THE SEA SERVICES

Services Combine EffortsOn High-Speed Catamaran

By RICHARD R. BURGESS, Managing Editor

A joint partnership of several Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard commands--and the U.S. Special Operations Command--has been formed to evaluate the potential capabilities of a wave-piercing catamaran to meet future U.S. naval/military operational needs. The evaluation will use an experimental wave-piercing vessel to test new as well as existing commercial technologies that might be used in the future construction of high-speed (but relatively small) ships capable of longer ranges than current ships and with increased payload capacities as well.

As the first step of the one- to two-year evaluation program the Army's Tank-Automotive and Armament Command (TACOM) has awarded a $20.3 million contract to Bollinger/Incat USA LLC--a joint venture of Bollinger Shipyards of Lockport, La., and Incat Australia Ltd.--to charter the 315-foot Incat 050, a catamaran-hull high-speed vessel (HSV), for a series of tests.

Participating in the evaluation are the Navy Warfare Development Command (the coordinating agency); the Army Combined Arms Support Command; the Army Transportation Center; the Office of Naval Research; the Plans, Policies, and Operations Division of Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps; the Navy Special Warfare Command; the Naval Sea Systems Command; the Naval Air Systems Command; and the Coast Guard's Deepwater Program Office.

The participating commands will focus primarily on technologies that will enable ships to reach higher speeds (in excess of 40 knots), carry larger payloads--individually tailored for specific missions--and cruise at longer ranges.

The Incat 050--built in Hobart, Tasmania, in 1998, and originally named the Devil Cat--will be tested in the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and U.S. littoral waters. One test will involve carrying more than 450 tons of cargo and 325 personnel a distance of 1,100 nautical miles at an average speed of 35 knots in Sea State 3. Another will test the ship's ability--also in Sea State 3--to launch and recover helicopters and rigid inflatable boats (RIBs). A third test will evaluate the HSV's ability to carry 570 tons of cargo a distance of 600 nautical miles.

The Incat 050--selected from several candidate vessels that were proposed--already has demonstrated its ability to carry up to 500 fully equipped troops and their vehicles, including armored personnel carriers, light armored vehicles, and trucks. It has a range of 1,500 miles at speeds of more than 40 knots, Bollinger/Incat officials said, and is powered by four Caterpillar 3618 marine diesel engines--each of which is rated at 7,200 kilowatts--that drive the vessel's four Lips 150D waterjets.

The 050--which has a draft of less than 14 feet--will be fitted with a Navy-certified helicopter deck, a recovery system for RIBs up to 39 feet in length, and vehicle ramps capable of accommodating heavy tracked vehicles.

Chris Bollinger, executive vice president of Bollinger Shipyards, and Nick Wells, project manager of Incat, said in a joint statement that "The success of the chartered ASV" in demonstrating its naval/military capabilities "will help determine whether acquisition of ... [catamaran] technology will be pursued and may contribute to future development of [vessels that will meet] the sea services' and Army needs."

A similar HSV--the 282-foot Incat 045, renamed HMAS Jervis Bay--was chartered by the Royal Australian Navy for two years for logistic operations between Australia and East Timor. It completed 107 trips over a collective range of more than 100,000 nautical miles, carrying a total of 20,000 passengers, 430 military vehicles, and 5,600 tons of material. Most of the Jervis Bay transits were across the 430-nautical-mile passage between Darwin, Australia, and Dilli, East Timor, and typically took less than 11 hours.

LMSR Re-Named For WWI Hero

A large, medium-speed roll-on/roll-off (LMSR) sealift ship operated by the Military Sealift Command (MSC) has been re-named for a Marine who was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism during World War I.

The former USNS Soderman, an afloat prepostioning force ship, was modified by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company under the Maritime Prepositioning Force (Enhanced) Program, which was created to increase the sealift capacity of MSC's Maritime Prepositioning Force by three ships to handle a 20 percent growth in the Marine Corps' requirement for prepositioned military equipment. The program has converted one container ship into a sealift ship and is converting another. The former Soderman, the second ship to complete conversion, has been christened the USNS Gy. Sgt. Fred W. Stockman (T-AK 3017).

Principal speakers at the christening ceremonies at Blount Island in Jacksonville, Fla., were Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R-Fla.); MSC Commander Vice Adm. Gordon S. Holder; and Lt. Gen. E.R. Bedard, deputy commandant for plans, policy, and operations at Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. The ship's sponsor, Kitty Crenshaw, wife of the congressman, christened the 906-foot, 59,000-ton ship during ceremonies on 6 July. The Crenshaw daughters, Sarah and Alex, were maids of honor.

Stockman and his fellow Marines were engaged in combat in Belleau Wood in France on 13 June 1918 when they were bombarded with artillery fire and mustard gas. Seeing that the gas mask of a fellow Marine who had been wounded was shot away, Stockman removed his own mask and gave it to the other Marine. Stockman then directed and assisted in the evacuation of wounded Marines until he collapsed. Stockman died a few days later from the effects of the gas. He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939.

Sea Service Notes

The fast combat support ship (AOE) USS Supply has been decommissioned and transferred to the Military Sealift Command (MSC), becoming the first of four ships in her class scheduled to transfer from the fleet to the MSC by September 2004. The four AOEs of the Sacramento class are scheduled to be decommissioned beginning in fiscal year 2006. The transfer of the AOEs will mark completion of the absorption of the Navy's Combat Logistics Force by the MSC.

The Navy has formed a new command, the Naval Network Operations Command (NNOC), by consolidating the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Command and the Commander, Task Force Navy/Marine Corps Intranet. The NNOC will manage the operations of the Navy's communications networks.