Public rationales for unanticipated shipbuilding costs
February 21st, 2012 | Carriers Gerald R. Ford Navy Newport News Shipbuilding Photos Ships Shipyard | Posted by Bill McMichael
A euphemism is “the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant,” according to Merriam-Webster. An example might be couching a near-$1 billion increase in the cost of the most expensive ship ever in the most innocuous terms possible.
My colleague Chris Cavas has a fine explainer story in the print version of this week’s Defense News on the soaring cost of CVN 78, the Gerald R. Ford. Chris notes that the Navy’s recently unveiled fiscal year 2013 budget request asks Congress for another $811 million atop a total price tag of more than $15 billion — the most expensive ship ever built.
A 945-ton superlift is lowered into place near the stern of PCU Gerald R. Ford, or CVN-78, on May 21, 2011, at Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Va. The superlift erected contained a diesel generator room, a pump room, an oily water waste pump room, 16 complete tanks and 18 partial tanks that was welded to the rest of the ship. It is one of 162 total superlifts that comprise the ship. // Photo courtesy of Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries.
Chris made sure to include the euphemism the Navy unwrapped to describe the rationale for the cost bump. The Navy is attributing the need for more money to “fact-of-life cost increases.”
I understand that the Ford is the first in a new class of ship and that the Navy was ordered to put nearly all of the technology improvements originally slated to be spread across the first three carriers of the Ford class into the first one, yada yada. It’s all a matter of scale, I suppose. But that’s some “fact of life.” $811 million would go a long toward, say, remodeling aging barracks for single sailors’ pockets. Put another way, it’s enough to pay for about a third of a new Flight III Arleigh Burke destroyer.
But from a writing standpoint, I just love that phrase! What’s next? “Lessons-in-life cost increases”? “Cost-of-doing-business cost increases”? If you were trying to spin this increase for Congress, how would you term it?
Ike’s return is on track
July 14th, 2011 | Aviation Carriers Flight deck certification Maintenance Maritime operations Navy Photos Safety Shipyard Unmanned carrier landing | Posted by Bill McMichael
The carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower is enjoying a noteworthy and productive post-availability period at sea.
On July 2, Ike, operating off the Atlantic coast, was the scene of the first fully hands-free carrier landing as an F/A-18D modified to emulate the in-development X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System aircraft touched down under control of an onboard computer network linked to the plane. The aircraft was manned in case something went wrong, but the pilot kept his hands off the controls, the Navy told my colleague Joshua Stewart. See his story in the July 18 Navy Times.
Four days later, the carrier and Air Wing 7 completed flight deck certification, just a week after taking the flattop’s first arrested landing since its 2010 deployment to the Arabian Sea in support of the war in Afghanistan — only three weeks after Ike left Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va., after completing a nine-month planned incremental availability.
On July 7 in Washington, D.C., the carrier was given the Secretary of the Navy’s Safety Excellence Award for large deck combatants.
Meanwhile, the carrier — enjoying a no-fly day Thursday, according to AIRLANT — continues operations in the Atlantic, qualifying new fliers from Fleet Replacement Squadron fliers.
An F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to the “Gladiators” of Strike Fighter Squadron 106 performs an arrested landing July 13 aboard the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower. // U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nathan Parde.
Almost back in the fleet
June 14th, 2011 | Carriers Maintenance Navy Photos Sea trials Ships Shipyard | Posted by Bill McMichael
The carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower is underway for sea trials following a nine-month maintenance availability at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va.
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower transits the Elizabeth River in Norfolk, Va., June 13 as it begins Sea Trials. // U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Shonna L. Cunningham
Ike’s planned incremental availability began last summer and was supposed to be done in March. It was extended into June due to major pump overhaul and unexpected winter storms, according to the Navy.
“Today we are absolutely ready to get back to sea,” said Capt. Marcus Hitchcock, Ike’s CO. “You can walk around and see the phenomenal changes around the ship.”
