Page 7: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2, 2010)

Northrop Grumman Corporation was awarded a $186.6m cost plus fixed fee contract from the U.S. Navy to continue the engineering and design effort for the nation's newest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78).

The company's Shipbuilding sector is the prime contractor. This planned con- tract modification funds additional de- sign, planning and system integration activities and analysis to support CVN 78 construction. "This planned contract modification is essential to continuing the ship design to support construction," said Mike Shaw- cross, vice president of aircraft carrier construction program. "Now that the de- sign is in the three-dimensional product model our effort is focused on the pro- duction of instructions for the shops and ship assembly. We're excited to continue progress on the engineering and con- struction of CVN 78."

Named after the 38th president of the

United States, Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) is the first ship of the new Gerald R. Ford class whose keel was laid Nov. 14, 2009.

The Ford class will continue the legacy of highly capable U.S. Navy nuclear- powered aircraft carrier ship platforms.

Enhancements incorporated into the de- sign include flight deck changes, im- proved weapons handling systems, and a redesigned island, all resulting in in- creased aircraft sortie rates. It will also include new nuclear power plants; in- creased electrical power generation ca- pacity; allowance for future technologies; and reduced workload for the sailors, translating to a smaller crew size and re- duced operating costs for the Navy.

June 2010 www.marinelink.com 7

NG Continues Design of Gerald R. Ford

Carnival Contracts for Two Ships

Princess Cruises, a unit of Carnival

Corporation & plc, announced that contracts to build two 3,600-passenger ships have been finalized with Fin- cantieri. The 141,000-ton ships are scheduled to enter service in spring 2013 and spring 2014.

Mid-America Delivers 3 Tug Boats

Mid America Shipyards LLC of Ft.

Smith, Arkansas, delivered three tug boats to MNO of Suriname. Two ves- sels are 31.5 x 14 ft. with a hull depth of 5.5 ft. and an eye level of 21 ft. Each vessel is equipped with two Cummins engines QSL9 @ 330 hp each continu- ous duty, supplied by Mid South Cum- mins). The 660 hp tugs came complete with living quarters featuring a set of bunk beds, toilet, sink, shower, refrig- erator, hotplate, air conditioning, 9 kW genset, two 10-ton winches, 3-in. shafts and 38-in. props. The third boat was a single engine 135 hp (John

Deere) helper tug. It is 25.5 x 8 ft. wide with a 3.5 ft. deep hull. Its engine was provided by C K Power.