Aluminum Glitters Inside 2nd Littoral Combat Ship Variant
MOBILE, Ala. – Inside and out, the new USS Independence is like few other warships put into service by the U.S. Navy. The severe angles of the unpainted aluminum trimaran give way inside to a spacious interior covered by aluminum-foil-like fire protection cladding.
The relatively few interior working spaces in the pyramidal superstructure are connected by wide passageways and stairwells – not ladders – reflecting the design’s origin as a commercial ferry. Unusually for a naval ship, some stairwells even turn corners, as in a landlocked building.
The vast flight deck that tops the after third of this 417-foot-long ship is almost 90 feet wide and is the biggest ever fitted to a surface combatant. The large hangar features two roller doors, has great interior height and is able to house two H-60 helicopters. On the starboard side of the hangar, a vehicle elevator leads down to the mission bay, the ship’s primary payload area.
The mission bay is one of the key features of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) concept, which envisions a ship able to move at speeds of more than 45 knots that can take on extra equipment tailored to specific missions such as anti-surface or anti-submarine warfare, all packaged into mission modules. The Independence design, adapted by General Dynamics Bath Iron Works from a high-speed commercial ferry design from the Australian firm Austal, features a hull described variously as a three-hull trimaran or a monohull supported by outriggers. Either way, the configuration has never before been used for a U.S. warship.
The mission bay is about the width of six highway traffic lanes, split into thirds fore-and-aft by steel supports. The space would seem to have no trouble simultaneously housing two of the planned mission modules.
During a January 4 visit to the Independence, shipyard workers from Austal USA swarmed the ship, even though the Navy took delivery December 18 and the commissioning ceremony is to take place on January 16. Rear Adm. James Murdoch, the Navy’s LCS program manager, acknowledged work will continue past the commissioning date, including, for example, work on the stern doors at the rear of the mission bay and on the overhead cradle system that will be used to launch and recover waterborne vehicles.
“Those will be tested in the future, after sailaway from the yard,” Murdoch said.
Although the Independence began initial sea trials in early July and has been underway numerous times – at speeds up to 46 knots – those voyages were crewed by civilian mariners hired by shipbuilder Austal USA. The ship’s two Navy crews – Blue and Gold – are eager to take the ship to sea, said Cmdr. Curt Renshaw, commanding officer of the Blue Crew. But much of the ship’s equipment still needs to be certified for operation, he said, and sailors will then need to be qualified. That means the ship likely won’t get underway manned by a Navy crew until late February or more likely March.
The Navy was keeping a tight lid on visits to the ship but relaxed those rules after the ship’s delivery. A small group of reporters was among the first media to get a good look inside the ship.
The wide bridge area on the O4 level is surrounded on three sides by large windows more akin to a cruise liner than a gray warship. The ship control stations are in the center, up close to the glass: side-by-side seats and consoles for use by the officer of the deck and the readiness control coordinator or junior officer of the deck. The two watchstanders can use either left or right seats according to preference. Each has a multifunction joystick that is also the ship’s helm.
Between the two positions are controls for the two gas turbines and two diesels that each power a steerable water jet. A fifth control operates a drop-down azimuthing bow thruster. Sitting between the two and behind them is a third seat for a tactical awareness coordinator – essentially, Renshaw said, a third set of hands on the bridge who can handle a variety of duties. The commanding officer has his seat in the traditional forward starboard corner location.
The area behind the control positions is filled by Interior Communications Center No. 1 (ICC1), a combat information center-like set of consoles complemented by a similar ICC2 below on the O1 level. Although the ICCs have interchangeable functionality, ICC1 on the bridge will be used primarily for ship-related functions such as self-defense, navigation and the engineering watch, while ICC2 will be dedicated for use by the mission module detachments. A curtain can close off ICC1 from the bridge watch.
The ICCs also function as the ship’s central damage control and machinery control centers, and the ship’s internal computer network allows laptop control from dozens of drops throughout the vessel. With the right access codes, for example, any laptop connected to the network can control the ship, including engineering and navigation functions.
