thedrifter
04-17-09, 08:50 AM
Posted on Fri, Apr. 17, 2009
Navy receives hybrid ship
By KAREN NELSON
PASCAGOULA — Northrop Grumman delivered the USS Makin Island, an amphibious assault ship that looks like a small aircraft carrier, to the Navy on Thursday with a lot of pomp and flair.
A thousand sailors marched through the company’s Ingalls yard to take their place aboard the ship. Workers, given a 30-minute break to watch the activities, lined the route.
It was a long time coming, according to all the higher-ups at the shipyard.
And this ship, described by its captain as a “big Toyota Prius,” is likely to be the only one of its kind.
It’s an LHD, number eight. But unlike the others of its class, it has a power system that is electric until it really needs to kick it and then it is powered by gas turbines — hence the Prius reference.
Under sunny skies, Capt. Robert Kopas told reporters it’s an example of fuel efficiency in the Navy.
But it wasn’t the model of efficiency Northrop Grumman President of Shipbuilding Mike Petters might have wanted to inherit when he took over all three shipyards for the company 15 months ago.
The Makin Island, contracted for in 2000, stumbled on several fronts including delays caused by Katrina’s devastation and technical problems with the new propulsion system.
But Petters said a year ago the company made a decision to finish it and deliver it, and with the grit of thousands of Ingalls workers, they accomplished that.
Now the Pascagoula shipyard will go back to LHAs, which are more within its comfort zone, along with other Navy and Coast Guard ships it builds.
It’s difficult building one-of-a-kind ships, Petters told a small audience before the day’s ceremonies. It’s less cost-effective and more tedious. He advocated sticking to a series of ships in a class.
But in the case of the Makin Island, the company also took a $300 million hit coming out the gate. Still it delivered the vessel a month ahead of schedule and returned $60 million to shareholders, Petters said.
Kopas, like a proud father, rattled off the things that make the ship special. Among them are the way it floods a huge, two-story well beneath the flight deck so as many as three air-cushion landing craft, filled with Marines and their fighting gear, can enter.
The flight decks will accommodate the vertical take-off Harrier jet and an assortment of helicopters — one, called the Osprey, which has rotors that tilt after takeoff so it flies like an airplane.
A large portion of the ship is devoted to the hospital and medical services, because the ship’s primary weapon is its contingent of Marines and their equipment. Once it deploys up to 2,000 marines, it converts to a 600-bed hospital to take care of the injured with six operating rooms and a combination ICU-recovery area.
For a comparison, the two civilian hospitals in the county’s Singing River Health System combined have 571 beds.
As Kopas answered questions Thursday, David Kirkland, a pipefitter who’d helped build the ship’s housing structure, approached him.
“We finally made it,” Kirkland said, and shook his hand. “You’ve got a good ship, sir. It has my heart and soul in it.”
Kirkland, 59, is retiring in three months after having worked on 60 ships at the yard. He said he’s particularly proud of this one.
“It’s my last one,” he told Kopas, “so my heart will be with you always.”
Ellie
Navy receives hybrid ship
By KAREN NELSON
PASCAGOULA — Northrop Grumman delivered the USS Makin Island, an amphibious assault ship that looks like a small aircraft carrier, to the Navy on Thursday with a lot of pomp and flair.
A thousand sailors marched through the company’s Ingalls yard to take their place aboard the ship. Workers, given a 30-minute break to watch the activities, lined the route.
It was a long time coming, according to all the higher-ups at the shipyard.
And this ship, described by its captain as a “big Toyota Prius,” is likely to be the only one of its kind.
It’s an LHD, number eight. But unlike the others of its class, it has a power system that is electric until it really needs to kick it and then it is powered by gas turbines — hence the Prius reference.
Under sunny skies, Capt. Robert Kopas told reporters it’s an example of fuel efficiency in the Navy.
But it wasn’t the model of efficiency Northrop Grumman President of Shipbuilding Mike Petters might have wanted to inherit when he took over all three shipyards for the company 15 months ago.
The Makin Island, contracted for in 2000, stumbled on several fronts including delays caused by Katrina’s devastation and technical problems with the new propulsion system.
But Petters said a year ago the company made a decision to finish it and deliver it, and with the grit of thousands of Ingalls workers, they accomplished that.
Now the Pascagoula shipyard will go back to LHAs, which are more within its comfort zone, along with other Navy and Coast Guard ships it builds.
It’s difficult building one-of-a-kind ships, Petters told a small audience before the day’s ceremonies. It’s less cost-effective and more tedious. He advocated sticking to a series of ships in a class.
But in the case of the Makin Island, the company also took a $300 million hit coming out the gate. Still it delivered the vessel a month ahead of schedule and returned $60 million to shareholders, Petters said.
Kopas, like a proud father, rattled off the things that make the ship special. Among them are the way it floods a huge, two-story well beneath the flight deck so as many as three air-cushion landing craft, filled with Marines and their fighting gear, can enter.
The flight decks will accommodate the vertical take-off Harrier jet and an assortment of helicopters — one, called the Osprey, which has rotors that tilt after takeoff so it flies like an airplane.
A large portion of the ship is devoted to the hospital and medical services, because the ship’s primary weapon is its contingent of Marines and their equipment. Once it deploys up to 2,000 marines, it converts to a 600-bed hospital to take care of the injured with six operating rooms and a combination ICU-recovery area.
For a comparison, the two civilian hospitals in the county’s Singing River Health System combined have 571 beds.
As Kopas answered questions Thursday, David Kirkland, a pipefitter who’d helped build the ship’s housing structure, approached him.
“We finally made it,” Kirkland said, and shook his hand. “You’ve got a good ship, sir. It has my heart and soul in it.”
Kirkland, 59, is retiring in three months after having worked on 60 ships at the yard. He said he’s particularly proud of this one.
“It’s my last one,” he told Kopas, “so my heart will be with you always.”
Ellie