Page 12: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (October 1973)

Promotions And Management Changes

Announced By Newport News Shipbuilding

A number of management changes, including promotions for four men and structural changes that consolidate certain functions and improve organization and com- munications through several eche- lons, were announced by John P.

Diesel, president and chief execu- tive officer of Newport News Ship- building, Newport News, Va.

It was also announced by Ten- neco Inc., parent company of the shipyard, that R.E. McGee, presi- dent, has assumed the additional duties of chairman of the board of

Newport News Shipbuilding. As board chairman, he replaces L.C.

Ackerman, who recently resigned. "These changes," Mr. Diesel said,, "are the final step in a re- organization program that was be- gun last year and carried out in several phases. The overall effect of the program is to strengthen our management controls and im- prove our reporting procedures."

Mr. Diesel pointed out that a main point of the reorganization program is a delegation of author- ity that had been centered in his office. "We will be delegating more authority at several levels to those we find capable of assuming the added responsibility," he said.

Mr. Diesel also announced that

John R. (Jack) Kane, vice presi- dent in charge of engineering, is taking early retirement effective next January 1.

Promotions, effective September 1, went to the following:

L. Felix Bledsoe, chief design engineer in the machinery design division, becomes director of engi- neering and research, succeeding

Mr. Kane.

David B. Benadof, director of management and technical services, becomes director of production control and material management.

John P. Moran, manager of fa- cilities planning, becomes director of facilities, replacing F.V. Daly, who moves to the recently created the 10-2510 Series

BELL LOGGER

Automatically records Bridge engine orders and Engineroom reply, throttle setting, actual shaft speed and direction. It also logs Control location and such other information as you may require: propeller pitch, course, speed, use of thruster, etc. It prints data for each shaft, if a multiscrew vessel, records it period

New delay circuits, controllable from the panel, eliminate needless repetitive printouts as when shaft speed varies slightly due to heavy weather, to minor throttle adjustments, or while the ship is responding to a change in speed demand.

A built-in crystal controlled time stan- dard and an emergency power supply ensure ically with the date and exact time to the continuin9 accuracV under dually any ship-* hnarH mnHitinn QnliH ctato /.ir/M • itr\> I nearest second. board condition. Solid st£te circuitry and plug-in modules make this a system of high

Somewhat smaller and more compact reliability and easy maintenance. than the earlier models, with a wider tape for greater data capacity, the Logger is designed for platform mounting in any convenient location. It presents its information contin- uously in a lighted digital display and perma- nently records the identical data on tape for easy reading as a sequence of precisely timed events. enscliel

The Henschel Bell Logger is often used as the ship's master clock. Any number of remote digital clock units can be provided in a system to show identical exact time any- where on board.

Write for complete information and data sheets. Or telephone 617 388 1103.

II CORPORATION A UNIT OF GENERAL SIGNAL 14 Cedar Street, Amesbury, Massachusetts 01913. commercial ships division to re- solve complex welding problems anticipated in the construction of cryogenic containers.

Messers Bledsoe, Benadof and

Moran will report to Mr. Diesel.

C. Wayne Hasty, manager of community affairs, becomes direc- tor of public relations. He replaces

Robert B. Terrell, who will become a liaison man with Tenneco's

Washington office and handle other matters related to state and Fed- eral laws and regulations as they affect the shipyard.

A major aspect of the changes is a management realignment which streamlines the executive echelons by causing fewer people to report directly to the president. "This improvement will conserve my time and bring about a more orderly and efficient method of de- cision-making and internal com- munications," Mr. Diesel said.

F. Hunter Creech, secretary and general counsel, acquires the addi- tional assignment of community af- fairs director, and three of the po- sitions previously reporting to Mr.

Diesel will now be under Mr.

Creech. Those involved in this change are W.L. Robertson, assist- ant to the chief executive officer, who will continue to work on spe- cial projects and also work in the field of marine insurance; Y.B.

Williams Jr., a member of the president's staff, who will handle community relations, and Mr.

Hasty, the new director of public relations. Mr. Terrell will also re- port to Mr. Creech.

As a result of two other changes,

Harry Monroe Jr., director of pro- duction control and planning, will report to Mr. Benadof, and D.B.

Thomas, director of employee de- velopment, will report to D.T.

Savas, vice president in charge of personnel and industrial relations. "I am pleased to announce that

Jack Kane has agreed to stay on until the end of the year to help ease Felix Bledsoe into his new and demanding responsibilities,"

Mr. Diesel said.

Mr. Kane came to the shipyard in 1936, shortly after receiving his engineering degree from the Uni- versity of Michigan. In 1940, he took a master's degree from the

Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology.

He held a variety of engineering assignments, becoming assistant chief engineer in 1955, chief engi- neer in 1957, and director of engi- neering in 1966. Last January, he was named vice president in charge of engineering. "We are fortunate to have a man like Felix Bledsoe with us," Mr.

Diesel said. "He has long service and wide shipbuilding experience, and I am sure that his competence will serve him well in his new po- sition."

Mr. Bledsoe, a 1940 graduate in mechanical engineering from the

Alabama Polytechnic Institute, joined the shipyard that year and was assigned to the machine shop.

He moved to the machinery de- sign division in 1962 as assistant chief engineer, and four years later he was named chief engineer. "Dave Benadof's new assignment is of special importance," Mr. Die- sel said, "because it represents a consolidation of all the yard's ma- terial functions, including purchas- ing, transportation and material control, as well as production con- trol. This consolidation will give us a more efficient flow of mate- rials and a more systematic process from raw materials to finished product."

Mr. Benadof holds a bachelor of science degree from the University of Houston and a master's degree from Rice University. He joined

Tenneco at Houston in 1960 and was with Tenneco Oil Company until 1968, when he moved to cor- porate computer systems as a staff advisor. He was transferred to the shipyard in January 1972 as direc- tor of management and technical services.

Mr. Moran took his civil engi- neering degree from Villanova Uni- versity in 1960. He was with the

U.S. Navy's facilities engineering command until 1965 and with the engineering consulting firm of Tip- petts - Albbett - McCarthy - Stratton until 1971. He was a project mana- ger with National Bulk Carriers,

Inc. at the time he joined New- port News Shipbuilding last Janu- ary. Mr. Moran also holds a mas- ter's degree in business administra- tion from the City University of

New York.

Mr. Hasty holds a bachelor's de- gree in journalism from North- western University, and in 1962 he received a master's degree in jour- nalism, with a major in public re- lations, from Ohio University. He joined the shipyard in 1962, was appointed assistant advertising and publicity manager five years later, and became community affairs manager in 1969.

NKK Contracts To Build

Two 360,000-Dwt

Tankers For Esso

Contracts have been signed be- tween Esso Tankers Inc., an affili- ate of Exxon Corporation, and

Nippon Kokan Kabashiki Kaisha,

Japan, for the construction of two 360,000-dwt-type crude oil carriers.

The 45,000-hp turbine-driven tankers, which are scheduled to be constructed by NKK at its Tsu

Shipyard, will be delivered in 1976 and will be used in Exxon's inter- national tanker service.

Conference On LNGs

To Be Held Oct. 23-24

A conference on ocean transpor- tation of liquefied natural gas, cov- ering vessel design and construc- tion, financing, chartering, classi- fication and safety will be held in

London, October 23-24, according to the Shipbuilding & Shipping

Record, sponsor of the event. Fur- ther details on the conference may be obtained from the publication at 33-39 Bowling Green Lane, Lon- don, BC1R One, England. 14 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News