No exterior bridge wings are provided; as a high-speed ship, the Independence is meant to be handled from inside. Toward the rear of each side of the bridge, there is a large roll-down window from which a sailor can stick his head out to peer forward or aft or down to the water. A set of halyards leads to a bar just outside the window, and an aluminum flag bag for signal flags lies just inside. Forward, all anchor- and line-handling arrangements are inside the bow.
The narrow bow forward of the bridge – not meant to be regularly accessed while the ship is underway – features an enclosure for the future Non-Line-of-Sight surface-to-surface missile battery and, ahead of that, an automatic 57mm gun mount. Forward of the gun, the deck drops off precipitously to the prow, which is not visible from the bridge. Video cameras on the bow and around the ship give the watch a topside view.
Two machinery rooms in the central hull each contain a General Electric LM 2500 gas turbine and MTU 8000 diesel. The outer hulls carry little gear and are mostly void space, Renshaw said. Two damage control stations are provided, both on the port side at each end of the mission bay. A small boat deck on the port quarter carries one rigid-hull inflatable boat.
The mess deck and wardroom share a common galley, and individual berths – though not the staterooms – are large and roomy, big enough for a sailor to sit up, stretch his arms and work on a fold-down tray table that can hold a laptop. The big, double-high racks are designed to give way to triple-highs should the need arise to increase berthing space.
On sailaway, the Independence is expected to head to Norfolk, Va., for more tests and trials before eventually going westward to its future homeport of San Diego, Calif.
There are many similarities and dissimilarities between the GD’s Independence design and that of the first LCS, Freedom, from Lockheed Martin. Sometime this spring or summer, the Navy will choose one of the designs as the basis for 51 more LCS ships.
Taiwan To Buy Perry-Class Frigates From USA
Taiwan plans to buy eight second-hand Perry-class frigates from the United States despite improved ties with once-bitter foe China.
The deal with the United States would add to the existing Taiwanese inventory, as it already has eight Perry-class frigates built on the island. The island hopes to arm them with a version of the advanced Aegis Combat System, which uses computers and radar to take out multiple targets, as well as sophisticated missile launch technology, the Taipei-based China Times said.
The defense ministry said in a reaction to the report that aging frigates now serving the navy needed to be phased out, but that it had not yet decided on the type of vessels that would replace them.
“The overall strategy of the armed forces will be taken into consideration as the defense ministry evaluates the plan,” it said in a statement, adding that the budget would be another factor to be weighed.
The United States designed the Perry-class frigates in the 1970s and most remain in service, equipped with various forms of modern technology. The deal would add to Taiwan’s existing inventory, as it already has eight Perry-class frigates built on the island.
The China Times report came less than a week after the U.S. said it had approved the sale of Patriot missile equipment to Taiwan as part of a package passed by Congress more than a year ago.
When unveiled in 2008, the package triggered strong protests from Beijing, which considers Taiwan part of its territory and has vowed to take the island back by force if necessary.
The United States is the leading arms supplier to self-ruled Taiwan, even though it switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. Ties between Taipei and Beijing have improved markedly since China-friendly Ma Ying-jeou came to power in 2008, promising to boost trade ties and allowing in more Chinese tourists.
The World’s Capture Fisheries
Source: FAO
The world catch amounted to 92million tonnes in 2006.
The greatest volume came from the Pacific Ocean – approximately 50% of the world catch.
The second in rank came the Atlantic Ocean – approximately 20% of the world catch.
Of individual species the Peruvian anchovy was the largest, 7.6 million tonnes or 8.5% of total world catch.
The catch of Alaska pollock, the second in rank, was 2.9 million tonnes.
The biggest fishing nation is China catching over 16% of the world catch.
Iceland ranked number 16 on the world list with about 1.6% of the world catch.
ROV Spending to Exceed $3 Billion Per Year by 2014
Annual oil & gas industry expenditure on work-class ROV (remotely operated underwater vehicle) operations is likely to reach $3.2 billion by 2014 – with African and Asia Pacific expenditure overtaking that of Western Europe in the coming years.
These are amongst the findings in the new edition of “The World ROV Market Report 2010-14,” a market study recently published by energy business analysts Douglas-Westwood. The study reveals that the worldwide ROV business has been impacted by the economic downturn, but to a far lesser extent than many other oil & gas services sectors.
