by Jaime Guillet

http://www.neworleanscitybusiness.com/

Northrop Grumman employees stand in front of the companys newest ship, the LPD New York, which was built at Northrops Avondale facility. (Photo by Jaime Guillet)

The Northrop Grumman Corp. shipbuilding sector has undergone major renovations, but company executives say they will have little effect on the 268-acre Avondale shipyard.

On Jan. 28, Northrop consolidated its two former shipbuilding sectors Newport News, Va., and Ship Systems, which includes Avondale and Pascagoula, Miss., into one division Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding.

As the nations sole industrial designer, builder and fuel supplier of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and one of two companies that designs and builds nuclear-powered submarines, Northrops shipbuilding presence in Louisiana is significant. Although headquartered in Los Angeles, Northrops shipbuilding activity in Louisiana accounts for nearly 5,500 jobs and a $168-million economic impact in 2007.

Northrops goal for the recent realignment was to find better ways to deploy our people, capital assets and technology, said C. Michael Petters, Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding president.

(The realignment) is a critical part of our strategy of building ships in the future, Petters said. (Its) four months into the experiment and weve made substantial progress.

While Northrop has consistently talked about a need for more employees at its Avondale yard the past few years, Petters said he is comfortable with its current standing.

All in all, were pretty well staffed in Avondale. Were in pretty good shape, Petters said.

The most significant event in 2007 for both yards was the christening of the amphibious transport dock ship USS New York, which is constructed with 7.5 tons of steel from the World Trade Center destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, said Bill Glenn, a spokesman for the companys Pascagoula facility.

Between the Louisiana and Mississippi shipyards, Northrop continues to work on 12 shipbuilding contracts comprising four classes of ships. The company recently delivered two of the eight security cutters it is building for the U.S. Coast Guard.

In March, Northrop beat out Chicago-based Boeing Co. for a $35 billion-plus contract to build 179 Air Force tankers, the bulk of which should be built in the Gulf Coast area.

(The Air Force tanker) is a big win for us, Petters said. It also means more economic development for the Gulf Coast. Its an even bigger success for this part of the region. Weve very excited about this part of the country.

Northrop Grumman still awaits Congress vote to fund the 10th and 11th Landing Platform Dock-class ships in the $601 billion defense bill for 2009. The company is building the last four DDG51 class destroyers remaining on a 28-ship contract and just received the contract to build one DDG 1000 Navy destroyer.

Petters said the company will deliver two LPD-class ships to the Navy in late 2008 and into 2009.

Crash site steel eyed for ship
BY KECIA BALThe Tribune-Democrat
Published: May 30, 2008 11:48 pm

SOMERSET As a Mississippi company nears construction on the USS Somerset a Navy ship to be constructed in honor of the Flight 93 heroes officials want to incorporate a piece of the crash site.One option is melting 25 tons of steel from a dragline at the crash site to be used in construction of the Somerset, an amphibious transport dock ship.
A similar idea worked for the USS New York, built as a tribute to those who suffered on Sept. 11, 2001. Part of that ship was built using 21 tons of steel from the former World Trade Center towers.
This has been in the works for a while, Somerset County Commissioner John Vatavuk said. A contractor is to be on site Monday to transport the metal to a smelting plant in Newport News, Va., he said.

But a spokesman with Northrop Grumman, which built the New York and is building the USS Somerset and USS Arlington, could not confirm the news.

He said officials have been working to find a way to incorporate each site into the 684-foot-long vessels. Construction on the Somerset has not started.

Flight 93 Ambassador Dave Zwick said the dragline a crane with a bucket attached that is used in coal mining has been a part of the crash site from the beginning and is one of the scenes visitors remember. The machine, about a half-mile north of the crash site, was parked there a couple years before Sept. 11, 2001, and has been idle since.

Zwick helped propose the idea of using steel from the machine to county officials a few months ago.

I thought it would be appropriate, with our mining heritage, he said.

Zwick had read about the attempts to use artifacts from the other crash sites in those vessels.

I thought, if they are making one for Somerset, they ought to have something from Somerset, Zwick added.

In 2004, Navy Secretary Gordon England announced that USS Somerset would be the name of the ninth San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship.