Post by ferryfast admin on Apr 13, 2012 13:35:38 GMT -5
Littoral combat ship nearly complete at Marinette
By Rick Barrett of the Journal Sentinel
www.jsonline.com/business/littoral-combat-ship-nearly-complete-at-marinette-1b4upog-146920035.html
April 10, 2012
The next U.S. Navy combat ship from Marinette Marine Corp. is nearly finished and has completed two rounds of trials in Lake Michigan.
USS Fort Worth, scheduled to be delivered to the Navy in June, is 99% complete, Dana Casey, a spokeswoman for defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp., said Tuesday.
Last week, Marinette Marine and Lockheed Martin put the 380-foot littoral combat ship through a second round of tests in Lake Michigan, checking its engines, ship-handling and auxiliary systems.
Weapons tests will have to wait until the ship is on the ocean because treaties between the United States and Canada don't allow the weapons to be fired on the Great Lakes.
While docked on the Menominee River in Marinette, the ship has been swarmed by fishermen in small boats who have found the site to be a good walleye fishing hole.
Marinette Marine employees go out early in the mornings and help clear the area, Casey said.
Construction of another combat ship, the USS Milwaukee, is well under way in Marinette, and two other ships, USS Sioux City and USS Little Rock, also are in the works.
The Navy wants to buy 55 of the high-speed warships over 15 years. For the initial 20 vessels, the work has been divided between Marinette Marine and Austal USA in Mobile, Ala.
The shipbuilding has created an economic boom in northern Wisconsin and southern Alabama, where thousands of people are employed in the shipyards and area businesses that have benefited from supply contracts and payroll dollars.
Marinette Marine plans to hire 150 to 200 more people this year, mostly welders, steelworkers and some pipe fitters.
"We are just getting slammed with work, in a good way," Casey said.
The first 12 littoral combat ships already have names, even those still on the drawing board. U.S. Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.) has asked the Navy to name one of the remaining vessels USS Marinette, in honor of the city that has a long history of shipbuilding.
Ribble has collected 3,700 letters from constituents supporting his request. Last week he presented those letters to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus.
"It's basically the secretary's right to name ships whatever he wants," said Capt. Cate Mueller, a Navy public affairs officer.
"He takes in lots of suggestions from people," Mueller added.
Every year the Naval Historical Center compiles primary and alternate ship-name recommendations and forwards them to the chief of naval operations, although the secretary makes the final decisions.
Recommendations are based on geographic names, such as cities and states, public officials and military personnel honored for heroism.
While there's no set time for assigning a name, it usually happens before a ship is christened.
The ship's sponsor - the person who will do the christening - is also selected by the secretary. When a ship is named for someone deceased, the eldest direct female descendant of that person is asked to do the christening.
At its peak in 2014, the littoral combat ship program is expected to support up to 13,000 jobs at Marinette and 700 suppliers in 43 states, including more than 120 Wisconsin companies.
There's no downtime after USS Fort Worth is finished, Casey said, as construction of USS Milwaukee is already under way.
Having completed its initial tests on the Great Lakes, USS Fort Worth's next hurdle is a series of on-water tests by the Navy.
The Navy's tests are rigorous and cover every aspect of the vessel.
USS Fort Worth is being prepared for those "acceptance trials" now.
"It's a very critical period for the ship," Casey said.
By Rick Barrett of the Journal Sentinel
www.jsonline.com/business/littoral-combat-ship-nearly-complete-at-marinette-1b4upog-146920035.html
April 10, 2012
The next U.S. Navy combat ship from Marinette Marine Corp. is nearly finished and has completed two rounds of trials in Lake Michigan.
USS Fort Worth, scheduled to be delivered to the Navy in June, is 99% complete, Dana Casey, a spokeswoman for defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp., said Tuesday.
Last week, Marinette Marine and Lockheed Martin put the 380-foot littoral combat ship through a second round of tests in Lake Michigan, checking its engines, ship-handling and auxiliary systems.
Weapons tests will have to wait until the ship is on the ocean because treaties between the United States and Canada don't allow the weapons to be fired on the Great Lakes.
While docked on the Menominee River in Marinette, the ship has been swarmed by fishermen in small boats who have found the site to be a good walleye fishing hole.
Marinette Marine employees go out early in the mornings and help clear the area, Casey said.
Construction of another combat ship, the USS Milwaukee, is well under way in Marinette, and two other ships, USS Sioux City and USS Little Rock, also are in the works.
The Navy wants to buy 55 of the high-speed warships over 15 years. For the initial 20 vessels, the work has been divided between Marinette Marine and Austal USA in Mobile, Ala.
The shipbuilding has created an economic boom in northern Wisconsin and southern Alabama, where thousands of people are employed in the shipyards and area businesses that have benefited from supply contracts and payroll dollars.
Marinette Marine plans to hire 150 to 200 more people this year, mostly welders, steelworkers and some pipe fitters.
"We are just getting slammed with work, in a good way," Casey said.
The first 12 littoral combat ships already have names, even those still on the drawing board. U.S. Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.) has asked the Navy to name one of the remaining vessels USS Marinette, in honor of the city that has a long history of shipbuilding.
Ribble has collected 3,700 letters from constituents supporting his request. Last week he presented those letters to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus.
"It's basically the secretary's right to name ships whatever he wants," said Capt. Cate Mueller, a Navy public affairs officer.
"He takes in lots of suggestions from people," Mueller added.
Every year the Naval Historical Center compiles primary and alternate ship-name recommendations and forwards them to the chief of naval operations, although the secretary makes the final decisions.
Recommendations are based on geographic names, such as cities and states, public officials and military personnel honored for heroism.
While there's no set time for assigning a name, it usually happens before a ship is christened.
The ship's sponsor - the person who will do the christening - is also selected by the secretary. When a ship is named for someone deceased, the eldest direct female descendant of that person is asked to do the christening.
At its peak in 2014, the littoral combat ship program is expected to support up to 13,000 jobs at Marinette and 700 suppliers in 43 states, including more than 120 Wisconsin companies.
There's no downtime after USS Fort Worth is finished, Casey said, as construction of USS Milwaukee is already under way.
Having completed its initial tests on the Great Lakes, USS Fort Worth's next hurdle is a series of on-water tests by the Navy.
The Navy's tests are rigorous and cover every aspect of the vessel.
USS Fort Worth is being prepared for those "acceptance trials" now.
"It's a very critical period for the ship," Casey said.