Northrop Grumman Corp. on Tuesday delivered the submarine New Mexico to
the Navy, meeting its end-of-year deadline to complete the sixth
Virginia-class boat.
Virginia Class Photo: Navy.mil
Workers at the company's Newport News
shipyard pressed to finish the sub by the end of the year after finding
construction errors in the boat's weapons room that delayed its
scheduled August delivery and November commissioning.
Delivery of the $2.3 billion fast-attack submarine was pushed back
after Northrop found that some of its Newport News workers incorrectly
installed bolts and fasteners that hold together tracks on which
weapons are moved inside its torpedo compartment. Those errors had to
be fixed before the Navy would accept the sub.
New Mexico (SSN 779) of the U.S. Navy. Photo Northrop Grumman
Improper installation of these pieces could have resulted in a
misalignment of the equipment, preventing the movement of weapon
cradles, an issue that could have essentially disabled the sub's
ability to launch attacks or defend itself.
After those problems were found, the Navy agreed to push back New
Mexico's commissioning until March. But Northrop and the Navy
accelerated the schedule to complete the boat in 70 months, four months
ahead of the contract schedule and fastest of the six subs completed so
far.
Northrop builds the subs in a partnership with Groton, Conn.-based
General Dynamics Electric Boat. The last boat the partners delivered,
the New Hampshire, was completed in 71 months, said Capt. Michael Jabaley, the Navy's program manager for Virginia-class submarines.
"The most important thing is that with each ship we deliver, we are
continuing to improve the performance of the shipbuilding team,"
Jabaley said. "It's not just the construction span, it's also the
quality of the ships."
While the construction problems in Newport News caused concern for the
Navy, they resulted in a better final product delivered to the Navy,
Jabaley said.
"We're a better program for it, and the ship is better for it," he
said. "The quality issues we had were never anything that would have
endangered the safety of the ship or the crew. It was really more a
matter of how do you build the best-quality ship, and it allowed us to
come through those issues together to put us on a path of significant
progress throughout the program."
The additional time the sub spent in the yard allowed Northrop to
deliver a boat that didn't require any major repairs or alterations
after two sets of sea trials, Jabaley said. Because the ship performed
so well, Jabaley said he has no plans to request any additional funding
for the ship.
"New Mexico's delivery is a reflection of the commitment, dedication
and hard work of the shipbuilders at Newport News, our Electric Boat
partners and the Navy," said Becky Stewart, vice president for Northrop
Grumman Shipbuilding's submarine program. "We delivered her in record
time."
The company completed the New Mexico using 1 million fewer man-hours than the last sub the yard delivered, the North Carolina, Stewart said.
Over the next few months, the New Mexico will continue at-sea testing and performance trials, returning to Naval Station Norfolk for its scheduled commissioning on March 27. This summer, it will move to its homeport of Groton, Conn.
Working closely with the Navy, Northrop and Electric Boat have
continued to drive down construction times and costs on each successive
submarine, leading the program to be widely recognized as one of the
Navy's most successful shipbuilding programs.
The partners will begin building two subs a year in 2011, doubling the
current pace of production. As part of the ramp-up in production,
Northrop and Electric Boat are required to cut the construction time of
each sub purchased in 2012 to 60 months and hold costs to $2 billion
per copy.
But Jabaley said Tuesday that those goals could be achieved much earlier.
"I think we've got an excellent chance of getting to 60 months as early as (the Mississippi)," he said, referring to the ninth Virginia-class sub, which was purchased in 2007 and is scheduled for delivery in 2013.
The Navy, he said, is pushing for delivery of that boat in mid-2012.
(Original News)
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