ARLINGTON, Va. — The COVID-19 pandemic is driving the U.S. Navy to adapt some of the ways it conducts business, but the commissioning of a submarine underwater is likely to be a first. 

The Virginia-class attack USS Delaware was commissioned into the Navy on April 4 while the sub was underwater, James F. Geurts, assistant secretary for research, development and acquisition, told reporters during an April 16 teleconference. 

Geurts said the Delaware’s crew replicated commissioning ceremony traditions that could be accomplished beneath the surface, including “bringing the ship to life” and sounding the claxon. The crew also fired water slugs through the Delaware’s torpedo tubes. 

“Due to public health safety and restrictions on large public events, the commissioning ceremonies for the future USS Delaware and future USS Vermont were canceled for April 4 and 18, respectively,” Bill Couch, a spokesman for Naval Sea Systems Command, told Seapower back on March 24. 

A Navy release added: “Although the traditional commissioning ceremony was canceled due to restrictions on large gatherings brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Navy commissioned USS Delaware administratively on April 4 and transitioned the ship to normal operations. Meanwhile, the Navy is looking at an opportunity to commemorate the special event with the ship’s sponsor, crew and commissioning committee.” 

The Delaware is the eighth and last Block III Virginia-class SSN. The Vermont is the first of 10 Block IV Virginia-class subs. The two subs were built jointly by General Dynamics’ Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls’ Newport News Shipbuilding.

WASHINGTON — When Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair Newport News’ supply of protective facemasks to combat COVID-19 dwindled to 30 by the morning of April 9, SUPSHIPNN’s commanding officer, Capt. Jason Lloyd, turned to his staff for a solution, according to Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). 

An order for more masks had already been placed but they would not arrive until the following week. He needed a solution that would enable the command to continue its fleet support mission. 

His staff turned to Fusion, an internal Navy collaboration tool that is like Facebook and was developed by Naval Information Warfare Systems Command connecting NAVSEA employees virtually throughout the world. 

“As the SUPSHIPNN Command Process Improvement Champion, I have been a fan of the NAVSEA Fusion site since its inception,” said Greg Mitchell, SUPSHIP Newport News’ command process improvement champion. “I immediately posted a plea for help on Fusion early” on the morning of April 9. 

“Fusioneers” — as Mitchell termed his fellow collaborators — responded with numerous recommendations and offers to assist. One of those responses led to Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY), co-located in Norfolk, a command already using its internal capability to sew cloth facemasks for its workforce. 

“I reached out to them,” Mitchell said. “By 1400 that same day, I had 100 brand-new masks made by Norfolk Naval Shipyard’s production resources group in their sail loft I could deliver to my command.” 

In an e-mail to the shipyard’s commanding Officer, Capt. Kai Torkelson, Lloyd thanked his NAVSEA colleague, calling the success of Fusion as a “perfect example of teamwork and knowledge sharing. … Fusion collaboration at its finest.” 

Mitchell said that in order to answer NAVSEA Commander, Vice Adm. [Thomas] Moore’s call to “Expand the Advantage” the command needs to become a High Velocity Learning (HVL) organization. “There is no better way to use HVL than Fusion,” he said. “Thanks to everyone involved who made this a complete Fusion success.  We are and will always be a “One Navy” Team!” 

Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, Newport News, is the liaison between the Department of the Navy and Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding, the company engaged in the design and construction of new nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers as well as the repair and modernization of active subs and carriers in the fleet.

NORFOLK, Va. — The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group remains at sea in the western Atlantic as a certified carrier strike group force ready for tasking to protect the crew from the risks posed by COVID-19, following their deployment to the U.S. 5th and 6th Fleet areas of operation, the U.S. 2nd Fleet said in a release. 

The Navy is taking this measure to maintain the strike group’s warfighting capability while ensuring the safety of the crew.

See: U.S. Military in All-New Territory in Fight Against Virus, Foggo Says 

The demand for naval assets remains high. Therefore, keeping the Truman strike group at sea as it remains in the sustainment phase of optimized fleet response plan (OFRP) allows the ship to maintain a high level of readiness for a potential rapid surge or forward deployment, providing options to the national command authority during the global pandemic. 

