for the programme was released in December 2011. Babcock has been involved with the SCB develop-


ment programme since the first contract went out to industry for tender in 2008, and has previously been contracted by the MoD to undertake concept design and assessment, analysis, model testing and platform integration studies. Te company has already expressed interest in the next stage: the forthcoming TDP. Babcock and SEA have combined forces to bid


for the technically challenging SCB TDP, forming a team with the high technical capability needed to undertake the design, development, manufacture and through-life aspects of the project, which is expected to have extremely demanding, stringent reliability and signature requirements. Te towed SCBs must be capable of receiving very


low frequency (VLF) radio signals at any time and in all weather conditions and will have to operate in a complex dynamic environment, therefore requiring expertise in a wide range of disciplines. To achieve continuous communications the buoy must remain at a controlled depth below the sea surface, while remaining covert. Te SCB design must be able to respond and control its flight over a range of flow conditions, including large amplitude irregular waves coming from any direction. Under the teaming agreement, Babcock takes


responsibility for project management, safety, design and manufacturing, with SEA taking on TDP management, systems integration, systems engineer- ing and simulation and validation.


Surface combatants Bath Irons Works wins


additional DDG 51 Te US Navy has awarded General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, a subsidiary of General Dynamics, a US$663 million modification to a contract to construct DDG 116, an Arleigh Burke class guided- missile destroyer. DDG 116 is the fourth ship in the US Navy’s Arleigh


Burke construction-continuation programme. The yard is also under contract for the construction of DDG 115, the third ship in the programme.


Propulsion USS Ford tests alternative


fuel Te US Navy has announced that USS Ford (FFG 54) successfully transited from the vessel’s homeport in Everett, Washington, to San Diego in March using 25,000gallons of a 50/50 algae-derived, hydro-


Warship Technology May 2012


processed algal oil and petroleum F-76 blend in its LM 2500 gas turbines. Ford’s transit on the algal blend marks the first demonstration of the alternative fuel blend in an operational vessel. Meeting the Secretary of the Navy’s call for a


drop-in fuel replacement, no changes were required to the infrastructure of the ship or fuelling pier for the test. Te blended fuel was stationed on a barge in Puget Sound off Bremerton, Washington, and immediately available to for testing. The ship burned all 25,000 gallons during the


transit. Feedback from the ship’s engineers was favourable. Te crew reported no change in their typical procedures when receiving, handling, or processing the biofuel, and said operational perfor- mance of the fuel system and gas turbine engines on the blend was almost identical to operations on traditional F-76. NAVSEA’s alternative fuel effort is designed to help


the US Navy increase energy security, safeguard the environment, and support the Secretary of the Navy’s goals to demonstrate a Green Strike Group by 2012, deploy the ‘Great Green Fleet’ in 2016, and obtain 50% of Fleet’s liquid fuel from alternative sources by 2020. In a related development, in January 2012, Naval


Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) scientists and engineers successfully used biofuel to operate a small, two-cycle outboard engine designed to propel Combat Rubber Raiding Craſt. “We were able to run an algae-based diesel fuel


in our outboard engine, and were able to pass our performance requirements,” said Frank Hamilton, customer advocate, NSWC PCD Expeditionary and Maritime Systems Department. For the demonstration of the multi-fuel outboard


engine, NSWC PCD’s Maritime Mission Systems Division engineers ran the engine using the 50/50 algae- derived, hydro-processed algal oil and petroleum F-76 blend tested in amphibious transport vehicle Landing Craſt, Air Cushion /(LCAC) 91 at the warfare centre in December 2011.


Surface combatants Future USS Michael Murphy


completes ‘super trial’ Te future USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112), and the final ship of the original 62-ship procurement of the DDG 51 class, successfully completed a combined builder’s and acceptance ‘super trial’ on 9 March aſter spending four days underway in the Atlantic Ocean. Because of the maturity of the class, the US Navy


holds only one round of trials on each ship prior to delivery, instead of separate builder’s and accept- ance trials. Te super trial requires less time, fuel and


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News


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