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A Quiet Kentucky returns to Patrol

NAVSEA News Wire

Release Date: 4/30/2004

By Katie Eberling Command Information Officer Naval Intermediate Maintenance Facility

BANGOR, Wash. -- After spending more than nine weeks in an unusually complex refit, USS Kentucky (SSBN 737) confidently slipped into the open waters of Hood Canal, April 19 in preparation for her next patrol. With 100,000 production man-hours executed in the completion of more than 1,000 jobs, the refit was a first-ever demonstration of the new surge maintenance capability in the Pacific Northwest.

The ship was operating on a temporary existing departure from specification and observed one of the planes appeared to be out of alignment. It was determined that the planes would have to be removed for inspection and repair.

When the ship docked on February 12, Naval Intermediate Maintenance Facility (IMF) Submarine Base Bangor immediately disassembled both planes, finding water intrusion and significant corrosion had eroded the operational condition of the planes.

The principal concern was to perform repairs while keeping costs down and maximizing the ship's operational availability. IMF had never completely disassembled submarine fairwater planes. That type of work is normally accomplished by Naval Shipyards. Given the constant use of their dry docks and the consequent long shipyard availability, the operational schedule of the sub would have been compromised. The quickly deteriorating condition of the fairwater planes couldn't wait for scheduled shipyard availability.

According to Cmdr. John Baldwin, IMF Production Management Assistant (PMA), and head of the project, "Once we got in there and saw the extent of the damage, it became clear that we were going to have to completely rethink the way the repair was going to take place in order to get the ship back to sea quickly," said Baldwin.

For USS Kentucky, it was essential to maintain her operational schedule, but also to restore design integrity.

The plan incorporated the ideas and best practices from a variety of sources including a team of engineers, planners, machinists, private contractors and other shop leaders from the IMF, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS), NAVSEA, and Electric Boat pulled together

"The IMF proposed a plan for the repairs we intended to conduct and the technical methods for the procedures we would carry out, then NAVSEA 07T evaluated them and provided concurrence as the Navy's technical authority," said Baldwin. "Additionally, we needed to work with Commander, Submarine Squadron 17 (CSS-17), Commander, Submarine Group 9 (COMSUBGRU-9), and Commander Submarine Pacific Fleet (COMPACFLT) to assure them that not only could we complete the repairs in a timely manner, but also the end result would pass all tests and operational specifications." This became a first-ever repair conducted outside of a shipyard on components not normally even accomplished during a major two-year overhaul. IMF had no one source document or procedure to accomplish the work.

"The lead engineer for ship control systems, Mark Mosely, developed a detailed checklist for the shops to take measurements and troubleshoot the planes when the ship first arrived for refit," said Rob Bay, IMF's Chief Engineer.

Commander Submarine Pacific (COMSUBPAC) granted an extension on Kentucky's normal refit period and adjusted other SSBN schedules. NAVSEA authorized PSNS & IMF to write a procedure and perform the weld on HY100 stock. The final piece was bringing a private contractor on site capable of performing the highly unique machining for both the planes and the stock in time.

"Due to the extended time she was in for refit, we were now able to perform nearly twice the amount of normal jobs," said Baldwin. "We pulled in a lot of future planned maintenance that would have been done in upcoming refits to take advantage of her longer availability, thus reducing the amount of work in a later refit."

As a result of Mosely's expert analysis, a symphony of highly unique and complex jobs began simultaneously between the IMF, PSNS & IMF, and the contractors, requiring intense coordination and first-rate communication skills.

The Shipyard engineers wrote the new procedures concurrently for the work being performed

"We needed to compress the schedule as much as possible and In Place Machining Company IPM's ability to fly in with its equipment and expertise on short notice was invaluable in delivering the ship on time," said Baldwin. IMF had prepared for them ahead of time by making space on an already crowded production floor and had also wrapped the planes, which were staged outside, in sheeting in order for the machinists and welders to work in all weather around the clock.

"...IMF had to complete the equivalent of two refits on Kentucky while accomplishing all the jobs on three other in-port submarines," said Cmdr. Dave Wilkie, IMF Executive Officer. As a result of the May 15, 2003 merger between the two activities, it became much easier to share workers in order to accomplish this surge work.

Ship's crew had many work control responsibilities getting the ship prepared and tagged out, and performing preservation work in the sail and throughout the boat.

As a direct result of being willing to approach the problem by applying completely new ways of thinking, the Navy saved more than $700,000 and shortened the period a ship was off-line by 14 weeks. The timely delivery of USS Kentucky will now be the model for rapidly restoring operational availability in light of today's surge requirements.