“The ship is entering a period in which it needs to be ready to respond and deploy at any time,” said Vice Adm. Andrew Lewis, commander of the 2nd Fleet. “Normally, we can do that pierside, but in the face of COVID-19, we need to protect our most valuable asset, our people, by keeping the ship out to sea.” 

The Navy will continue to evaluate the situation and will provide an update to the crew and their families in about three weeks. 

“After completing a successful deployment, we would love nothing more than to be reunited with our friends and families,” said Rear Adm. Andrew Loiselle, commander of Carrier Strike Group 8. 

“We recognize that these are unique circumstances and the responsible thing to do is to ensure we are able to answer our nation’s call while ensuring the health and safety of our Sailors. We thank you for your continued love and support as we remain focused on this important mission.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s top acquisition official said the service’s efforts to accelerate contract awards in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic are helping the defense industry sustain its economic health at all levels and positioning the Navy and industry to emerge from the crisis without falling behind on work and ready to resume normal operations. 

James F. Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, speaking during an April 15 webcast of the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space: Virtual Edition, said the Navy and the defense industry are working to keep on task and be in a position to accelerate “out of the crisis.”

To register and then watch this Sea-Air-Space 2020: Virtual Edition webinar live online, click here. 

“Ships still have to come out on time,” Geurts said, noting that the Navy can’t afford to lag once the world starts to recover from the crisis. 

Geurts said the Navy has moved up the award of some contracts to inject “a lot of money in the system” to “get funds in the contractor hands” and “bring that work to the left” — meaning getting in started sooner. An example is the award last week — months early — of LPD 31, the second Flight II San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship. 

Accelerating contract awards enables shipyards and other contractors to stack a backlog of work and keep their workers employed. The contractors also can push funds to their lower-tier subcontractors to the same effect. 

Geurts said it was “counterintuitive … that the best way to secure [the health of the defense industrial base] was to accelerate going into a crisis. Most folks would want to slow down, wait and see, and that would exactly create the wrong conditions.” 

“The risk is being too risk-averse in our approach. The other risk is being reckless in our approach.” 

He said that all of stakeholders are going at the situation “deliberately but urgently and thoughtfully. A challenge for us will be [that] it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. This crisis hits different areas of the country, different sectors differently at different times. The key to success will be great networks, leveraging the data we have and building on a foundation of trust.”  

As the Navy worked to advance contract awards, Geurts said he saw his now “massively distributed,” largely teleworking work force shows greatly improved performance as it works to help the defense industry get though the pandemic. 

The Navy also is ordering spare parts sooner to build up the supply and to shore up the suppliers who provide them. 

Geurts said he confers with shipyard presidents or CEOs every other day to assess the status of work and provide opportunities to share lessons learned and to discuss best practices, ways to avoid disruption and how to speed up recovery.  

“It’s been awesome,” he said of the response from the defense industry.   

The assistant secretary said the Navy’s acquisition priorities have not changed in the pandemic, citing that work is proceeding on such programs as the Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarine and the next-generation guided-missile frigate. He stressed the Navy’s ongoing efforts to minimize delays and disruptions to the service’s programs.

HAIFA, Israel — Elbit Systems has integrated the Towed Reelable Active Passive Sonar for Unmanned Surface Vessels (TRAPS-USV) with its Seagull USV, according to an April 14 company release. The sea trials included several deployment and recovery cycles, towing at different speeds and transmission at various power levels. 

The TRAPS-USV version is a compact variant of the TRAPS, a technology that is intended for detection, classification, localization and tracking of submarines in anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations. TRAPS versions are containerized or permanent-fit for any size, diverse-purpose vessel. 

The TRAPS-USV variant is lighter weight but maintains all acoustic active sonar capabilities of TRAPS. TRAPS-USV is the compact and powerful low frequency towed sonar that was recently introduced by Geospectrum, Elbit’s wholly owned Canadian subsidiary. 

The Seagull autonomous multimission USV features plug and play, modular mission payload suites and can perform — in addition to ASW — mine countermeasure missions, electronic warfare, maritime security, underwater surveys and other missions using the same vessel, mission control system and data links. 