It suggests that growth prospects for the market are considerable, predicting that approximately 550 additional work-class ROV units will be needed between 2010 and 2014 to meet increased demand for operations and counter the effects of attrition on the current fleet.
“The future of the offshore oil & gas industry lies in the deepwater subsea developments and major discoveries such as those recently announced off Brazil, in the Gulf of Mexico and West Africa,” explained Rod Westwood, lead market analyst at Douglas-Westwood. “Work-class ROVs are a key enabling technology for producing from deepwater fields and considerable numbers will be needed to access these major new oil & gas reserves.”
Commenting on the technology, Douglas-Westwood analyst, Paul Newman, said: “ROVs used in the oil and gas sector have been developing for more than 30 years and are now considered a mature technology, especially in terms of vehicle hardware. However, on the software side, current research and development is primarily aimed at increasing the levels of autonomy and ‘intelligence’ needed to reduce pilot workload.”
AUV Market to Reach $2.3 billion Over the Next Decade
Global expenditure on Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) will total $2.3 billion over the next decade according to new market research released on December 16, 2009 by business analysts, Douglas-Westwood. The company’s latest report, The World AUV Market Report 2010-2019, also highlights that approximately half of AUV expenditure between 2010 and 2019 ($1.1 billion) will come from the military sector.
“While over 600 Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) have been produced to date, they are still regarded as a relatively new technology,” explains Paul Newman, lead Douglas-Westwood Analyst. “However, the use of AUVs has increased significantly in a number of key tasks where they have been shown to be more cost effective than previous technology. For example, they are now one of the military’s primary mine countermeasure devices and well established within the oil & gas community as deep water survey platforms.”
The report predicts that over 1,000 AUVs will be procured over the next decade. It also highlights key AUV market drivers amongst military, oil & gas and research sectors – the three principal AUV purchasers – concluding that supporting war on terror campaigns, searching for potential deep water oil & gas reserves and understanding the role of the oceans in climate change are the main reasons for the increased demand.
The World AUV Market Report 2010-2019 describes how AUVs fit into the family tree of unmanned underwater vehicles – outlining industry development and providing detailed examples of the various types of AUVs. It also segments AUV numbers by type and application, while providing insight into developers, manufacturers and operators.
Newman concludes: “In addition, a massive growth in demand has not just increased ship costs dramatically but also those of the essential underwater operations personnel. AUV technology is primed for dynamic growth as technological capability and market need are now building on each other.”
Loss of Sea Ice Stirs Up Arctic Waters
The Arctic Ocean is generally considered a remarkably quiet ocean, with very little mixing, because a cover of sea ice prevents wind from driving the formation of internal waves. To study this effect and investigate how melting sea ice might affect ocean mixing in the Arctic, data was analyzed from the northern Chukchi Sea.
The analysts found that when the ocean was mostly covered with ice, even strong winds did not generate much response in it. On the other hand, during the summers when less sea ice was present, wind generated large internal oscillations and increased turbulence. The extent of Arctic sea ice in the summer has been declining significantly in recent years, likely resulting in increased internal wave generation, the authors note.
Because internal waves bring deeper waters closer to the surface, the results have important implications for Arctic Ocean ecosystems and ocean dynamics.
The research is published in Geophysical Research Letters. The authors include Luc Rainville and Rebecca A. Woodgate: Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
Over 20 Years Later, Navy Destroyer Design Breaks Record
Cruising through the darkness in rough seas, the USS Ross encountered a rogue wave that smashed into the destroyer’s bow, sending a shudder along the entire ship that knocked sleeping crew out of their bunks and damaged the sonar housing. As alarms sounded, sleepy sailors scrambled to shore up the leak.
“We cracked the hull and kept on going like it was nothing,” retired sailor Jonathan Staeblein, of Hagerstown, Md., recalled. In fact, the 510-foot destroyer was never out of service for repairs during any deployment in the three years he served aboard as an electronic warfare technician.
Arleigh Burke-class destroyers such as the USS Ross and USS Cole, which survived a terrorist suicide bombing in Yemen, have proven to be durable workhorses in the U.S. Navy.
