Mid-March
2008
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Chesapeake Section |
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Canadian Atlantic Section |
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Gulf Section |
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Eastern Canadian Section |
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Mid-March
2008
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Chesapeake
Section November 27, 2007 Chesapeake Section and AIAA join for presentation on integration of ship and aviation systems On Tuesday evening, November 27th at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, Mr. Scott White presented "Integration Considerations in Air Capable Ship and Aviation System Design" in a joint meeting with the Baltimore Section of the AIAA. The second joint SNAME-AIAA meeting again proved to be a success. The author reported to over 40 members and guests on the history, success stories, and lessons learned for designing ships and aircraft and the interface between them.
The history of aviation and ship integration began in 1910 with the first aircraft take-off from a ship. However, it wasn’t until 1911 that the first landing was successfully completed. Since the first shipboard flight operations began, safety of both the ship and flight crew has been a primary factor in the design and integration of the two systems. In the last two decades additional design considerations, for unmanned aircraft and new ship types, and a change in acquisition philosophy have required new approaches to the design process. New Navy vessel designs including LCS, DDG-1000, CVN21, and LHA-6, combined with reduced manning requirements while maintaining safety has increased the complexity of aviation and ship integration. The CVN-78 design includes considerations for the “airwing of the future,” design for optimized sortie generation, and launch, recovery, and maintenance of unmanned aircraft. From the lessons learned with many of the past designs, a comprehensive set of aviation-ship interface design and certification requirements is still needed to support the design process.
December 10, 2007 Chesapeake, Hampton Roads and Gulf Sections meet for overview of LHA-6 design process On Monday afternoon, December 10th, at the Northrop Grumman Maritime Plaza offices in Washington, D.C., Mr. Doug Ira presented "LHA-6 Design: Evolution of the Design Process, Early Concept Design to Present Configuration" to Chesapeake, Hampton Roads and Gulf section members in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Video teleconferencing, used for the first time in a Chesapeake Section meeting, enabled over 80 members from the three sections to participate in the lunchtime meeting. An overview was presented of the design process and evolution, from early concept design to the current configuration, for the U.S. Navy’s new amphibious assault ship, designated LHA-6. The LHA-6 will improve the Navy’s capability to embark, support, and operate with assorted landing force elements to support a wide range of missions. Various initial ship concepts and the final baseline configuration were presented. Flight deck and deckhouse placement were shown to be important factors in the design. Both had to be optimized to accommodate a range of both fixed-wing and rotary aircraft, such as the Joint Strike Fighter and the V-22 Osprey, a significant enhancement in capabilities from present-day amphibious assault ships. The hangar was also enlarged to provide more room for the various aircraft and included a revised configuration for increased operational flexibility. Delivery of the ship is scheduled for late in 2012. Mr. Ira is the NAVSEA 05D3 LHA-6 Ship Design Manager and has held this position since 2006. He has served in many positions with NAVSEA, CSC, and the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division. His work has included many large-deck amphibious ship designs, including LPD-17, LHA(R), and LHD-8. He also served as a Navy Exchange Engineer in the United Kingdom for two years.
Canadian Atlantic
Section December 7, 2007 The Canadian Atlantic Section (Maritimes) brought 2007 to a close by celebrating with the 2ND Annual SNAME Christmas Dinner for members, spouses, and guests at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron. With the goal of replicating the success of the 1st annual Christmas Dinner a vastly experienced and distinguished gentleman was selected to highlight the event with a non-technical presentation. Dusty Miller, with a 51 year career in naval architecture and recent retirement from the Halifax Shipyard, graced the evening with a genuine reflection on his professional life in the marine industry. Dusty began his presentation by sharing memoirs of his childhood and education in Glasgow, Scotland. There he completed his apprenticeship as a draughtsman and embarked on a career in the shipbuilding industry on the Clyde. Once ready to venture overseas, Dusty’s calling lead him to the Yarrow yard, British Columbia, where he became involved with the Department of Transport and progressed steadily into the research and development of arctic ice vessels. Eventually he transferred east to Ottawa, where he continued his work creating conceptual vessel designs to support the on-going effort by the government to build Coast Guard ice breakers for the arctic. One such project involved a novel design of a ship’s pointy end which was nicknamed “Dusty’s Bow”. Though the gathering was of a non-technical nature, Dusty chose to elaborate on the technical details of some of the more unique projects he had the opportunity to work on, one of which was the small-scale conceptual design of a vessel having the sole purpose of measuring ice-breaking capability. This successfully stimulated the interest of the “younger generations” in attendance, of which there were several young marine engineers and naval architects. He continued to enlighten the audience with excerpts from the extensive work he was involved in with smaller marine engineering firms in Ottawa before finally taking his skills even further east to the Halifax Shipyard, a subsidiary of the Irving Shipbuilding. Dusty saw many vessels through the docks here requiring everything from minor repairs to major conversions, and refits to new construction. The inventory of his work includes (but is not limited to), military vessels, passenger ferries, carrier craft and more recently cruise ships. Dusty also reminisced on the Shipyard’s time in the spotlight during the filming of the movie K-19: The Widowmaker. The Halifax Shipyard provided the expertise necessary to significantly modify the Juliett class K-77 submarine that played the role of the Soviet submarine K-19 for this film.
