Hi everyone; this is Kevin. Today is Thursday, November 4th (date recorded).
It’s been about two months since my last business update, so today I’m going to share with you our latest progress. Since there’s quite a lot of information, I’ll break up the podcast into two parts: Groton today and Quonset Point next week.
Thursday, October 14th, was a great day—we certified the USS South Dakota, SSN 790, and the USS Delaware, SSN 791, for Unrestricted Operations and Unrestricted Use, completing their Post Shakedown Availabilities (PSAs).
The 790 PSA and modernization featured several enhancements that are firsts for the Virginia Program.
By my discussions with some of the Navy leadership, some of what they’re seeing in terms of performance is, to quote them, “eye watering,” and we can’t wait to hear how that ship is performing.
I’d like to thank the 790 team who worked many long days, pulling off all-nighters in some cases, to get everything installed, get the boat certified and now through sea trials. All the time and effort the team put in was rewarded when sea trials showed that our improvements work and the boat performed well. The Navy is anxious to get the 790 through the rest of its testing and on mission to counter emerging threats.
I’d also like to thank the folks who worked on the 791 boat PSA. The team dealt with many curve balls that were not anticipated when that availability began. This meant the work had to be re-planned to be conducted in Graving Dock 1 rather than in the water, dockside. In addition to removing and replacing the bow dome, which is the first time we’ve ever done that job, and performing work on external components, the team took on much unanticipated work. The 791 team was nimble and dealt with multiple surprises as they came up. A special thanks to Dan Vieira for his leadership through a tough avail.
And thanks to everyone who participated on the 790 and 791 availability teams for their hard work and dedication to the mission.
In other boat news, 797, PCU Iowa, achieved pressure hull complete on October 22nd— about one week ahead of schedule—congratulations to the team for reaching this important milestone, and the fact that we’re doing it early means a lot. The 793, PCU Oregon, is getting ready for fast cruise in late November and sea trials in late November/early December. Also, the team docked USS Hartford in Graving Dock 2 on Tuesday in preparation for her Engineered Overhaul. This is an important project for Groton because it gives us an opportunity to continue to develop our maintenance and modernization capability while we grow the team in preparation for Columbia in the coming years.
Our Groton construction projects supporting Columbia module assembly are proceeding on schedule. Steel erection on the South Yard Assembly building is about 65% complete, and we’ve just set the 11th truss. We’ve poured concrete for the first two mezzanine decks and commenced steel erection for the utility building. Soon we’ll see the team begin installing the insulated metal panels that form the building’s skin.
Our transportation projects are on schedule to support Columbia module delivery as well. The new barge Holland will arrive in Groton on November 29th. We’ve commenced the north pier project to support berthing of Holland. Our new floating dry dock we will use to build Columbia is being assembled at Bollinger Shipyards down in Louisiana.
Thanks to Joe Drake and his team for keeping these construction projects on schedule. The Columbia program, as you well know, is our nation’s number-one defense acquisition priority. She will carry about 70% of the US nuclear arsenal, and we are proud to be bringing her to the U.S. fleet, on schedule.
In other construction news, we topped out steel erection for the Emergency Control Center building on October 20th and will break ground on the COATS/pre-commissioning unit crew project the week of November 15th. That will be in the South Yard not too far away from where the fire station and the MCA building are.
Meeting our goals is critical to our business success, but safety remains my number-one priority. I’m asking for your help to improve our overall safety performance. In particular, we’ve been seeing more sprain/strain injuries, employees being injured going to and from the job site and eye injuries related to employees putting on and taking off PPE. Please be aware of your surroundings and commit to having each other’s backs on safety. If we all keep that mindset, we can make strides toward an injury-free workplace. Your behavior plays a role in our safety performance. You need a frame of mind that assumes the next injury can and will happen to you, rather than the other way around. A lot of people think injuries happen to other people and “not to me.” Ask anyone who’s been injured and they will tell you they’ve learned their lesson the hard way. Don’t learn your lesson the hard way.
I also want to let you know that this morning the White House issued updated guidance related to vaccine requirements for employers. It includes an extension of the vaccine deadline to January 4th. We are continuing to work with the Navy to get clarity on how this will impact us.
In the meantime, I encourage everyone to get vaccinated if you haven’t already done that. And for those of you who have, thank you for taking that step.
Since the start of the pandemic, we have worked together to keep each other safe and minimize the spread of the virus while staying on mission. I appreciate your continued commitment to our mission.
Next week I’ll provide you with an update on progress at Quonset Point.
Please stay safe; we’ll talk again soon.
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