Page 37: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 1991)

U.S. Navy To Use Floating

Accommodation Facility

At Newport News Ship

ATrane Integrated Comfort™ sys- tem is part of a unique Floating

Accommodation Facility built to house the duty crews of aircraft car- riers while the giant ships are in port for refitting. The comfort sys- tem includes Trane HVAC and build- ing automation equipment exclu- sively and is fully direct digitally controlled. Accommodating the 250 to 300 duty crew of a super carrier, the vessel includes bunk areas, gal- ley, mess halls, sick bay and class- rooms.

The Floating Accommodation

Facility (FAF) will be used by the

U.S. Navy at Newport News Ship- building. Construction was con- tracted to McDermott Inc. shipyard ofGulfport,Miss. Carl E.Woodward

Inc. served as general contractor for the superstructure portion of the

FAF, with the involvement of vari- ous subcontractors.

The plan for building the FAF was unusual in that the hull and the superstructure were constructed separately. The hull was built on land and launched into the water. It was then partially sunk and the entire superstructure (a four-story building) was slowly winched into place on the hull, sliding on greased steel rails.

With only six months from start to shipping out, construction for the

FAF was definitely fast track. In- strumental to achieving this were the Trane programmable control modules mounted on the Trane Cli- mate Changer-R air handling units.

These modules allowed individual units to be started up under stand- alone direct digital control and then later tied into the Tracer-R building automation system. This staged startup made faster overall com- missioning possible. During the fi- nal preparation of the vessel for launching, Newport News Field

Engineer Leigh Goodwin said, "Trane delivered everything they promised. The Tracer is ready to » go.

The fully electronic control sys- tem was originally specified as pneu- matic and was changed to direct digital control at Newport News

Shipbuilding's request. The ship- building firm has several automa- tion systems in service at their New- port News, Va., yards, including another Tracer system.

If the Floating Accommodation

Facility proves a successful alterna- tive to shore housing of crews, it may serve as a prototype for others like it.

Seaway Vessels Will Be

Able To Carry More Cargo

Vessels that use the St. Lawrence

Seaway will now be allowed to carry as much as 100 metric tons of addi- tional cargo as a result of an in-

August, 1991 crease in the maximum vessel draft (the depth of a vessel's keel below the waterline).

The U.S. Department of

Transportation's St. Lawrence Sea- way Development Corporation and the Canadian St. Lawrence Seaway

Authority said they will permit an increase in the maximum vessel draft for Seaway locks and the bina- tional shipping route from 26 feet to 29 feet 1 inch. It is the first increase since 1970 and the fourth in the

Seaway's 32-year history. "This draft increase will have a positive economic impact on Sea- way users and represents another step toward making the Seaway more competitive," U.S. Seaway

Administration Stanford E. Parris said. "Additional draft goes directly on the shipper's bottom line."

Mr. Parris said the Great Lakes/

Seaway maritime community for years has urged the Seaway agen- cies to increase the maximum draft.

The agencies carefully studied the suggestion and have now determined a small increase is feasible, safe and cost effective. He said he and his

Canadian counterpart, Seaway Au- thority president Glendon R.

Stewart, are committed to continu- ing efforts to study methods of fur- ther increasing the maximum ves- sel draft for Seaway users. 39

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