Integration of the TRAPS-USV enables the Seagull to perform ASW operations on the move, substantially extending its operative range and further enhancing its flexibility. The integration of the TRAPS-USV follows the recent conversion for operation, by Israel’s navy, of helicopter long-range active sonar dipping sonar onboard the Seagull USV.

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding division started fabrication of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Ted Stevens on April 6, the company said in a release. The start of fabrication signifies that the first 100 tons of steel have been cut. 

“As we begin this important milestone in the construction of another great warship, we look forward to continuing production and carrying on the extraordinary legacy of the Navy destroyer fleet,” said George Nungesser, Ingalls’ DDG 51 program manager. 

The ship honors former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, who served as a pilot in World War II and later represented Alaska. At the time he left office in 2009, he was the longest-serving Republican senator in history. 

Ingalls has delivered 31 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to the Navy. Other destroyers under construction include Delbert D. Black, Frank E. Peterson Jr., Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee and Jack H. Lucas. 

Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are highly capable, multimission ships and can conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection, all in support of the U.S. military strategy. The guided missile destroyers are capable of simultaneously fighting air, surface and subsurface battles. The ship contains myriad offensive and defensive weapons designed to support maritime defense needs well into the 21st century. 

WASHINGTON — Sarkis Tatigian, who began his U.S. Navy career at the age of 19 during World War II, passed away earlier this week, leaving behind a nearly 78-year legacy of service to the Department of Defense, Naval Sea Systems Command said in an April 7 release. 

At the time of his death, Tatigian, the longest serving civil servant in the history of the DoD, was serving as NAVSEA’s small business advocate. 

“Mr. Tatigian truly lived a life dedicated to advocacy and the service of others,” said NAVSEA’s executive director, James Smerchansky. 

“His decades of work oversaw the expansion of the small business industrial base and more than $100 billion in contracts awarded to diverse, small businesses. As we bid fair winds and following seas to Mr. Tatigian, NAVSEA will greatly miss his presence, but we will never forget the positive impact he made on this command and the entire U.S. Navy.” 

Tatigian’s civilian career with the Navy began in July 1942 as a junior radio inspector at the naval aircraft factory in the Philadelphia Navy Yard and the Navy Office of Inspector of Naval Aircraft in Linden, New Jersey. 

He left his position as an inspector in March 1943 and entered the uniformed Navy as an active-duty Sailor. In June 1944, he started working as an aviation electronics technician’s mate in the development of the Navy’s first guided anti-ship munition, the ASM-N-2 “BAT” glide bomb, which later became an operational weapon used by the fleet at the end of World War II. 

In 1946, he left active duty and returned to the Navy department and civil service with the Bureau of Ordnance in Washington, working on the Navy’s first generation of guided-missile systems. From there, he moved on to his life’s passion, helping small businesses, as a small business analyst for the bureau. While in the position, Tatigian developed a small business mobile exhibit that traveled coast-to-coast, visiting all state capitals and cities with populations exceeding 400,000. For his organizational efforts on the exhibit, Tatigian received congressional recognition. 

In June 1979, Tatigian was appointed NAVSEA’s associate director of the Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization Office. The office was eventually renamed the Small Business Program Office, where he continued to serve as an advocate for small business. 

In 2012, it was announced during a ceremony honoring Tatigian’s 70 years of service that the Navy’s Office of Business Opportunities Director’s Award would be renamed the Sarkis Tatigian Small Business Award. 

The award recognizes outstanding performance by a field activity in creating an organizational climate resulting in the advancement of small business opportunity through exceptionally-managed small business programs and challenging initiatives and who has made significant contributions to the command and the DON small business program. Because of his contributions, Tatigian even won the award that bears his name. 

In 2017, NAVSEA celebrated Tatigian’s 75th anniversary of civil service. A unique service pin was specially made to mark the occasion as one celebrating that many years of service had never been given before to an employee. 

Tatigian, explained upon his 75th anniversary, why he was driven to continue to come to work each day at NAVSEA.  

“I was retirement eligible in October 1973,” Tatigian said. “But when you don’t have something to wake up for, that’s when you start to decline. And, if you love what you do and derive a sense of personal worthiness, it’s not really work.”

