Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer Visits Norfolk Naval Shipyard
Navy News Service
Story Number: NNS180228-16
Release Date: 2/28/2018 3:01:00 PM
By Michael Brayshaw, Norfolk Naval Shipyard Public Affairs
NORFOLK (NNS) -- Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable Richard V. Spencer, made his first visit to Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) Feb. 20. Spencer met with shipyard leadership to learn about NNSY's optimization plan, facility needs and employee training and development programs.
Spencer took a tour of the structural, mechanical and piping departments where shipyarders perform vital work servicing the Atlantic Fleet. He visited a Continuous Training and Development (CTD) area for welders and shipfitters, learning how apprentices start their careers entrenched in training and gradually ramp up responsibilities to support ship work as they progress in their four-year apprenticeships. A CTD centerpiece in the structural department is the Learning Center 1, a multipurpose mock-up where employees apply classroom learning in a customizable hands-on training area that Welding Superintendent Chris Comar said provides "a prototypical shipboard environment where it's safe to fail."
NNSY Piping Group Superintendent John Tuthill discussed how 800 personnel perform piping work at the shipyard, with equipment such as a pipe bending machine dating back to 1948 and requiring four to five persons to operate. Seventy-year-old equipment was juxtaposed with cutting-edge tools such as the FARO Arm, a coordinate measuring machine that can perform shipboard measurements to within a thousandth of an inch. Having already been used on USS La Jolla (SSN 701) and USS Rhode Island (SSBN 740), the FARO Arm provides great savings in servicing the Fleet by replacing piping systems with pinpoint accuracy. The piping group's transition from analog to digital equipment has reduced some jobs that formerly required three business days to now taking four hours.
In NNSY's Mechanical Department, leadership detailed shafting work, as well as successful efforts overhauling aircraft carrier pumps, with a near 100 percent success rate for the USS Harry S Truman (CVN 75) and USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) availabilities. While the first-time quality is there, time could be saved in other ways, with Code 930 leadership detailing the long distances and roundabout routes frequently traveled across the shipyard to get something like a pump repaired.
While the shipyard is one of the Navy's largest and most multifaceted facilities, it's also one of the oldest, having been founded in 1767. Its age and design have come to dominate the narrative in recent years when distinguished visitors such as Spencer come aboard the installation. The shipyard's production buildings were designed to facilitate ship construction, which NNSY ceased in the early 1950s. The challenge now is reconfiguring the shipyard waterfront to streamline ship repair services, and minimizing unnecessary movement of personnel and material. The shipyard's optimization promises to improve production efficiency as well as quality of life for waterfront employees.
Spencer also met with USS Wyoming's (SSBN 742) officers and project team leadership to discuss the boat's 27-month Engineered Refueling Overhaul to resume its role at sea as a critical piece in the country's nuclear deterrence strategy.
Visiting NNSY with Spencer was the Honorable James Geurts, Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition).
Reflecting on the biggest takeaway from his visit, Spencer said, "Number one, it shows we need to go forward with our shipyard infrastructure reset plan. That's critical."
He also pointed out the importance of the shipyard's workforce and its support to the Navy and nation. "The amazing depth of qualified work people is very, very impressive. This is the backbone that keeps the end of the spear sharp," he said.
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