Friday, July 02, 2010

PHNSY To Support Fleet in Cruiser Modernization

From Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard Public Affairs

PEARL HARBOR (NNS) -- Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard (PHNSY) will directly support the Navy's Cruiser Modernization Program (CMP) beginning with the $50 million upgrade of USS Chosin (CG 65) in January 2011.

The goal of CMP is to ensure achievement of the 35-year expected service life for each of the Navy's 22 Ticonderoga-class cruisers.

"Pearl Harbor homeports 25 percent of the nation's ballistic missile defense (BMD) ships," said Rear Adm. (Select) Greg Thomas, commander, PHNYS and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (IMF). "These ships are due for upgrades, both for BMD purposes and to ensure they have other necessary state-of-the-art capabilities throughout their planned service lives. The cruiser upgrades are vitally important to our Navy and our nation."

Work on cruiser modernizations will result in a significant jump in the port's surface ship workload from 68,000 man-days in fiscal 2010 to 140,000 man-days in fiscal 2013. Major Navy surface ship work, such as the Chosin availability, is executed by the prime contractor, BAE Systems Hawaii Ship Repair, augmented by other private ship repair companies on Oahu. PHNSY and IMF, in its role as Navy Hawaii Regional Maintenance Center, will provide contractual oversight of the industry partners' executed work.

Executing the Chosin portion of the CMP in Hawaii requires an additional 500 to 600 personnel a day, which means bringing help from off-island, according to Thomas.

Participation in the CMP will make the shipyard even more valuable to the Navy by revitalizing essential fleet assets, said Michael Carnes, business and financial manager for the Shipyard Industry Management Department.

"Starting with the USS Chosin, the Cruiser Modernization Program will demonstrate the port's capacity and capability in terms of work on surface ships," said Carnes.

According to Project Manager Ivy Caires, the three main jobs on Chosin will be conversion from steam-driven auxiliary equipments and systems to electric-driven, installation of an integrated ship's control system, and fuel oil tank top stiffening modifications. The conversion to electric auxiliary equipment eliminates waste heat boilers and improves quality of life for the crew with the introduction of electric laundry washers and dryers, galley kettles, dishwashers, heaters and water distilling plants.

PHNSY is a full-service naval shipyard and regional maintenance center for the U.S. Navy's surface ships and submarines. It is the largest industrial employer in the state of Hawaii with a combined civilian and military workforce of about 4,800. It has an operating budget of $563 million and infuses $700 million a year into the local economy. Strategically located in the mid-Pacific, the shipyard is about a week of steam time closer to potential major regional contingencies in East Asia than sites on the West Coast.

For more news from Naval Sea Systems Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/navsea/.

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