Page 30: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 2023)

NATIONAL SECURITY MULTI-MISSION VESSEL (NSMV)

NSMV POWER PLAY

The quest to build a series of five National Security Multi-Mission Vessels (NSMVs), which will serve as training ships for five U.S. maritime academies, has drawn a broad cadre of suppliers. The powerplant was a main focus, helping to evolve the schools from steam power plants to a modern propulsion package.

By Greg Trauthwein

SMVs being built for the maritime academies is Wabtec has built thousands of tier four diesel engines for trains, widely lauded as a ‘win’ for U.S. shipbuilding, “so they have the capability and experience to build reliable, tier an example of commercial shipbuilding practices four engines without the need for scrubbers or aftertreatment. applied to a government shipbuilding project. That’s a huge advantage,” said Mankevich.

NCentral to the long-term success of the Philly “Wabtec Corporation is proud to power each of the ? ve NS-

Shipyard-built NSMVs will be the performance of the ship’s MVs for the U. S. Maritime Administration with the most ad- power system, a modern, proven commercial solution. Anchor- vanced, fuel ef? cient and clean diesel engine technology in the ing the platform are Wabtec’s 16V250MDC, EPA Tier 4, IMO world, built at Wabtec’s engine manufacturing facility in Grove

Tier III marine diesel engines, a total of 20 powerplants – four City, Pa.,” said Tamara Gromacki, Vice President - Marine, per ship – designed to provide the power generation for the Stationary Power and Drill, Wabtec. “Our engines maintain ships’ electric grid, including the power and propulsion system. world class fuel ef? ciency while meeting the latest EPA Tier 4

The marine diesel engines plus accessories were delivered to emissions regulations, which reduces engine NOx emissions by

Wabtec channel partner Cummins Sales & Service, who in turn 76% over previous engine models, without the use of costly af- packaged the engines into marine gensets for the ? ve ships. The tertreatment systems.” There are four Wabtec 4.5MW engines cumulative propulsion solution is delivered by GE Power Con- per ship, combined with a Hyundai electric generator going to version. For GE Power Conversion the NSMV program repre- switchboards to a 6.6 kv distribution. From there, transform- sents a more than $100m contract [which included the prime ers convert from 6.6 kv down to 3.3 kv, and then into variable movers], signed with Philly Shipyard in July of 2020. “Nor- frequency drives and ? nally into the propulsion motors. “The mally when we deal with the US Navy, and you get the ? rst ship propulsion motors are tandem units that sit in series, and AC and then the second ship maybe comes three, four years later,” induction motors connected to a shaft, which then connects to said Steven Mankevich, Naval Business Development Direc- the propeller,” said Mankevich. “The beauty of the AC induc- tor, GE Power Conversion. “In this case, we had ? ve ships in a tion motor is that it has been around for well over a hundred very short period of window.” The GE Power Conversion solu- years. It was invented and ? nalized by Nikola Tesla. There’s no tion starts with the Wabtec prime movers, a company that was doubt that the AC induction motor is still one of the most robust a former GE transportation division, which brought familiarity. technologies out there because of the simpli? cation.”

Training the Next Generation

As described bn the previous story, part of the beauty of the new training ships and modern equipment out? t will be the abil- ity to train cadets on the equipment they are likely to see when rotating out of education and into the commercial market. “This will be the ? rst time that an EPA Tier 4 Certi? ed

Engine, from any OEM, will be installed into a newbuild government-owned vessel,” said

Gromacki. “A unique aspect of this project is that the Maritime School of Engineering will include Wabtec’s EGR Clean Diesel Engine

Technology as part of its curriculum, permit-

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