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Future USS Portland completes trials ahead of spring 2018 commissioning
 by Richard Tomkins
 Washington (UPI) Aug 22, 2017


Navy launches expeditionary sea base Hershel 'Woody' Williams
Washington (UPI) Aug 22, 2017 - The U.S. Navy announced today that it launched the expeditionary sea base Hershel 'Woody' Williams from the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in Norfolk, Va., last week.

The ship will undergo its last stages of construction and outfitting before embarking on sea trials in the coming weeks before delivery of the vessel to the Navy in early 2018.

"We'll begin powering many of the ship's engines and systems as early as next month as we prepare to get underway for sea trials in the coming months," Strategic Sealift and Theater Sealift program manager Capt. Scott Searles said in a press release.

The ship is named for retired Marine Corps Chief Warrant Officer Hershel Williams, who received the Medal of Honor for heroism at Iwo Jima in World War II.

The Williams will be the second ship of its kind, after it's sister ship the Lewis B. Puller. It is 784 feet long and has a 52,000 square-foot flight deck. The vessel will serve as a logistical hub for other ships with fuel and ammunition storage and repair facilities.

The Williams helicopter facilities and storage capacity make it ideal for humanitarian and disaster relief support, in addition to uses for anticipated aviation mine countermeasures and special operations force missions.

A new Amphibious Transport Dock ship for the U.S. Navy has successfully completed Acceptance Trials in the Gulf of Mexico, demonstrating its operational readiness.

The future USS Portland, built by Huntington Ingalls Industries in Pascagoula, Miss., will be the Navy's 11th San Antonio-class vessel when it is commissioned into service next spring.

"The USS Portland is a well-designed ship that is going to increase our Navy and Marine Corps warfighting capability for years to come," Vice Adm. Thomas Moore said in a U.S. Navy news release Tuesday. "The material condition of the ship is fantastic, and the success she had during acceptance trials is a true testament to the men and women that built her."

The ship's trials by the Navy's Board of Inspection and Survey, completed Friday, included dockside checks and demonstrations of major systems while at sea. Included in the testing was the ship's main propulsion engineering and ship control systems, combat and communications systems, damage control, food service and crew support.

Crews also demonstrated a full power run, steering, boat handling and anchoring on the ship/

"The success of these trials reflects a continuing trend of delivering highly capable ships to the fleet," Capt. Brian Metcalf said. "Completing this milestone is another significant step in Portland's progression toward joining her ten sister ships -- LPDs that have conducted operational missions, air strikes, and humanitarian relief missions along with their Marine Corps partners for 20 deployments worldwide. "

FLOATING STEEL
NRL-developed Topcoat Applied on Entire Freeboard of Navy Ship
 Washington DC (SPX) Jul 18, 2017
 Recently, a novel coating developed by researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) for the exterior topsides of Navy surface ships went beyond small area testing to covering the entire freeboard of an amphibious assault ship. Until April of 2017, NRL's single-component (1K) polysiloxane coating had only been tested on 400-800 sq.ft. areas of ships due to limited production quantities ... read more
Related Links
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