Deck Department boatswain's mates aboard Ike handle mooring lines in preparation for getting underway out of Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Bradley Evans
Looks like someone is happy to be leaving the yards …
Back where it belongs … in the water
May 20th, 2011 | Carriers Navy Newport News Shipbuilding Photos Refueling and Complex Overhaul Ships Shipyard Video | Posted by Bill McMichael
Twenty months in dry dock will end Saturday, May 21, when the carrier Theodore Roosevelt checks out of Dry Dock 11 at Newport News Shipbuilding (so nice to be able to use the simple name again, though we should note that the yard is a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries …) to a pierside location for the remainder of its 39-month refueling complex overhaul.
The Theodore Roosevelt's XO, Capt. Douglas C. Verissimo (left) stands by the ship's commanding officer, Capt. Billy Hart, to watch the initial stage of flooding the dry dock. // Navy photo by Mass Communications Seaman John Kotara
The hull actually got wet again beginning on May 16, when the shipyard flooded the dock for testing.
When the ship actually becomes fully afloat Saturday, the short trip to the pier will be TR’s first “underway” since it entered the shipyard in August 2009.
Since then, the Navy says the ship’s shafts, propellers, rudders, anchors, catapults and arresting gear machinery have been replaced or refurbished.
“Team Theodore Roosevelt has shown exemplary dedication in preparingthis ship for its return to the water,” said Capt. Billy Hart, TR’s commanding officer. “As we rebuild TR space by space and restore function to every system, sailors will shape the ship to serve the nation for 25 more years to come.”
So far, TR sailors have put in a ton of work. They’ve completed more than4,500 individual refurbishing and rehabilitation tasks and expended more than 1.15 million man-hours of labor, according to TR Chief Engineer Cmdr. Gunter Braun.
The crew is scheduled to move back aboard next year.
Another XO video — but this one’s G-rated
April 15th, 2011 | Carriers Morale Navy Newport News Photos Refueling and Complex Overhaul Shipyard Video | Posted by Bill McMichael
The executive officer of the carrier Theodore Roosevelt has narrated a new ship-produced video that has popped up on YouTube. The Navy’s probably happier with this video than some other recent ones.
Narrated by the XO, Capt. Douglas Verissimo, and featuring his CO, Capt. William Hart, in a walk-on part, the video touts the carrier’s ongoing Refueling and Complex Overhaul at Newport News Shipbuilding.
Verissimo supplies dramatic narration over images of sailors wielding welding torches and needle guns, all working “to prepare for another 25 years of vital missions to come.”
“Join us as we prepare to return to the fleet,” says Hart at the video’s conclusion. “Theodore Roosevelt’s getting ready.”
The aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt departs Naval Station Norfolk Sept. 29, 2009, and begins a towing operation to Newport News Shipbuilding for a Refueling and Complex Overhaul. // Photo courtesy of U.S. Navy
The video is meant “to inform and inspire the ship’s prospective crew members, current TR Sailors and the nation of the momentous efforts involved in rebuilding the ship and returning her to the fleet,” according to a press release.
“We have a very strong crew, doing great things every day, and we are rightfully very proud of our efforts to return this battle-tested carrier back to operations in the fleet,” said Hart. “This video is our way of reminding the nation and our sailors we are in an extended overhaul right now, but we’ll be back even stronger and more ready than we were when we came into the yards.”
Christmas in Everett
December 14th, 2010 | Carriers Maintenance Navy Newport News Shipyard | Posted by Bill McMichael
The cheering probably hasn’t stopped in Everett, Wash. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus was the bearer of glad tidings and Christmas cheer Dec. 9 when he announced that the carrier Nimitz, for the past nine years based in San Diego, would be homeported at Everett Naval Station after 12 months of scheduled maintenance at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in nearby Bremerton.
The carrier Nimitz pulls into Bremerton on Dec. 9 for a year-long overhaul at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. // KOMO-TV
A Dec. 10 editorial in the Seattle Times noted that “Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Rick Larsen, Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon and Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson … were buoyed by the good news for the economy and the compliment to the quality work done at Naval Station Everett, and the civilian support it receives.”
