<p>InSurv notes 5,564 cards aboard San Antonio. Crew contends with incomplete ship</p>
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The amphibious transport dock San Antonio has been at sea more than half of the past year more than 200 days performing a long series of trials to certify that the Navys newest amphibious ships can perform their missions as designed.</p>
<p>Now the Navy is getting down to some details left aside when the gator Borei class was delivered from its builder in July 2005 which involve actually finishing the ship.</p>
<p>But its a long list of details: 5,564 cards, or individual problems, listed by the Board of Inspection and Survey in a series of Final Contract Trials carried out March 26-30 on board the ship at Norfolk, Va....
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<p>The LPD 17 is another FUBAR weapons acquisition program. The estimated cost to correct the discrepancies is $36M. Northrop Grumman gets off the hook and BAE Systems wins with a contact to complete construction of the USS San Antonio. Some of the discrepancies include items like missing handrails on ladders -- this is just amazing.</p>
<p>The Navy is having similar problems with the LCS (Littoral Combat Ship) program. Has NAVSEA forgotten how to manage ship construction programs?</p>
<p>And then we have our sister service - the Coasties - having problems with Lockheed Martin and the multi-billion dollars acquistion program to modernize their fleet. Lockheed has been delivering cutters that are experiencing hull and structural damage. They have also been installing systems that don't meet contract specifications.</p>
<p>These projects are specific to the Pascagoula shipyard which, from what I understand, used to put out a pretty decent product. Not to deflect blame where it is due, but how much of this might be attributable to the aftermath of Katrina?</p>
<p>^^^^^
The lead LCS ship constructed by Lockheed Martin was built at a shipyard in the Great Lakes region. The second ship was to be constructed in LA.</p>
<p>CNO: Lockheed could lose part of LCS contract:</p>
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A fire broke out onboard the littoral combat ship Freedom early Wednesday, damaging a ship that already has had more than its share of problems.</p>
<p>The Freedom is under construction at Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wis., under a program managed by Lockheed Martin. The ship, launched in September, is about 80 percent complete, said Diana Massing, a spokesperson for Lockheed....
<p>Weapons acquisitions are solicited and awarded based on a two-part submission - a technical proposal and a cost proposal. The contracts are supposed to be awarded based on a best-value evaluation. The major problem with these contracts is that the scope creeps and the cost escalates. </p>
<p>These contracts are normaly awarded on cost-reimbursement basis, which means that the contractor has no risk. The contractor will be reimbursed for all direct costs (including their own screwups), overhead/G&A and a fee (profit). CPAF (cost-plus-award-fee) contracts are notorious for having cost overruns.</p>
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...Maybe the handrails were an upgrade.
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<p>Handrails are required by OSHA and are also required by the mil. specs. that should have been part of the contract.</p>
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Northrop Grumman has received a scathing rebuke from the secretary of the Navy for its performance on the LPD 17 amphibious ship program. The company was criticized for poor construction standards and an inability to meet cost and schedule targets factors that are causing the Navy concerns about future ship construction at Northrops shipyards along the Gulf of Mexico.</p>
<p>I am deeply concerned about Northrop Grumman Ship Systems (NGSS) ability to recover in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, particularly in regard to construction of LPD 17 Class vessels, Navy Secretary Donald Winter wrote in a June 22 letter to Northrop Chairman Ron Sugar, a copy of which was obtained by Defense News. I am equally concerned about NGSS ability to construct and deliver ships that conform to the quality standards maintained by the Navy and that adhere to the cost and schedule commitments agreed upon at the outset by both NGSS and the Navy....
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The top leaders of the Navy and Marine Corps are united behind the idea of building two more San Antonio-class amphibious transport docks than originally planned, they told a Senate panel Wednesday. But they didnt ask for the money for the ships because they didnt think theyd be funded.</p>
<p>Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway and Navy Secretary Donald Winter appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee defense subcommittee, which reviewed the Department of the Navys fiscal 2009 budget request.</p>
<p>Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., pointed out that the Navy had moved $1.6 billion out of its budget request this year money he said could have been used to pay for a 10th LPD 17. Why, he asked, hadnt the service requested the money for the new ship?...
<p>The problems with San Antonio did not just happen, they developed over time. For example:
"The contract to build her was awarded on 17 December 1996 to Northrop Grumman Ship Systems of New Orleans, Louisiana and her keel was laid down on 9 December 2000. She was launched on 12 July 2003 and christened on 19 July. She was originally scheduled to be commissioned 17 July 2002, but was delayed by generally poor performance at the Avondale shipyard, which resulted in her being towed from New Orleans to the Northrop Grumman shipyard Pascagoula, MS in December 2004 for completion there (she was unable to move under her own power at that time, despite have been christened over a year earlier). Hurricane Katrina, which caused damage to the coastal Mississippi area then impacted her schedule, although her crew took delivery and moved aboard only three days prior to the hurricane, she became a regional focus of disaster relief efforts including accomodations for some shipyard workers, the National Guard, Navy diving and salvage personnel and government officials. She arrived in her new homeport of Norfolk, VA on December 14th, 2005."</p>