Page 14: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 15, 1981)

Ship Structure Committee

Offers Three Free

Technical Reports

The Ship Structure Committee, an inter- agency advisory committee dedicated to im- proving the structure of ships, has recently published three new technical reports that are available free of charge.

SSC-294, "Further Survey of In-Service

Performance of Structural Details," is the completion of an earlier SSC Report (SSC- 272) that defined and cataloged structural details from 86 commercial and naval ves- sels showing their incidence of failure from a variety of causes, including poor design or workmanship, neglect, or heavy weather.

With this substantial data base, meaning- ful statistical analyses can be conducted to provide information on detail selection, proper fabrication, and proper maintenance and repair.

SSC-295, "Non-destructive Inspection of

Longitudinal Stiffener Butt Welds in Com- mercial Vessels," is the result of an investi- gation of the quality control requirements for the subject weldments. A survey of past casualty reports and repair shipyard expe- rience indicated that the current accepted procedures are sufficient.

SSC-296, "Review of Fillet Weld Strength

Parameters for Shipbuilding," details the fillet weld specification of 12 code-setting bodies and presents a developmental pro- cedure for a rational analysis of required weld strength. Further effort in the analy- sis of fillet welds is planned.

For copies of these reports, an index of past reports or further information contact

Secretary, Ship Structure Committee, U.S.

Coast Guard Headquarters, G-MMT/13,

Washington, D.C. 20593.

New Drydock Doubles Capacity

At Newport News Shipbuilding

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Workmen put the finishing touches on Newport News

Shipbuilding's new $28-million drydock facility for the overhaul and repair of submarines for the U.S. Navy.

A $28-million drydock facility that virtu- ally doubles Newport News Shipbuilding's capacity for submarine overhaul and repair was opened recently with the arrival of the

USS Lafayette (SSBN-616). The nuclear- powered ballistic missile submarine entered

Dry Dock No. 4 to begin an 18-month, $75- million renovation.

Newport News currently has contracts to- taling about $338 million to overhaul five submarines, and contracts to plan for sim- ilar work on four other submarines. It is the only private shipyard performing this type of work on Navy submarines.

The drydock construction began in Janu- ary 1979, and was performed by Tidewater-

Kiewit, a joint venture between Tidewater

Construction Corporation (Norfolk) and Pe- ter Kiewit Sons' Company (Omaha, Ne- braska), and Conrad Brothers, Inc. (Chesa- peake) .

The new drydock is 525 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 44 feet deep. An inactive shipway (No. 7) was demolished to make way for the dock and adjoining support facilities.

One and a half acres of land was reclaimed from the James River to serve as an addi- tional bulkhead.

The drydock features a new type of steel staging that slides out from the drydock wall to reach the submarine's hull. Two pumps enable the dock to be pumped out in less than 4y2 hours. The floating remov- able gate to the drydock was fabricated by the shipyard.

Newport News currently has 10 Navy ships in various phases of construction: two aircraft carriers and eight Los Angeles class submarines. The shipyard is also jumboizing two ships for commercial customers.

Wellspring Barge Seeks

Title XI On 75 Barges

To Cost $22.5 Million

Wellspring Barge Partnership, Minneap- olis, Minn., has applied to the Maritime Ad- ministration for a Title XI guarantee to aid in financing the construction of 75 covered hopper barges—40 to be 195-foot, rake-type barges and the remaining 35 to be 200-foot, box-type barges. All are intended for use on the inland rivers of the United States.

The barges are being built by Equitable

Shipyards, Inc., New Orleans, La., with de- liveries scheduled from July through De- cember 1981. The requested guarantee is for $19,723,594, or 871/. percent of the total $22,541,250 estimated cost. 16 Write 281 on Reader Service Card Maritime Reporter/Engineering News