Welcome to MSW’s Scuttlebutt! Here’s the news for the day.
HMAS Manoora Retired as Navy’s Future Beckons
Source: Australian Department of Defence
After 17 years of dedicated service, the Royal Australian Navy’s amphibious transport ship, HMAS Manoora, was decommissioned at her homeport of Garden Island, in Sydney, today.
Following a time honoured tradition, the Australian White Ensign was lowered for the last time and handed to Commanding Officer, Commander Stephen Dryden, RAN.
Commander Dryden said Decommissioning the vessel was a bitter sweet moment.
“It is always sad to farewell a ship like Manoora, which has provided significant amphibious capability to the Australian Defence Force over her many years of service,” said Commander Dryden.
“Manoora has proven herself to be versatile and resilient, supporting humanitarian aid and disaster missions in the Solomon Islands and East Timor and undertaking active service in the Middle East as part of Operations Slipper and Falconer.”
“Her hard work has paved the way for the future of the Navy by providing an understanding of how to carry out amphibious and expeditionary warfare,” said Commander Dryden.
“Today it is also important to acknowledge the hard work of the current and former crews who have called Manoora home. Their dedication has enabled the platform to respond to situations in war and peace, whenever tasked by Government to do so.”
Manoora is a helicopter capable amphibious transport ship with a 40 bed hospital, which has seen an army contingent embedded as part of her crew.
PEO Carriers Incentivizes Industrial Improvements While Building CVN 78
Source: US Navy
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. --- The Navy's next aircraft carrier, Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), reached a significant step in its construction with the placement of a 945-ton superlift – the largest lifted to date – at Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News facility, May 21.
The carrier is being constructed using a modular process that welds together smaller sections to form larger structural units called superlifts. The resulting superlifts are pre-outfitted and placed into the construction dry dock by the shipyard's newly upgraded 1,050-metric-ton crane.
"This superlift is a notable step in making our newest class of nuclear aircraft carriers a reality," said CVN 21 Future Aircraft Carrier Program, Program Manager Capt. Brian Antonio. "This new, modular approach to construction, with both increased weight and outfitting, signals increased efficiency and the Navy's forward progress in shipbuilding methods."
The contract for CVN 78 provides incentivized funds for the shipbuilder if facility improvements are implemented to yield increased efficiencies and cost saving on future work. By upgrading the existing shipyard crane from a 900-metric-ton capacity to a 1,050-metric-ton capacity, the builder now has the ability to place larger, heavier superlifts in the drydock, which in turn allows more work to be completed within the shipyard at lower cost to the government.
This most recent superlift, one of 162 total that will eventually make up the completed carrier, was erected near the stern of the ship. It was assembled from 18 smaller structural units over 16 months and contains a diesel generator room, a pump room, an oily water waste pump room, 16 complete tanks and 18 partial tanks that will be completed once the superlift is welded to the adjacent units.
Gerald R. Ford-class represents the next-generation class of aircraft carriers and features an enhanced flight deck, improved weapons movement, a redesigned island, a new nuclear power plant, electromagnetic catapults, and growth margin for future technologies and reduced manning. CVN 78's keel was laid Nov. 14, 2009. The carrier's christening is scheduled for 2013, followed by delivery to the Navy in 2015. Long lead material procurement for the second ship of the class, CVN 79, began in 2009 and the first steel for her construction was cut in February.
USS America Carrier Veterans Association
Today’s website is USS America Carrier Veterans Association. Enjoy.
This Day in U.S. Naval History
1882 - Establishment of Office of Naval Records of the War of the Rebellion (became part of Naval Historical Center).
1942 - First Navy photographic interpretation unit set up in the Atlantic.
1959 - Launching of USS George Washington (SSBN 598), first nuclear powered fleet ballistic missile submarine, at Groton, Conn.
Diorama Idea of the Day
The destroyer USS Paul F. Foster turns away after an attempt to replenish fuel from the Military Sealift Command ship (MSC) USNS Rappahannock (T-AO 204). To see the original high resolution photo, click here.
Gator
