Page 4: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 15, 1978)

Bell Aerospace Delivers 160-Ton

Air Cushion Landing Craft To Navy

New Navy craft skims over the water at Panama City, Fla., following the ceremony on July 28, when it was received from Bell Aerospace Textron. The JEFF(B) is an amphibious air cushion vehicle capable of hauling a 60-ton payload from ship-to- shore and inland.

The Navy has received its first advanced development air cushion vehicle, the JEFF(B), at the Na- val Coastal Systems Center, Pan- ama City, Fla.

Designed and constructed by

Bell Aerospace Textron, the

JEFF(B) is ready for a period of intense Navy testing. A complete checkout and shakedown of all systems has already been con- ducted.

The craft has a design gross weight of 325,000 pounds and has achieved speeds of more than 50 knots in the Gulf of Mexico test range. In addition, it has dem- onstrated ability to operate with two of its six engines shut down.

With a 50-knot over-water speed, coupled with the ability to proceed beyond the water's edge to offload a 60-ton payload of tanks and heavy artillery inland, the JEFF Craft will pave the way for adding an essential new di- mension to Navy/Marine Corps amphibious assault capability.

This flexibility can be translated into tactical surprise, increased survivability and a rapid buildup of forces ashore by the amphibi- ous forces of the future.

The JEFF Craft are the largest (in terms of design weight) mili- tary hovercraft in the world. They stand at the perimeter of known technology for ACVs. The craft will demonstrate new technology with unique subsystems, and dur- ing tests and trials will also dem- onstrate the military effective- ness of the concept of employing air cushion vehicles in amphibi- ous assault. The best features of the JEFF (A) and JEFF(B) will then be combined to design and build a production configuration.

The follow-on design and procure- ment of fleet hardware will be accomplished under the Landing

Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC) Ac- quisition Program.

Another craft, the JEFF (A), which is being constructed by the

Aerojet Liquid Rocket Company, will be delivered to the Navy this month. The two craft use very

Jeffrey Benson accepts the key to the

JEFF(B) for the Navy from John Kelly and

Robert Postle of Bell Aerospace Textron.

Lt. J.N. Mullican, USN, accepts the key to start the JEFF(B) from Comdr. Wal- lace G. Wilder, USN. different technical approaches to meet the same set of perform- ance requirements. Each will carry more than 60 tons of pay- load.

Developed under the Navy's

Amphibious Assault Landing

Craft (AALC) Program, the JEFF

Craft have been designed to oper- ate from the well decks of am- phibious ships. Riding on a cush- ion of air a few inches above the surface of water or land, the craft will be able to transition from the sea through the surf and across the beach to offload cargo—men, vehicles and equipment—on hard ground. With these craft, the

Navy will develop the technology and demonstrate the feasibility and military utility of employing

ACVs in an amphibious assault.

Presenting the key to the

JEFF(B) for Bell Aerospace Tex- tron at the July 28 ceremony was

John Kelly, vice president, New

Orleans, Operations, and Robert

Postle, Bell's program manager throughout the design and con- struction of the craft.

Accepting the key to the

JEFF(B) for the Navy was Jef- frey Benson, the Naval Sea Sys- tems Command AALC program manager in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Benson's remarks included congratulations to the Navy and to Bell personnel for their out- standing individual and team ef- forts, and a special note of ap- preciation to the families of all involved for their support in achieving this important mile- stone.

The key to the craft and cus- tody for its operations and main- tenance were transferred to

Comdr. Wallace G. Wilder, USN, the officer-in-charge of the AALC

Experimental Trials Unit, a field activity, and representative of the Commanding Officer, David

W. Taylor Naval Ship Research and Development Center, located at Carderock, Md.

Also on the podium for the de- livery ceremony were Melvin M.

Brown, AALC Program technical manager at DTNSRDC, Carde- rock; Casey Forrest, the current

Bell AALC Program manager;

Comdr. William A. Rehder, USN,

Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Con- version and Repair, New Orleans,

La.; Frank Higgins, manager of

Test Operations of the AALC

Experimental Trials Unit, and Lt.

J.N. Mullican, USN, Officer-in-

Charge of the JEFF(B).

Lieutenant Mullican, USN, BMI

C.L. Groover, and Adm. R.M.

Green, members of the ETU, ac- cepted the key, started the craft, brought it up on cushion, turned and proceeded down the ramp onto beautiful St. Andrew Bay for the first mission under com- plete Navy control.

Avondale To Construct

Two Multi-Product Ships

For Ogden Marine

Ogden Corporation, 277 Park

Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017, has announced that Ogden Ma- rine, Inc. will construct two U.S.- fiag 42,000-ton multi-product ves- sels at Avondale Shipyards. A long-term charter has been en- tered into for one vessel.

These ships, of Avondale design, will carry a wide range of refined products and crude oil. The new design meets all present and an- ticipated international and U.S. safety and environmental re- quirements, including segregated ballast, double bottom, collision avoidance, inert gas and modern electronic navigation equipment.

The design also achieves signifi- cant fuel economy by utilizing an advanced propulsion system that drives a special slow-speed pro- peller.

Having individual pumps for each tank, the vessel can handle more than 10 different types of product simultaneously. The ves- sel is 640 feet in length overall, 105Vo feet in beam with a 38-foot draft. This shallow draft config- uration enables entry into most

U.S. ports, and efficient service through the Panama Canal.

Ogden expects that this design will begin a new era for U.S.-flag vessels in flexibility of product and economy of operation. These ships will be offered for sale, charter and affreightment con- tracts, and trade-in of existing

U.S.-flag vessels can be negoti- ated.

Orion Gautreaux Named

Zapata Vice President % J^ Wft

W rJk m/M

Orion M. Gautreaux

Zapata Corporation, Zapata

Tower, P.O. Box 4240, Houston,

Texas 77001, has announced that

Orion M. Gautreaux has been named the company's vice presi- dent-dredging and marine con- struction. He will continue to serve as president of Williams-

McWilliams Co., Inc., Zapata's

New Orleans, La.-based dredging and marine construction subsid- iary.

Mr. Gautreaux has been asso- ciated with Williams-McWilliams and its predecessor companies for 42 years, and has been president of that company since 1969. A native of Louisiana, he holds a

BSME degree from Louisiana

State University. Mr. Gautreaux is an active member of several trade and professional organiza- tions, and currently is serving as chairman and president of the

World Dredging Association.

Williams-McWilliams Co., Inc., operates six hydraulic dredges that work in the Gulf Coast area, and constructs offshore and ma- rine structures at two fabrication yards in New Orleans. A Williams-

McWilliams affiliate operates

SEMAC I, a semisubmersible pipelay/derrick barge working in the North Sea.

In addition to dredging and marine construction operations,

Houston-based Zapata Corpora- tion's businesses include building and general construction, offshore drilling, marine services, petrole- um exploration, bulk shipping; coal and copper mining; and men- haden, anchovy and tuna fishing. 6 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News