Another POS from Ingalls Shipbuilding: (USS) Makin Island suffers engineering casualty

[unhappycamper]

With its final contractor trials on the horizon, the amphibious assault ship Makin Island remained at its pierside berth Aug. 20 in San Diego while crews continued to work through an undisclosed problem with the main reduction gear.


Makin Island suffers engineering casualty
By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Aug 23, 2010 5:33:08 EDT

With its final contractor trials on the horizon, the Navy’s new amphibious assault ship — Makin Island — remained sidelined at its pierside berth Aug. 20 in San Diego while crews continued to work through an undisclosed problem with the main reduction gear, the Navy said.

Crew members discovered the problem Aug. 5 while they were doing normal checks and maintenance, and teams soon began to do “corrective maintenance” on the reduction gear, said Lt. Cmdr. Chris Servello, a Naval Surface Forces spokesman in Coronado, Calif.

The command, along with 3rd Fleet and other officials, decided to defer planned at-sea underway training and keep Makin Island at Naval Base San Diego while ship’s crew, contractors and workers with the Southwest Regional Maintenance Center completed the maintenance, Servello said.

“The best thing to do is to keep the ship pierside,” he said. “It made more sense to take the time and do it here.”

Servello said he didn’t know when the work would be completed.

[jschurchin]

1. Not really the shipbuilders fault.

Whomever the sub-contractor was who built the reduction gear, their contract should be nulified and they need to be fined the cost of the correction. However, with the bloated bureaucracy that the Pentagon is, I am sure they will granted a big "Ata-Boy".

[Lasher]

2. Doesn't the shipbuilder select their subcontractors?

Surely they should have at least some accountability for what their subcontractors do. This ship is brand new, just commissioned a year ago.

[brendan120678]

3. Sometimes yes, sometimes no...

Occasionally the customer directs the Prime Contractor on who to use for certain subcontracts.

Sometimes the customer "goes around" the Prime Contractor for specialty components and order them on their own, and then supplies to the Prime Contractor as GFM.

Couple of other scenarios, but you get the idea.

More than likely there are a few different liability clauses in the subcontractor's Purchase Order they received from the Prime Contractor, so the Prime Contractor should be able to recoup at least part of the money paid to the subcontractor.

[Turbineguy]

5. Not really

The installation of the reduction gear could be the problem. Then it could be lube oil contamination. Even sabotage.

[krispos42]

4. Reduction gears... not cheap!

Those things are massive and precision-made.


I was at the USS Massachusettes about a month ago and you could see those puppies in the engineering spaces. Helical gears maybe 8 feet across and a foot thick. Lots of them!

Shone line new, too!