SAN DIEGO — BAE Systems has received a $200 million contract from the U.S. Navy to drydock and perform nearly 18 months of maintenance and modernization work aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer, according to a company release. 

The drydocking of the USS Boxer will be the first time the company’s San Diego shipyard will use its 950-foot-long Pride of California drydock to service a large-deck warship. The shipyard is nearing completion of another major milestone for the drydock: the first simultaneous docking of two guided-missile destroyers on the West Coast. 

BAE’s San Diego shipyard will begin working aboard the 843-foot-long USS Boxer in June. Under the awarded contract, BAE will upgrade the ship to support and operate joint strike fighters on-board; perform hull, tank and mechanical work; and make other shipboard improvements. The shipyard is expected to complete its work aboard the 25-year-old ship in December 2021. The contract includes options that, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value to $207.5 million. 

Last October, BAE Systems simultaneously docked the USS Stethem and USS Decatur. The guided-missile destroyers are scheduled to be refloated together from the Pride of California drydock later this spring. The Pride of California, the largest drydock in California, can lift more than 55,000 tons. 

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy commissioned USS Delaware, the 18th Virginia-class attack submarine, on April 4, according to a Navy release. 

Although the traditional commissioning ceremony was canceled due to restrictions on large gatherings brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Navy commissioned USS Delaware administratively and transitioned the ship to normal operations. Meanwhile, the Navy is looking at an opportunity to commemorate the special event with the ship’s sponsor, crew and commissioning committee. 

“This Virginia-class fast-attack submarine will continue the proud naval legacy of the state of Delaware and the ships that have borne her name,” acting Navy Secretary Thomas B. Modly said in the release. 

Vice Adm. Daryl Caudle, commander of Navy Submarine Forces, said he is pleased to welcome the ship to the sub fleet and contribute to Navy undersea warfighting capability. 

“The U.S. Navy values the support of all those who contributed to today’s momentous milestone and will look for a future opportunity to commemorate this special event,” Caudle said. “The sailors of USS Delaware hail from every corner of the nation and from every walk of life. This crew, and the crews who follow, will rise to every challenge with unmatched bravery and perseverance to ensure the U.S. Submarine Force remains the best in the world.” 

The ship’s sponsor, Jill Biden, spouse of former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democratic candidate for president, offered congratulations to everyone who played a role in delivering USS Delaware to service. 

“I know this submarine and her crew of courageous sailors will carry the steadfast strength of my home state wherever they go,” she said. “The sailors who fill this ship are the very best of the Navy, and as you embark on your many journeys, please know that you and those whom you love are in my thoughts.” 

Delaware’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Matthew Horton, said the commissioning marks the culmination of six years of hard work by the men and women who constructed the submarine and are preparing it to become a warship. He thanked the crew and their families, Jill Biden, the USS Delaware Commissioning Committee and the Navy League of Hampton Roads for their work and support. 

“As we do our part to maintain the nation’s undersea supremacy well into the future, today marks a milestone for the Sailors who serve aboard USS Delaware. Whether they have been here for her initial manning three years ago, or have just reported, they all are strong, capable submariners ready to sail the nation’s newest warship into harm’s way,” Horton said.  

This is the first time in nearly 100 years the name “Delaware” has been used for a U.S. Navy vessel. It is the seventh Navy ship, and first sub, to bear the name of the state. The boat is 377 feet long, has a 34-foot beam and will be able to dive to depths greater than 800 feet and operate at speeds in excess of 25 knots submerged. It will operate for more than 30 years without ever refueling. Its keel was laid on April 30, 2016, and was christened during a ceremony on Oct. 20, 2018. It is the final Block III Virginia-class sub before Block IV deliveries begin. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has ordered materials for AGM/RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship cruise missiles for six allied and partner nations, the Defense Department said in an April 2 release. 

Naval Air Systems Command awarded Boeing a $73.2 million contract modification to provide additional long-lead material funding for full-rate production Lot 91 of the Harpoon missile under the foreign military sales program. Work is expected to be complete by December 2023.  

When produced, the missiles will be delivered to the governments of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Thailand, South Korea, Brazil and Japan. 

The Harpoon missile family is deployed by the armed forces of 31 nations.