Mike,
The R/V Savannah was successfully launched at the Washburn & Doughty Yard in East Booth Bay, Maine on May 25, 2001. On the 31st of May the wheel house was set in place by a crane (the house was too tall for the building shed and could not be set until after the launch). The Yard is busy finishing out the wheel house, setting electronics and wiring systems. Sea trials and stability tests will be conducted in August with the Savannah being turned over to us in Booth Bay August 24, 2001. A gala celebration is being planned for the R/V Savannah on September 5th at the Skidaway campus with the Savannah Symphony playing as well as a military band. All are welcome to attend.
Cheers, Braxton
Mike,
You have seen Dick's phase-out dates. Keep in mind that no dates are in a drop dead category - we can always extend a ship in service or shut it down early. We and the entire community will not want to see long gaps between shut-down and bring replacements on line as was done at Scripps and Washington during the last cycle of replacements. (WHOI dodged that bullet to some degree - only 6 months between A-II's sale and Atlantis' delivery.)
WHOI is now developing a design for a 55' replacement for our old 47' Asterias. The current intention is that it will be bought with WHOI funds. There has been a series of meetings with the user science community here and with a Naval Architect, Roger Long. No contract discussions yet. Roger Long is the designer of ODU's Fay Slover, currently being built at the local Gladding Hearn yard. They also built UNH's Gulf Challenger, also by Roger Long and very similar. I don't know what the timing on that will be.
I believe you are aware of the status of WHOI's Coastal SWATH - We are in the process of re-bidding it because the previously negotiated price would have been more than WHOI could (really wanted to) afford. - By 50%.
The current re-bid effort is a proper "due diligence" step, reflecting the amount of money and time we have invested in the project to date as well as our belief that it is the right craft for the job. I personally am not optimistic that we will find it for an acceptable price, but it may be that some foreign yard will be able to keep the price down due to government help or subsidy. That is what we are hoping for.
Regards, Joe
1. Back at the end of April (status report 4/29/01), because of the concern for the progress towards the posted schedule, four interim milestones were established. The first of these milestones was scheduled to complete 5/29. The landing of module 12-14 actually completed 6/14. I expect that we will get an assessment of progress and a realistic delivery date by the contractor early in July.
2. AMI flipped module 12-14 on 6/12/01 in order to complete down-hand welding.
3. Module 12-14 was landed on 6/14/01.
4. Module 23 was turned over to complete welding and the fitting of the main gen-sets on the foundation plates. After the plates are marked the gen-sets will be removed and then reinstalled after the module is landed.
5. The following equipment arrived in the yard this week: gen-sets and the boat davits.
6. Pictures of the following modules have been added to the web site this week: 12-14, 23, and an updated current view.
Regards, Robert
Mike: … We still are shooting for the same dates discussed at the last Glosten meeting that you were at. Until a definite funding decision is known, I doubt those dates will change. We are very close to finalizing the initial design. Looks like 226 feet with an 18-foot draft. Endurance is a big question because of its effect on draft, size, etc. We are still going around on that. Discussions are for 45 or 60 days. I suspect the later will be the end product. We, Alaska, want the larger endurance, WHOI seems to lean toward the 45 days. Glosten has been very conservative in estimating fuel consumption, i.e. using high figures. I believe we will end up with the 60-day endurance with both parties being happy. I think the design will produce a really good, capable ship whose ops are very flexible.
Cheers. Tom
Mike-
Our DRAFT "Concept" design has been updated based on comments from our committee (Delaware Research Vessel Committee or DRVC). The design review meeting was held here in Lewes on April 18th. The drawings will be forward to FIC in the next week for their review and comment. The target date for completion of the "concept" design is September 1, 2001 at which time the following will be available:
Lines
General Arrangement - all decks
Outboard profile
Typical Midships section
Preliminary Deck Machinery/frames/towing
Outline Specification
Preliminary Cost Estimates
Preliminary Tonnage
Preliminary Stability/Trim/Weights
Preliminary Speed/Powering
Preliminary Power Requirements
Ship's Motion Estimates
Right now the vessel is 138' LOA, 33 feet in beam, with a 9-0" draft. Tonnage is approximately 490 tons (International) with two portable vans on deck.
Matt