Over the 22 years since construction of the first one began at Bath Iron Works, the ship has steamed into the record book: The destroyer’s production run has outlasted every other battleship, cruiser, destroyer and frigate in U.S. Navy history. The only warship in production for longer was the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, said Norman Polmar, a naval historian, author and analyst.
Thanks to a decision by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Arleigh Burke destroyer production will continue for at least a few more years. The defense budget signed by President Barack Obama in December includes money for the first of at least three more ships. There’s talk of many more being built.
At Bath Iron Works, along the banks of the Kennebec River, there are three of the ships in various stages of production.
“They’re fast and they move. And they’re a lot of fun to drive,” said Lt. Cmdr. Robert J. Brooks, executive officer of USS Wayne E. Meyer, a Bath-built destroyer commissioned in October.
Retired Rear Adm. Michael K. Mahon, the Navy’s former deputy director of surface warfare, said the ships run no risk of being outdated any time soon. “It’s the envy of the world,” said Mahon. “Every surface warship officer in every navy in the world would love to command an Arleigh Burke.”
The original warship was conceived during the Cold War, when Bath Iron Works was abuzz with shipbuilders pounding, grinding, welding, plumbing and wiring ships at a furious pace to meet President Ronald Reagan’s audacious goal of a 600-ship Navy. Shipbuilders toiled long hours working elbow-to-elbow in a haze created by welders inside steel hull segments that were sweltering in the summer and cold in the winter.
The number of Bath shipbuilders peaked at 12,000 by the time the USS Arleigh Burke was commissioned on July 4, 1991. Some Bath shipbuilders have spent virtually their entire careers doing nothing by making Arleigh Burke destroyers.
Gil Rines, a welder, joined Bath Iron Works as construction was beginning on the first ship. Since then, he has raised two children and become a grandfather. The shipyard changed hands and is now owned by General Dynamics. The number of shipbuilders has dropped to 5,500.
But one thing remained a constant: The shipyard kept churning out Arleigh Burke destroyers, more than 30 of them. The same ships are also built at Northrop Grumman’s shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., which has churned out more than 20.
“It’s a great ship. That’s why the Navy stuck with it,” said Rines, a third-generation shipbuilder.
The 9,500-ton ships can easily top 30 knots while simultaneously waging war with enemy ships, submarines, missiles and aircraft. Their combat system, called Aegis, uses powerful computers and a phased-array radar to track more than 100 targets — the exact number is classified.
They’re also the only surface warships in the Navy’s arsenal that can be sealed off to withstand a biological, chemical and nuclear attack. The latest improvements are software upgrades and SM-3 missiles that allow the Aegis system to be used for ballistic missile defense. An Aegis-equipped cruiser built by Bath Iron Works shot down a failed satellite in 2008. Several Aegis destroyers and cruisers are now equipped with the upgraded system.
The Navy originally envisioned building 29 of the ships, but has since extended the line to 62 ships through 2011. With the continued production, there will be at least three more, keeping shipbuilders in Maine and Mississippi busy while the Navy decides whether to build more Burkes, or to build something else.
The Navy’s decision is partly budget-driven. Burkes are less costly to build than the next-generation stealth destroyer, which the Navy and defense contractors spent 10 years designing.
Burkes currently cost about $1.2 billion apiece; the stealthy, and much larger, DDG-1000 Zumwalt will cost more than double that. In the end, the Navy decided to truncate production to just three Zumwalts.
Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, gives credit to the Navy for scaling back the costly Zumwalts and focusing on the tried-and-true Burkes.
The DDG-51 Arleigh Burke, he said, is now in a rare class of military systems that’s so durable and versatile that it continues for generations, like the C-130 Hercules cargo transport, an airplane that first went into production in 1957.
“The fact that the Navy can’t come up with something better than the DDG-51 isn’t necessarily bad news,” he said. “It may be commentary on how good the DDG-51 is.”
North Atlantic Fish Populations Shifting as Ocean Temperatures Warm
Cod population 1968-1972 (left) and 2003-2008 (right) (Credit: Janet Nye, NEFSC/NOAA)
About half of 36 fish stocks in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, many of them commercially valuable species, have been shifting northward over the last four decades, with some stocks nearly disappearing from U.S. waters as they move farther offshore, according to a study by NOAA researchers.
