Tim Colton Tours Austal Shipyard….
” alt=”” width=”227″ height=”300″ />And…I think he likes the place. Quite the review (Look for August 29-31):
…had the tour this week (long overdue) and was pleased, if not too surprised, to find that they are doing just about everything right. (And they’ve never retained me to help with anything!) The facility is terrific and will be doubly so if they get the LCS lead-yard contract, because both the 325m x 105m Module Manufacturing Facility – the big building on the right in the picture above – and the 124m x 82m Building Hall – the building on the left – will then be doubled in size. The overall layout is a bit strange, because the property straddles the T-junction created by ADDSCO Road and Dunlap Drive, but the use of space is everywhere efficient, and this must be the only Gulf Coast yard with no mud.
The manufacturing system is as we have been
preaching for decades – I could go into endless detail here but won’t: SNAME needs to get Austal to put on a presentation at its annual Ship Production Symposium. The whole atmosphere is positive, constructive and upbeat; the workforce is already up to 1600 and with the LCS program it could double; and the place is being run by experienced American shipbuilders – not a single retired admiral or Norwegian to be seen.
Pretty much the same thing that I have been saying for years:
It’s frankly, pretty amazing for a new shipyard (started in 1999) to be out there doing what established naval shipyards tell us is impossible–putting together a shipyard, building a labor force and churning out a complex military vessel after starting pretty much, from scratch and a hole in the ground.
This nation has not seen such a thing since, what? Litton Industries/Ingalls Shipyard? Heck, they still can’t put ships together over there (and Ingalls got started before WWII)…Austal will do better than those guys. For certain.
So if you aren’t going to publicize the ship, you sleepy media bozos over at Austal should publicize the heck out of your shipyard. Because your folks in Alabama are doing something the US hasn’t seen for awhile.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Craig – That is one of the mission requirements for the JHSV, much as the SWIFT has been doing with African Partnership Station and Southern Partnership Station deployments. THey often have State Dept Officers on board.
use the JHSV.
I’d love to throw in a few purpose-built ships for the State Department–something to serve as a mobile embassy in places that either don’t have consular representation or just can’t get to the embassy easily…
Some T-AOEs to provide lacking capacity…
8 hospital ships
2 demilitraized and heavily modified LPD-17’s that retain the well deck and the CBR defensive architecture for work in contaminated enviroments.
2 T-AKE’s to replace the capablitly that already exists
and 4 JHSV to operate in the littorals, less developed countries, and the GFS.
dong forget the ocean going tugs
And new small patrol craft (PC-15+?) through Bollinger/VTHM/etc!
Just about never for that one, but here’s hoping
new Sub Tenders too.
why not new research ships for NOAA too? you want to put people back to work rebuilding our maritime heritage is the place to start.
As Tim points out, the yard would double in size if they get the initial LCS contract. Big boon to the same area that is loosing Avondale, big potential for that yard going forward.
Now, can we get Todd some icebreakers and NASSCO some oilers (+T-AH?) to build?