USN - Navy Accepts Delivery of Mobile Landing Platform

The Navy accepted delivery of the first Mobile Landing Platform, USNS Montford Point (MLP 1), from General Dynamics-NASSCO, May 14, in San Diego, Calif.

The Mobile Landing Platform is a new class of ship and highly flexible platform that will provide capability for large-scale logistics movements such as the transfer of light and heavy vehicles and equipment from sea to shore.

"MLP-1 has gone from concept to delivery in under five years, a remarkable feat reflecting the diligent work of the Navy and shipbuilding team from design through testing and trials," said Capt. Henry Stevens, PEO Ships' program manager for strategic and theater sealift. "With its open, reconfigurable mission deck, USNS Montford Point will deliver innovation and exceptional flexibility to future Fleet operations."

Delivery of Montford Point represents the official transfer of the ship from the shipbuilder to the Navy and is a major milestone in the ship's transition to operational status. Delivery follows the successful completion of Acceptance Trials, evaluating the ship's major systems and equipment.

Named in honor of the 20,000 African-American Marine Corps recruits trained at Montford Point Camp, N.C., MLP-1 is a modular, adaptable platform that may be used across a broad range of military operations supporting multiple operational phases. Acting as a mobile seabase, MLP will be part of the critical access infrastructure that supports the deployment of forces and supplies to provide prepositioned equipment and supplies with flexible distribution.

 

The 83,000 ton, 785-foot ship will leverage float-on/float-off technology, allowing Montford Point to partially submerge, facilitating easy movement of cargo and craft. Additionally, the ship's size allows for 25,000 square feet of vehicle and equipment stowage space and 380,000 gallons of JP-5 fuel storage. MLP-1 has a maximum speed of 15 knots and range of 9500 nautical miles.

Following delivery, the ship will undergo test and trials period to install and incorporate the ship's Core Capabilities Set (CCS) in Portland, Ore. The CCS includes modules that support a vehicle staging area, sideport ramp, large mooring fenders and up to three landing craft air cushioned (LCAC) vessel lanes. With this set of capabilities, MLP-1 is able to easily transfer personnel and vehicles from other vessels such as the large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ships (LMSRs) onto LCAC vehicles and transport them ashore.

The ship is owned by U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC) and operated by a 34-person civilian-mariner crew under contract to MSC. The Navy plans to integrate an MLP into each of MSC's Maritime Prepositioning Ship Squadrons. These ships, coupled with a maritime prepositioning force (MPF), auxiliary dry cargo/ammunition ship (T-AKE) and legacy platforms, provide a first step in crafting a sea-based capability and illuminating future seabasing requirements.

MSC operates approximately 110 non-combatant, civilian-crewed ships that replenish U.S. Navy ships, conduct specialized missions, strategically preposition combat cargo at sea around the world and move military cargo and supplies used by deployed U.S. forces and coalition partners.

As one of the Defense Department's largest acquisition organizations, PEO Ships is responsible for executing the development and procurement of all destroyers, amphibious ships, special mission and support ships, and special warfare craft. Delivering high-quality war fighting assets - while balancing affordability and capability - is key to supporting the Navy's Maritime Strategy.

U.S. Navy launches new squadron of manned, unmanned helicopters

The U.S. Navy introduced its first squadron that combines combat helicopters with unmanned aerial vehicles at an air base near San Diego on Thursday, calling the approach the future of warfare.

The squadron of about 140 sailors, called the Magicians, will work off coastal combat ships that are smaller and faster than destroyers and aircraft carriers.

 

"We've been using multimillion dollar destroyers to chase Somali pirates," Admiral David Buss said. "This approach is designed for near-shore environment where our current experience shows us we're most likely to encounter threats."

The new approach combines MH-60 Romeo helicopters the Navy currently uses with the MQ-8 Fire Scout, a Northrop Grumman-built drone that looks and launches like a helicopter.

Where the helicopters are designed and built for antisubmarine and surface warfare, as well as search and rescue, the Fire Scout will be equipped and used for surveillance, target acquisition and relaying information to its controllers, at least for now.

The unmanned aircraft is controlled by two "pilots" on the ground or on a ship up to 110 miles away. It can stay in the air for at least eight hours, compared to the helicopter's maximum air time of 3.3 hours.

The Navy has been testing the Fire Scout since 2007 and deploying it since 2009, using it for counter-narcotics operations and in Afghanistan. In 2012, two of the drones crashed in separate incidents, and the Navy briefly grounded its Fire Scout fleet. Another was shot down over Libya in 2012.

The strengths of the Fire Scout lie in how long it can monitor situations, Buss told a news conference.
"Helicopters can't stay airborne as long as the Fire Scout," he said. "With the Fire Scout's endurance of up to eight hours, the helicopter crew can return refuel, rearm and re-man while the Fire Scout maintains contact."

