[BITList] shipbuilding

[realm33 at msn.com]

folks

further to my email re QE2...........................

how about this?

avondale is about 20 miles from where I live near new orleans....................

colint


  
Billion dollar warship built in Avondale unfit for combat 

07:38 PM CDT on Thursday, October 2, 2008

Paul Murphy / Eyewitness News 

A black eye for one of Louisiana's largest private employers, as U.S. Navy inspectors found a long list of major problems with the USS New Orleans, built at Northrop Grumman Avondale Shipyards. 



Video: Watch the Story 
The military says the two-year old ship is not combat ready, and, at a cost of $1.3 billion dollars, the ship was 90 percent over-budget. 

Hurricane Katrina caused a two-year delay in the completion of the amphibious assault vessel. 

According to Navy inspectors, the problems that plagued the ship's construction at Avondale appear to have followed the New Orleans to its first major sea-trials this summer. 

The Navy's Bureau of Inspection and Survey says there are 2600 "on going deficiencies," some serious enough to take the ship off of combat ready status. 

The poor showing surprised workers who helped build the vessel. "That's just one ship out of thousands that we built," said pipefitter Lowell McBeth. 

Among the findings, the ship cannot support embarked troops, cargo or landing crafts, essentially the reason for being for a ship designed to carry 800 Marines their vehicles and helicopters to war. 

Inspectors also found material deficiencies in the well deck and vehicle storage areas. The propulsion systems are unreliable. There are significant steering malfunctions, issues with the electrical and electronic cable installation and problems with the radar, weapons systems and communications. 

"That's all technical," said McBeth. "That's not me. I just fit pipe. Everything went great with us with flying colors, flying colors for us." 

The lead ship in the class, the USS San Antonio also suffered cost-overruns and scathing inspections. 

All of this doesn't bode well for Northrop Grumman and Avondale Shipyards, one of Louisiana's largest employers and a mainstay in the New Orleans area economy. 

The defense contractor is in the process of building 5 additional amphibious assault ships for the Navy. 

But, Congress and the military have a history of slashing the production of poor performing weapons programs. 

Northrup Grumman referred all questions about the New Orleans to the Navy which released this statement: 

"These deficiencies will be corrected through successive maintenance periods as the ship prepares for deployment. Upon completion, delivery, test and inspection, each ship of the class has steadily improved and received fewer trial cards than previous ones." 

"I know one thing that we stress on the job is safety and quality first for customers," said Shonteah Wallace an Avondale worker. "It was very unfortunate on what happened. I know that the company, it taking great strides to make sure it doesn't happen again." 

The New Orleans is now under repair at its homeport in San Diego, Calif. The Navy estimates it will take about 400,000 man-hours to fix the ship. 
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