Page 3: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (July 15, 1983)

Adm. James S. Gracey

Guard is being funded reasonably well to procure equipment.

His solution to these problems is: "One way we can compensate for that lack of people is to take full advantage of state-of-the-art technology—computers, electron- ics and sensors—the whole range of ways to work smarter, not harder. Fortunately, the high technological industries are rap- idly increasing in both availability and capability, while at the same time costs are going down. We have to implant that technological innovation in our ship design and operation. The COMDAC equip- ment on our 270-foot Bear Class cutters is a good example. We have probably reduced the crew of these ships by one-third through computerizing navigation, com- munications, engineering and weapons control capability."

Admiral Gracey pointed out that increasing the use of technology does not necessarily increase ca- pability but it does increase effi- ciency. When you reduce crew size, he advised, every component on the ship can be reduced—evapora- tors, galley, berthing, heating—re- sulting in savings in raw mate- rials for initial construction and energy savings during operation.

These savings can compensate for being "people-poor" in the future.

The Coast Guard's aim, accord- ing to Admiral Gracey, is to as- sure its officers and enlisted men that they "will be operating the best equipment—the best boats and best cutters available. That means quality construction; it means people-oriented vessels that are safe and comfortable. And that is why we are looking at innova- tive hull designs such as SWATH and SES—ships that will operate at good speed, comfortably, in all kinds of weather. Not only must our ships have the legs to go the distance but our people must be able to man them at peak effi- ciency when the going gets rough.

We already have two Bell-Halter

SES's operating in the Caribbean and a third will be delivered later this year. Also, we are designing a mid-size cutter, somewhere be- tween our 210-foot cutters and the 82/95-foot patrol boats that will be a SWATH vessel."

The speaker pointed out that the government expects the Coast

Guard to keep its ships operating forever and this requires reliabil- ity and maintainability. To meet this expectation, the Admiral said: "It has to be built-in at the design stage and requires quality con- struction. We generally build for a ship life of 30 years. But experi- ence shows our cutters have to last much longer. We are currently doing a ship-life extension pro- gram on our 180-foot buoy tenders (built in the '40s) to carry them on (continued on page 10)

Adm. James S. Gracey has been Comman- dant of the U.S. Coast Guard since May 27, 1982. He was nominated for this po- sition by President Reagan while serving in the dual role of Commander, Atlantic Area, and Commander, Third Coast Guard Dis- trict, in New York City. He was graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, New

London, CT, in 1949, and received a Mas- ter of Business Administration degree from

Harvard Graduate School of Business

Administration in 1956. During his career with the Coast Guard he has served in in- creasingly responsible posts onboard ves- sels and shore stations on the West Coast,

Great Lakes and the East Coast and at

Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington,

D.C.

CHOCKTITE

New

POURABLE MARINE

CHOCKING COMPOUND

Eliminates Metal

Blocks and Shims also:

I Approved by: ABS, Lloyds, DnV, N.K.K.

Maintains Alignment • Exact Fit • Durable • Non-Fretting • Self-extinguishing

High Compressive Strength

PALJV1ER PROOUCTTS, IIMC.

Worcester, Pa 19490 • (800) 341-4408

TWX (TLX) 510-660-7736

Write 493 on Reader Service Card

JUDGE US BY THE

COMPANIES WE KEEP r BEHGEN DIESEL

MaK ztftf <& GMT

AKAHAKA DIESELS

WARTS I LA KOBE DIESEL

GOTAVERKEN

GOLTENS

THE DIESEL REPAIR EXPERTS.

GOLTEN MARINE CO. INC.

HEADQUARTERS: 160 Van Brunt St.,

Brooklyn, NY 11231 Phone: (212) 855-7200

Telex: 22-2916 Cable: GOLTENS

BRANCHES: Wilmington, Calif. • Miami, Fla.

Fairhaven, Mass. • Rotterdam, Holland • Kowloon, Hong Kong

Oslo, Norway • Telemark, Norway • Singapore

SAVE FUEL

With Fluidyne's Helix®

Fuel Oil Flowmeters

Install Fluidyne's Helix

Marine Fuel Consumption

Measurement System

Fluidyne Helix fuel flowmeters have become the standard of the marine industry for energy conservation programs because they provide: [U ±0.25% accuracy with bunker C

SI Simple, low-cost installation

SI Freedom from mechanical failures

SI U.S. Coast Guard approval

Si Real-time flow rate information

SJ Temperature-compensated data

Ef Remote flow rate and total data

Computer-compatible data outputs

Fluidyne marine fuel consumption measuring systems are the choice of Matson, Delta Lines,

Exxon Marine, Texaco and many other fleet operators. For full technical data, contact: fi

Pluidyne

A DIVISION OF ELECTRODATA INC.

P.O. BOX 11366

SANTA ROSA, CA 707-527-0410 TELEX 176713

July 15, 1983 Write 804 on Reader Service Card Write 693 on Reader Service Card 7