Welcome to MSW’s Scuttlebutt! Here’s the news for the day.



Tognum Supplies MTU Engines for German Navy Support Vessel
Source: Tognum

FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Germany --- The specialist for propulsion and power solutions Tognum has been awarded the contract to supply MTU engines for the German Navy’s new combat group support vessel, the “Bonn“. The engines are to be delivered to the shipbuilders Flensburger Schiffsbaugesellschaft mbH & Co. KG at the end of 2010. The German Navy is due to commission the new supply ship in 2012.

“We are pleased that the German Navy support vessel is now also being fitted with MTU Series 8000 engines for the first time. We were able to successfully demonstrate the engines’ key competitive advantages, in particular their capability of unlimited continuous duty at cruising speeds combined with economical consumption,” explains Rainer Breidenbach, Tognum COO with responsibility for the Engines Division.

Under the contract, MTU is to supply two Type 20V 8000 M71R engines as main propulsion units and five onboard power generators driven by MTU Type 8V 4000 M50B engines. The main propulsion units will produce an output of 7,200 kW (9,792 bhp) each.

The Series 8000 engines offer unlimited suitability for operation right across the performance band and – due to their common-rail fuel injection, sequential turbochargers and electronic engine management – achieve extremely fuel-efficient consumption even at the levels of operation required for slow vessel speeds. Which is the only way that the demands placed on the combat support vessels – such as maximum performance combined with minimal consumption for extended duty at high and medium power – can be met.

The combat support vessel “Bonn” is 174 meters long and has a maximum speed of over 20 knots. Its displacement when fully laden is 20,240 tonnes. The ships in this class are the German Navy’s largest vessels and provide worldwide logistical and medical support for mixed task forces as well as supplying other naval craft with supplies, consumables, provisions and ammunition.


First Photos of Builder’s Sea Trials of LHD “Juan Carlos I”
Source: defense-aerospace.com

Spanish shipyard group Navantia has released the first photographs of the Spanish navy’s new LHD, the “Juan Carlos I”, taken as the ship left the shipyard where it was built to undergo builder’s initial sea trials. The ship was launched in March 2008.



Displacing 18,000 tonnes, this is the largest ship that Navantia is building for the Spanish navy, and it is nearly identical to the two LHDs the company is building for the Royal Australian Navy. These LHDs are 230 meters long.

Designed and built at a cost of 360 million euros under the Buque de Proyeccion Estrategica (strategic projection ship, BPE) project, the Juan Carlos I is a multipurpose ship capable of amphibious and air operations, as well as of transporting army units and humanitarian aid. With a length of over 230 meters and a height of 32 meters, it is larger than the aircraft carrier Principe de Asturias which, until now, was the largest ship in the Spanish Navy.

With a crew of 243 officers and ratings, the Juan Carlos I has a range of 9,000 nautical miles. In addition to its crew, it can carry 902 troops and up to 46 Leopard tanks, as well as up to 30 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, eight of which can operate on deck at the same time. Its well deck can deploy landing craft and other boats.

Spanish Navy plans call for the Juan Carlos I to replace the landing ships Hernan Cortes and Pizarro, thus improving its amphibious capabilities while, at the same time, providing an alternative aerial platform to the carrier Principe de Asturias. This will be particularly useful as the naval air group will remain operational when the carrier goes into drydock shortly for a refit.




USS Enterprise CV-6

Today’s website is USS Enterprise CV-6. The most decorated ship of the Second World War, Enterprise changed the very course of a war she seemed to have been expressly created for. Enjoy.


This Day in U.S. Naval History

1843 - Capt. Robert Stockton on Princeton, the first screw-propelled naval steamer, challenges British merchant ship Great Western to a race off New York, which Princeton won easily.
1915 - Submarine Base at New London, Conn is established.
1944 - Secretary of the Navy orders African-American women accepted into the Naval Reserve.
1987 - Iranian oil-drilling platform used for military purposes is destroyed.


Photo of the Day



The battleship USS Missouri (BB 63) arrives at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard to begin a three-month, $18 million effort of extensive maintenance and preservation work.

Gator