The findings, published in the November edition of Marine Ecology Progress Series, show the impact of changing coastal and ocean temperatures on fisheries from Cape Hatteras, N.C. to the Canadian border.
Janet Nye, a postdoctoral researcher at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. and the lead author of the study, analyzed research vessel survey data collected every spring from 1968 through 2007. The study focused on familiar fish species, including Atlantic cod, haddock, yellowtail and winter flounders, spiny dogfish and Atlantic herring, as well as several less well-known species like blackbelly rosefish.
Historic ocean temperature records and long-term processes like the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation and the North Atlantic Oscillation dating back to 1850 were also analyzed to put recent temperature increases into context.
“During the last forty years, many familiar stocks have been shifting to the north where ocean waters are cooler, or staying in the same general area but moving into deeper, cooler\ waters than where they traditionally have been found,” Nye said. “They all seem to be adapting to changing temperatures and finding places where their chances of survival as a population are greater.”
Nye and coauthors Jason Link, Jonathan Hare and William Overholtz of NEFSC selected the 36 species to study because these were consistently caught in high numbers in the Center’s annual spring bottom trawl surveys. NEFSC conducts annual spring and fall trawl surveys and has the world’s longest time series of standardized fishery population data.
The researchers looked at where the fish were caught and their total population weight in each year of the survey. For each stock, they estimated the center of abundance, or where the bulk of the fish were found, as well as average depth, the range or area that the stock occupied, and the average temperature at which the stock was found.
They also took into account fishing activities on the species over time, as well as natural cycles in ocean temperature. Ocean temperatures in the northwest Atlantic have increased since the 1960s and 1970s, and the authors found significant changes in species distribution consistent with warming in 24 of the 36 stocks studied.
Ten of the 36 stocks examined had significantly expanded their range, while 12 had significantly reduced it. Changes in a species range can be caused by both temperature changes and fishing activity, with heavily fished stocks appearing more sensitive to climate change and often showing a larger shift. Seventeen of the 36 stocks occupied increasingly greater depths, and three stocks occupied increasingly shallower waters. However, the temperature at which each stock was found did not change over time, suggesting that fish are moving to remain within their preferred temperature range.
While consumers will find familiar fish species at their local fish markets for the foreseeable future, fisherman may have to travel farther to catch some species until eventually it will not be economical.
The authors say the study has implications beyond the Northeast U.S. “It is another example of the need for an ecosystem-based management approach to our fisheries,” said coauthor Jason Link, a fisheries biologist at NEFSC. “Many factors, temperature among them, affect the status of a fish stock, and all of these influences need to be considered in management decisions. Looking at ‘the big picture’ helps put each piece of the puzzle in perspective.”
Indian Navy to Receive Nuclear Submarine in Spring 2010
The nuclear attack submarine Nerpa has been formally inducted in the Russian Navy for subsequent leasing to the Indian Navy next spring.
The submarine was commissioned on Monday after the successful completion of final sea trials. The ceremony was held at the Amur shipyard in Bolshoi Kamen (Big Rock) on the Pacific coast. The commissioning of the submarine coincided with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit to the region, but it was not clear whether he was present at the ceremony.
The Nerpa was to be initially leased to the Indian Navy in mid-2009, but its delivery was delayed due to a fatal accident killing 20 crewmen and technical staff following the release of lethal Freon gas in the sleeping quarters, while on trial sailing in the Sea of Japan.
Before the submarine is commissioned as INS Chakra in March, the Indian crew would undergo training and sailing together with Russian specialists and servicemen.
The submarine is being leased to the Indian Navy for 10 years under a $ 650 million deal.
The 12,770-ton Nerpa, an Akula II class nuclear powered attack submarine, is rated one of the world’s deadliest and quietest warships.
According to the former Russian envoy to India, Vyacheslav Trubnikov, India’s indigenous nuclear submarine, INS Arihant, launched in July, has been designed after Russia’s Akula II submarines.
Nerpa is the second Russian submarine India has leased in the past 20 years.
According to earlier media reports, an Indian crew is expected to arrive in January for joint pre-delivery sailing with the Russian naval crew to be followed by independent sailing under the supervision of Russian instructors.