The compliment was nice. But replacing the carrier Abraham Lincoln, being lost next year to a multi-year overhaul in Newport News, Va., following its current deployment, and maintaining such a powerful generator for the local economy, is the much bigger deal. A carrier brings with it millions in federal money for carrier services and support and area improvements, as well as the millions sailors spend on rent, utilities, shopping, and local and state taxes collected on same.
San Diego, meanwhile, is now down two carriers — but only until 2016, when a new flattop will arrive; a spokesman for Rep. Susan Davis says she was given that news by CNO Adm. Gary Roughead, according to NBC SanDiego. The Lincoln’s overhaul and refueling will take more than three years — near-perfect timing, it would seem, to fill that void.
And the winner is … both
November 4th, 2010 | Navy Ships Shipyard Washington | Posted by David Larter
Rather than selecting one team to build 10 ships, the Navy will instead award construction contracts to both Lockheed Martin and Austal USA. Lockheed's Freedom is on the left, Austal's Independence is on the right. // Navy
Yesterday, in-house heavy hitter Chris Cavas broke the news that both Lockheed Martin and Austal USA have been waiting for all year, and both companies can be happy with it.
After a year-long wait, the Navy will ask congress for permission to award both companies 10 LCS hulls. The service’s leadership thinks competition between the companies has driven down the program’s costs. Cavas writes:
Under the new proposal, the Navy would split its buy equally each year between Lockheed and Austal USA. Two ships would be awarded under the 2010 budget and two in 2011, with four ships year each from 2012 through 2015. One key issue that will be put off appears to be the choice of combat system. Each team created its own system, with virtually no commonality between the two types. Under the new proposal, each team would continue to build ships with their original combat systems.
Read our full coverage here.
Bonhomme Richard left out to dry
October 19th, 2010 | Gator Navy Navy Shipyard The Pacific | Posted by David Larter
The amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard is moored on Pier 13 at Naval Base San Diego. Bonhomme Richard is preparing for a nine-month dry-dock planned maintenance availability period. // MCC Joe Kane
The amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard is getting ready for a roughly $41 million overhaul in dry dock. Sailors on board are doubtless ready for a nine-month spell shore-side and ready to revel in the luxuries of living on a berthing barge.
The ship and its Marines returned earlier this year from a rough seven-month deployment to 5th and 7th fleets. Gidget Fuentes reported in April:
Bonhomme Richard and two other amphibious ships of the San Diego-based ready group, dock landing ship Rushmore and transport dock Cleveland, spent more than four months in the Persian Gulf and Horn of Africa regions conducting maritime security operations, and supporting theater security and cooperation exercises, including training in Kuwait, Djibouti and Tiimor-Leste.
A six-day liberty visit to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in mid-March came after 127 consecutive days at sea for the big deck Bonhomme Richard.
Repairs are expected to run through July.
Ike celebrates 33rd anniversary, beginning of tune-up
October 18th, 2010 | Aviation Carriers Maintenance Navy Photos Shipyard | Posted by Bill McMichael
The carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower began a six-month Planned Incremental Availability at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va., Monday — coincidentally, the 33rd anniversary of the flattop’s commissioning at Norfolk Naval Station’s Pier 12. The scheduled but much-needed maintenance and modernization period follows an extraordinarily busy time for Ike, which came home July 28 following the second of two nearly back-to-back deployments in a 17-month period — the so-called “double-shot.” During the cake-cutting ceremony marking the occasion, shipyard project superintendent Chrystal Brady said the period will be the “largest PIA ever done” in six months; Capt. Marcus Hitchcock, Ike’s CO, told the crew and workers Monday that “teamwork, energy, dedication, respect and most importantly, integrity” will be the keys to enable the civilian-military team to get through the project “smoothly and on time.” Ike is slated to return to the fleet in April.