SEATTLE — The 150-member crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star returned March 25 to their homeport of Seattle following a 123-day deployment to Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze, the Coast Guard Pacific Area said. This…
USS Gerald R. Ford Completes Flight Deck, Air Traffic Control Certifications
ATLANTIC OCEAN — “Man all flight quarters stations!” These words were heard across every space on the USS Gerald R. Ford as the carrier prepared to launch and recover aircraft from Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW-8) to complete flight deck certification (FDC) and carrier air traffic control center (CATCC) certification on March 20. Conducting flight operations is the key role…
NAVFAC Southeast Orders Kings Bay Dry Dock Recapitalization for Columbia SSBN
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southeast awarded a $191.9 million fixed-price award-fee contract March 20 to Alberici-Mortenson, Joint Venture out of St. Louis, Missouri, the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast Public Affairs said in a March 23…
COVID-19 Causes Boeing to Suspend Puget Sound Production
CHICAGO — Boeing has temporarily suspended production operations at its Puget Sound-area facilities in light of the state of emergency in Washington state and the company’s continuous assessment of the accelerating spread of the coronavirus in the region, the company…
Defense Department Tests Hypersonic Glide Body
ARLINGTON, Va. — The Defense Department successfully tested a hypersonic glide body in a flight experiment conducted from the Pacific Missile Range at Kauai, Hawaii, on March 19, the Pentagon said in a release. The U.S. Navy and U.S. Army jointly executed the launch of a common hypersonic glide body (C-HGB),…
Coast Guard Cutter Diligence Completes Last Patrol Before Homeport Change
WILMINGTON, N.C. — The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Diligence and crew returned to Wilmington on March 13 following a 39-day patrol in the North Atlantic that included living marine resources enforcement and a three-week training and evaluation period, the Coast Guard 5th District said in…
NOAA: New Progress on Mapping U.S. Ocean, Coastal, Great Lakes Waters
SILVER SPRING, Md. — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released the first annual report on the progress made in mapping U.S. ocean, coastal and Great Lakes waters, the agency said in a release. Knowledge of the depth, shape…
Coast Guard Cutter Alert Returns After Counter-Drug Patrol, International Exercise
ASTORIA, Ore. — The Coast Guard Cutter Alert returned home to Astoria on March 15 following a 69-day eastern Pacific Ocean counter-drug deployment, the Coast Guard Pacific Area said in a release. The crew patrolled international waters off the coast…
USS Delbert D. Black Completes Acceptance Trials
Pascagoula, Miss. — The future USS Delbert D. Black (DDG 19) completed acceptance trials on March 12, returning to Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding Division after spending two days at sea in the Gulf of Mexico. During acceptance trials, the ship’s…
HELIOS Laser Weapon Takes Step Toward Ship Integration
MOORESTOWN, N.J. — Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy moved one step closer to integrating a laser weapon system onto an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer after successfully conducting a critical design review (CDR) for the High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) system, the company said in…