Gulf Section January 24, 2008 On January 24th, 2008 the SNAME Gulf Coast section gathered at the Sun Ray Grill in New Orleans, LA. The meeting was well attended with over 75 people including many University of New Orleans student members in attendance. An overview of the M/V SEACOR CHEETAH, which is the first in the CrewZer class was presented by Mr. Robert Clemons. Mr. Clemons related that this class of boats are designed to meet the specific demands of the oil and gas industry. The vessel is capable of carrying 150 passengers at a top speed in excess of 40 knots – more than twice that of a conventional crewboat. He stressed that the wide deck and reduced motion response expands the conventional operating window which allows the vessel to hold station in weather conditions previously “un-workable” for crewboats. Several engineers who worked on the project were also present and fielded questions relating to the materials and design methods used in constructing the vessel. At
the conclusion of the meeting, Section Chair Jessica Calix St. Pierre
presented the speaker with a certificate of appreciation. She then went
on to introduce the University of New Orleans – SNAME partnership
to provide mentors for students currently completing their senior design
projects.
Eastern
Canadian Section February 4, 2008 In Ottawa on February 4th, 2008, the Eastern Canadian Section (ECS) of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) met joinly with the Canadian Institute of Marine Engineers (CIMarE), the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA), and the Naval Officers Association of Canada (NOAC). Using the very successful Battle of the Atlantic combined event, held in January 2007 at the Canadian War Museum as a template, the goals of this meeting were to provide a blending of policy, technical and operational perspectives; to provide a variety of knowledgeable speakers and to conduct the evening at a memorable venue. The Arctic theme, coupled with the Canadian Museum of Civilization, proved to be a very hot combination with the event drawing 200 participants. The evening commenced with a visit to the First Peoples Exhibit, followed by a series of seven short presentations and concluded with a reception and access to the museum. The initial four presentations, providing an overview of the importance of the Arctic to Canadians, were as follows: "Arctic Sovereignty: Myths and Reality" by Mr. Wendell Sanford, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) - Director, Oceans and Environmental Law; "Canada's Arctic - A National Defence Perspective", Mr. Philippe Hebert, Department of National Defence - Director of Policy Development; “Canadian Navy’s Approach to the Arctic” by Captain (Navy) Serge Bertrand; and "Situational Awareness in the Unique Maritime Environment of Canada's Arctic" by Mr. Klaus Kollenberg, Defence Research and Development Canada - Project Director, Surveillance and Space Technology Demonstration Projects. These were followed by discussions on the technical challenges that must be considered for northern operations, as presented by: "Circum-Polar Developments in Oil and Gas" by Mr. Peter Noble, Chief Naval Architect of ConocoPhillips and Vice President of SNAME; and "Design Considerations for Arctic Marine Operations" by Mr. Andrew Kendrick, Vice President Operations - BMT Fleet Technology Limited. The final presentation focused on the operational challenges of operating in and around the Arctic ice as presented by "Working the Ice: Why and How We Do It” by Fiona Robertson, Canadian Coast Guard – Ice Breaking Programme. The success of this event can be measured by those who attended. Of the 200 in attendance, roughly 30% came from the government sector (equal numbers of DND, Coast Guard and Transport Canada), 30% Commercial, 20% Young Professionals (Students, Co-op Students or recent graduates) with the final 10% being seasoned professionals (retired or semi-retired). We also had more than a dozen attendees specifically make the trip from Montreal, Toronto and even Halifax to participate! Assistance in spreading the word about this event to industry, through the weekly magazine “Canadian Sailings” and the Chamber of Marine Commerce, were greatly appreciated. Feedback from this combined event has been extremely positive with many saying “this is a most significant step in bringing the marine societies back into the mainstream”, “a remarkable achievement in passing the torch to the next generation on such a relevant topic for all Canadians”, and “when is the next event and what will be the theme?”. SNAME ECS must also thank industry for providing assistance in arranging such a memorable venue as the North Atrium of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, and for opening the special exhibit after hours. In addition to the combined effort of the marine organizations of SNAME, RINA and CIMarE, the following companies are to be recognized for providing valuable assistance: BMT Fleet Technology, DRS Technologies, Fleetway Limited, General Dynamics Canada, Lockheed Martin Canada, OSI Geospatial, Raytheon Canada and SNC Lavalin. A special thank you is also extended to Dr. Richard Gimblett, the Naval Command Historian and President of the NOAC Ottawa Branch. SNAME ECS also took advantage of the opportunity of having SNAME Texas Regional Vice President Mr. Peter Noble in the area, by inviting Peter to conduct an interactive presentation on the trends in Oil and Gas to the Ottawa Marine Young Professionals the next morning. This was the second gathering of this growing group of interested and interesting young people working in the marine technical fields. The first Young Professionals group was held as a Lunch and Learn on November 7th 2007. This Lunch and Learn was led by Ken Westcar of TOROMONT Industries and focused on the engineering challenges and lesson learned while conducting a re-engineering of a ferry in Ontario. His key message – jobs are available in the Ottawa area and young people are signing on. Let’s make sure we all make it a rewarding decision. Anyone willing to help out in this venture should contact Glenn Walters (Chair ECS) or Derek Hughes (Vice Chair).
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