Buss acknowledged that the Navy doesn't have a playbook for how to mix manned and unmanned flying warfare.

"The ink has not dried on any set of criteria yet," he said. "As with any new systems and any new technology, we work through the bugs from early on."

Northrop Grumman is looking forward to seeing how the Navy actually uses the Fire Scout and already has an upgraded version in the pipeline, according to Jim Zortman, sector vice president of global logistics and operational support.

"We put it in the hands of these smart, young sailors and they figure out ways to operate it that we never thought of," Zortman said. "They take some little thing we barely noticed and do something amazing with it while something we paid a lot of attention to, they'll barely notice or use at all."

Two attack submarines visiting San Diego

The Navy's submarine base at Point Loma is a bit more crowded than usual. All of the San Diego-based subs -- Hampton, Asheville, Albuquerque, Topeka, San Francisco and the Jefferson City -- are in port, along with the Houston and the City of Corpus Christi. The Navy lists Guam as the homeport of Houston, and Corpus Christi is based at Pearl Harbor. Earlier, the Key West, which will be home-ported in Guam, visited San Diego. The visits are considered part of the normal movement of the fleet, and the boats are not open to the public.

Navy pursuing new submarine signature range

The Navy wants to build a range in Hood Canal to measure the electromagnetic signatures of 13 Kitsap-based submarines, which now must transit two weeks to Pearl Harbor or San Diego for the five-minute job.

Submarines develop a magnetic signature as they travel because of a magneto-mechanical interaction with the Earth's magnetic field. The signature can be exploited by magnetic mines, or detected by specially equipped ships and aircraft.

Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor used to have a range, but when civilian boating increased in the 1990s, it was closed for safety concerns. The sensors, at 150 feet, were also too deep. Submarines had to dive to periscope depth to use them, requiring Coast Guard escorts to clear and keep other boats out of the area for relatively long periods of time, according to a Navy document. A temporary electromagnetic measurement range was installed in 2000, but ceased operation after being damaged by the anchor of a commercial fishing vessel in 2007.

The Navy says the range needs to be within a half mile of the submarines' transit route and within 1.5 miles of a submarine homeport. Ideally, the homeport would already have a shore facility available. The range would be no more than a mile from shore in about 70 feet of water, away from shipping routes and strong currents.

The proposed location is just north of the Bangor base in Hood Canal Military Operating Area North, according to the draft report. The facility would comprise a sensor array system with 21 sensors spread across 400 feet and buried at the bottom of the canal. There would be an offshore 15 foot by 15 foot platform requiring five 24-inch square concrete piles. About 8,500 feet of composite cable connecting the sensors would also be buried, using a horizontal directional drilling jet plow.

Construction would occur between July 15, 2014, and Oct. 1, 2014. Cost estimates aren't available.

A submarine, escorted by the Coast Guard, would travel at about 10 knots at the water's surface. The boats take a brief detour from the usual route to go over the sensor array system. The sensors would measure the sub's electromagnetic signature and transfer it to the onshore facility. The whole process would take about five minutes.

California Chaplain facing misconduct charges

SAN DIEGO — The Marine Corps has formally charged a Navy chaplain at the Marine Corps’ desert training base with several counts of alleged misconduct, including sexual harassment, indecent conduct, assault and fraternization, a spokesman confirmed Friday.

The chaplain, Lt. Cmdr. Steven E. Hicks, is scheduled to appear July 24 at an Article 32 investigation hearing at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif., said Marine Capt. Nick Mannweiler, a combat center spokesman.

Hicks, 57, is a Catholic priest assigned who arrived at Twentynine Palms in 2008. He was pulled from his religious duties after allegations surfaced and an investigation began in late February, Mannweiler said. He remains assigned to the combat center staff.

Mannweiler said he did not have information about the nature of the charges, and he said he could not provide a copy of the official charge sheet that details the allegations. The Article 32 officer will preside over the preliminary hearing and recommend whether the charges against Hicks should be sent to a court-martial, be reduced or dismissed.

Hicks’ reassignment in February left the remote desert base with only one Catholic priest for the holy season leading to Easter Sunday on April 8. The only other priest at the base was attached to a unit preparing to deploy to Afghanistan.

Hicks, of San Angelo, Texas, was commissioned a chaplain in the Air Force in 1993, and he served two years before transferring into the Navy in 1995, according to Navy Personnel Command records. He served with 1st Marine Logistics Group at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and Naval Support Activity New Orleans, La., before joining the amphibious assault ship Peleliu in San Diego in 2003. Hicks also had assignments with the Coast Guard in Kodiak, Alaska, and Souda Bay, Greece, prior to moving to Twentynine Palms.