said they were purring like kittens.”
Drive train vibration had been an issue when engineers searching for the cause last year discovered misaligned or non-tightened foundation bolts and an improperly installed main reduction gear. The problem, coming atop efforts to repair electrical, lube oil and other systemic problems, forced officials to cancel the ship’s scheduled deployment this year.
Kait, mindful of those issues, was careful not to get overly enthusiastic. “Instead of saying we’re doing great, I’d like to say that we’re getting back to where we should be,” Kait said. “We have a little bit of a checkered past, but I think we’ve overcome that. We’re not doing anything special. We’re following the maintenance requirements cards — just what every other ship does.”
During the second phase of sea trials, which begins in June, more emphasis will be placed on the San Antonio’s combat systems. “We’ll do a lot more maneuvering, to increase our proficiency,” Kait said.
If all that goes well, San Antonio will start preparing for only its second deployment since being delivered in August 2005. Kait said he couldn’t yet say when that might happen but said that the ship will begin the now-standard 20-week basic training phase. Integrated training with other amphibious ships would normally follow. But should a contingency arise, he said, San Antonio will be ready to respond once its flight and well decks are fully certified — probably by the end of summer, Kait said.
San Antonio: still pierside — but getting there
March 23rd, 2011 | Board of Inspection and Survey Fleet Forces Command Gator Navy LPD-17 Maintenance Navy Photos San Antonio class Ships Surface Force Atlantic | Posted by Bill McMichael
The amphibious transport dock Mesa Verde left its Naval Station Norfolk pier at 9:05 Wednesday morning as the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group began deploying to the Med and the Libya crisis.
As it pulled away, its wake gently lapped up against the starboard-side hull of San Antonio, moored at the next pier over, in what amounted to a love tap. Mesa Verde’s crew might have preferred delivering more of a kick in the rear. The third ship in the class, Mesa Verde had been home only eight months since its last overseas deployment, and it wasn’t supposed to deploy until late 2012. Instead, it was going to sea more than a year earlier than planned in the place of San Antonio — the class’s lead ship. Commissioned in 2006 and plagued by structural and systemic issues during its maiden and only deployment in 2008-2009, it is still getting undergoing repairs.
The amphibious transport dock San Antonio, Naval Station Norfolk, March 23, 2011. // Camera phone photo by William H. McMichael
But there’s light on the horizon. According to the ship’s executive officer, Cmdr. Neil Koprowski, San Antonio is rounding into shape and on April 25 will go to sea for three weeks of intensive sea trials. Koprowski said it’ll be a “full assessment — soup to nuts” — with high visibility. One visitor, he said, will be Adm. John Harvey, commander of Fleet Forces Command, who made the call to hold San Antonio back.
If the ship passes muster, it’ll begin a 20-week basic training phase in preparation for getting back into the fleet’s rotation. Then, in October, another test: a visit from the famously tough Board of Inspection and Survey.
Koprowski, nine months into the job, is optimistic. “We’re excited about getting back out there and showing the world … we’re gonna do good things,” he said.
A new San Antonio-class ship that’s ready to fight
February 16th, 2011 | Board of Inspection and Survey LPD-17 Maintenance Navy Photos Surface Force Atlantic | Posted by Bill McMichael
It took the Navy just five tries to get it right the first time — at least, when it comes to San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships. Naval Surface Force Atlantic announced Monday that the New York successfully completed its post-commissioning Final Contract Trials Feb. 4.
CORRECTION: SURFLANT incorrectly first reported that the New York is the first of the five ships of the LPD-17 class to be certified for sustained combat operations on its first such evaluation. Rather, SURFLANT says, the ship produced the highest score during the FTC process of all previous San Antonio-class ships.
The class has been plagued with problems ever since its first, the San Antonio, was commissioned in January 2006. Five years and one long-delayed yet mechanically challenged deployment later, the San Antonio remains moored at Norfolk Naval Station, undergoing main propulsion diesel engine repairs and other work, according to Naval Sea Systems Command; the problems are such that the ship was bumped out of the rotation for a scheduled summer 2011 deployment. The first four ships of the class struggled with lube oil contamination and in late 2009 — just after commissioning — a bent crankshaft was found on one of the New York’s four diesel engines.
For the New York, those problems are apparently in the past, with the ship’s major systems having passed muster — after the delay for crankshaft repairs — with the infamously tough Board of Inspection and Survey. FTC inspections begin with two days of in-port checks followed by two days of underway checks including a full-power engine run, steering checks and a ship self-defense exercise.
The ship having “scored the highest” of all other LPD-17 ships on the FCT doesn’t come as much of a surprise, given the class’s history. Still, officials were pleased.
“Completing FCT the first time out has set a new standard for the class,” said Cmdr. Curt Jones, the ship’s commanding officer. “It’s a testament to the progress made and a rise in the level of technical knowledge in the class.”