Page 16: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 1977)

Todd Seattle Division Lays Keel

For Royal Australian Navy Frigate

Shown at the HMAS Adelaide keel-laying ceremony are, left to right: Capt. S.P.

Passantino, USN, Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, USN, Seattle;

Capt. J.D. Beecher, USN, U.S. Navy Ship Acquisition Project Manager, FFG Pro- gram; Carl R. Meurk, general manager, Todd-Seattle Division; Commodore R.G.

Loosli, RAN, Australian Embassy Naval Attache; Capt. N.R. Berlyn, RAN, Australian

FFG Project Director; Comdr. M.G. Hill, USN, FFG Resident Project Officer; Ward E.

Squires, Todd-Seattle Division Program Manager; Comdr. J.C. Ballantine, USN,

Deputy Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, Seattle, and John T.

Gilbride Jr., Todd-Seattle Division assistant general manager-production.

Significant events occurred with keel-laying for the HMAS Ade- laide at Todd Shipyards Corpora- tion, Seattle Division, on July 29.

This will be the first of two guided missile frigates (FFG-7 Class) which are being built especially for the Royal Australian Navy.

On hand for the ceremony were guests from the City of Adelaide, along with Rear Adm. J.D. Mur- ray, Commandant of the 13th

Naval District.

Ward E. Squires, Seattle Di- vision FFG Project Manager, noted that the HMAS Adelaide will be the first delivery of a com- bat vessel by the Division to a foreign government since before the First World War.

Principal characteristics of these multipurpose ships include: length, 445 feet; beam, 45 feet; displacement, 3,600 tons; horse- power, 40,000 and speed, 28 knots.

Nineteen of the FFG's have been contracted for by the Navy. Op- tions for additional vessels, which have both guns and missiles as armament, are expected to be ex- ercised in the next fiscal year.

The HMAS Adelaide is named after the capital city of the Aus- tralian State of South Australia.

This follows the precedent estab- lished of naming major Common- wealth naval units after capital cities. Adelaide also was the name of a previous Australian light- cruiser which saw action during

World War II and left service in 1949.

The principal guest and speaker for the ceremony was Commo- dore R. Geoffrey Loosli, Naval

Attache from the Australian

Embassy in Washington, D.C. He explained the significance of this event: "It has been nearly 12 years since Australia has had a keel laid for a destroyer-size na- val vessel." Commodore Loosli emphasized the close ties between the United States and Australian

Navies, which go back to World

War II. He stated: "Australia looks forward to association with

Seattle, both from the standpoint of construction at Todd and hous- ing the Australian crew and their families in the local area."

The two Australian ships with a value of one hundred million dollars will be an asset to the general Seattle economy. The

Division is upgrading and ex- panding its facilities to meet the challenge of this new construction program. Workforce at Todd's

Seattle Division may grow from the present 1,300 employees to over 3,000 before the FFG Pro- gram is completed.

Seacoast Electric

Announces New

West Coast Locations

Seacoast Electric Corporation, with offices and warehouses at

Passaic, N.J., and in Houston,

Texas, has announced a West

Coast expansion.

They have acquired the inven- tories of S.J. Electric Cable, for- merly of Oakland, Calif. "This, together with our substantial existing inventories of marine cables, stuffing, and terminal tubes, plus shipboard accessories, will enable our Los Angeles and

Burlingame locations to provide the Western Seaboard with ex- tensive on-site product availabil- ity," reported David L. Cannold, president of Seacoast.

Bill Brill, formerly of A.J.

Electric, is now Seacoast's West

Coast agent.

Title XI Approval For

Two IOT Subsidiaries

The Assistant Secretary, U.S.

Department of Commerce, Mari- time Administration, has ap- proved in principle the applica- tions of SHIPCO 2297 Inc. and

SHIPCO 2298 Inc. for Title XI guarantees to aid in the construc- tion of one 165,000-dwt tanker each. The two corporations are wholly owned subsidiaries of IOT

Corporation (IOT), 1400 Three

Parkway, Philadelphia, Pa.

Both tankers are being con- structed at Avondale Shipyards,

Inc., Avondale, La. The first (SHIPCO 2297) is scheduled for delivery between May 30, 1978, and September 30, 1978; the sec- ond (SHIPCO 2298) is scheduled for delivery between September 30, 1978, and January. 30, 1979.

The estimated actual costs are $83.9 million and $85.8 million, respectively.

The tankers are being built pursuant to construction con- tracts between Standard Oil Com- pany of Ohio (SOHIO) and Avon- dale Shipyards, Inc. (Avondale).

They are planned to be used to transport crude oil from Valdez,

Alaska, to ports on the Western

Coast of the United States. These vessels are the third and fourth in a series of four hulls to be built at Avondale. The first two hulls, together with two being built at

Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., have also received conditional Ti- tle XI guarantees. All six ships are being built to carry Alaskan 011 for SOHIO.

The two tankers will be time chartered by the applicants to

SPC Shipping, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of SOHIO. The time charters are for 24 years on a "Hell or High Water" basis. In- terocean Management Corpora- tion, another wholly owned sub- sidiary of IOT, will act as managing agent for the two ves- sels.

Literature Describes

New MIECO Loran C

MIECO, Division of Polarad

Electronics Corporation, has in- troduced a new MIECO model

CDX-II dual read-out Loran C navigation receiver that is fully automatic from turn on. To op- erate, the user selects the desired slave stations in his geographical area and turns on the set.

One unique feature is a cath- ode ray tube (CRT) display that may be turned on for signal anal- ysis, or left off if desired. Power supply is universal: 115VAC, 12, 24,32VDC.

The equipment measures 10y2 inches wide by 9y2 inches high by 12 inches deep and weighs 25 pounds.

It comes complete with anten- na, active antenna coupler, 50 feet of interconnecting cable, shock mounts and operating manual.

The CDX-II will select and track the third cycle of all eight pulses of the master and selected secondaries (slaves).

A free color catalog sheet is available from Stan Berger, Mar- keting Director, MIECO, division of Polarad Electronics Corp., 109

Beaver Court, Cockeysville, Md. 21030.

Jerry D. Icenhower

Named President

Glitsch Cryogenics

Jerry D. Icenhower

Jerry D. Icenhower has been appointed president and general manager of Glitsch Cryogenics,

Inc., with duties to include full operational control of the orga- nization.

Simultaneously, Jimmy A. Ot- tinger was appointed vice presi- dent of production and will be responsible for all phases of man- ufacturing.

Jimmy A. Ottinger

Based in Dallas, Texas, GCI is a licensee of Technigaz, S.A., and manufactures and sells the Tech- nigaz Stainless Steel Liner used in Cryogenic Maritime Service.

Glitsch is a wholly owned sub- sidiary of the Foster Wheeler

Energy Corporation, a worldwide engineering, manufacturing and construction organization which operates through 26 subsidiaries.

Mr. Icenhower was formerly vice president of GCI, and prior to that was manager of engineer- ing for GCI's parent company,

Glitsch, Inc. Presently, he is also president and chief executive of- ficer of Glitsch Field Services,

Inc., another of the Glitsch, Inc. subsidiaries located in the Dallas area.

Mr.' Ottinger is an electrical engineer and was formerly plant manager of GCI. He has been with the company for the past three years. Prior to that, he was facilities manager for Haggar,

Inc. 18 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News