Military Superiority: LHD on schedule | ADM Jul 2010
As at the end of April 2010, Navantia was 35.1 per cent toward LHD1 platform completion including the engineering, procurement and construction, compared to the planned 34.7 per cent for the timeframe.
Katherine Ziesing | Ferrol, Spain
The build strategy includes 12-block build sequences involving a total of 105 blocks.
Over 40 blocks, corresponding to building sequences 1 to 6, including painting and a high degree of pre-outfitting, have been erected on the slip-way and all of the remaining blocks are in progress though at different fabrication stages, encompassing the lessons learned from the first Spanish Armada LHD, Juan Carlos I.
Some of these blocks include modules such as water purification or heating/cooling systems, which are fitted as the blocks are lifted into place.
The shipyard has an air of concentration as the huge lego-like blocks are progressed from stage to stage, inside to outside, painting shed to slipway.
Navantia’s Australian LHD program manager Jorge Lopez Novo is confident that the hull will be ready for launch in the Spanish spring of 2011 and transportation of the completed platform to Australia in mid 2012 for the superstructure fit-out, integration and final delivery at BAE Systems Williamstown yard in 2014.
“The ships just have to be ready,” Lopez Novo explained to ADM.
“There is a fixed price contract in place, which drives the schedule.
“She will be ready when the HLV Blue Marlin arrives.” HLV Blue Marlin is the massive ship that will transport the hull to Australia for final fit-out.
While the transport ship is more used to oil and gas projects, the LHD will be a tight fit on one of the largest transport ships in the world.
Team effort
BAE Systems has a team of 14 people on site in Ferrol alongside the Commonwealth’s eight-person presence (DMO and Navy staff) in Spain.
The relationships on paper can make for confusing reading to those unfamiliar with the program (BAE Systems is the prime contractor with Navantia as the design authority but as a platform subcontractor) but the lines of communication are very open on the ground.
“We have as good a combination of relationships as possible given the tender and subsequent contract measures put in place by the Commonwealth,” Keith Malpress, program manager for BAE Systems Australia LHD office in Ferrol told ADM.
Despite the language and cultural differences, both parties are working together well to deliver the Royal Australian Navy their amphibious capability on time and on budget.
Those close to the program acknowledge that the work being done in Ferrol is relatively easy when compared with the systems that have yet to be installed and integrated in the superstructure such as combat system and communications suite.
Even some of the details of how these systems need to be catered for in the Navantia built blocks has yet to be finalised.
Where the power needs are and exact placement of consoles to make the best use of space and roles is still being reviewed as Navantia continue to produce design drawings for BAE Systems and the Commonwealth.
Navantia is working on this area and will have the necessary details to the Williamstown yard by the end of the year.
“We have the flexibility in terms of timelines and relationships to manage these issues due to the web of relationships in place,” Lopez Novo said.
The Australian program has also had the benefit of the lessons learned from the Juan Carlos I build, such as the engine failure problems the ship faced last year.
The engine was built at Navantia’s Cartagena facility under licence from Germany’s MAN.
The engines suffered issues last year during sea trials.
But these issues have been since addressed and the Juan Carlos sailed from Ferrol with the Armada’s aircraft carrier, the PrÌncipe de Asturias, for a week of trials at the end of May.
According to the Commander of the ship, Captain AndrÈs Breijo, the ship’s seakeeping was excellent, as the ship obtained a sustained speed more than a knot above that initially foreseen.
The technicians who took part in the trials also underlined the ship’s docile seakeeping and its great capacity for short distance turning thanks to its podded propulsion system.
According to Fernando Gonz·lez-Valerio, Chief Engineer of the Juan Carlos I, during the trials carried out the ship surpassed the speed of 21 knots.
Gonz·lez Valerio affirmed that the trials have fully validated the new propulsion system fitted on board this ship, which is CODLAG (COmbined Diesel-eLectric and Gas turbine).
In this combined propulsion system, two MAN engines and a General Electric gas turbine produce the electrical power that feeds the propulsion systems.
Are we Pod people?
The LHD is also the first RAN ship to boast Siemens/Schottel propulsion pods or azimuth thrusters.
An azimuth thruster is a configuration of ship propellers placed in pods that can be rotated in any horizontal direction, making a rudder unnecessary.
These give ships better manoeuvrability than a fixed propeller and rudder system.
Primary advantages are electrical efficiency, better use of ship space, and lower maintenance costs.
Ships with azimuth thrusters do not need tugs to dock, though they still require tugs to manoeuvre in difficult places.
While commercial vessels have used pods for the better part of 10 years now, they are new to the RAN.
A source close to the program and familiar with the operation of pods by both oil tankers and cruise liners that can be more than twice the size of the LHD pods has some concerns over how the RAN will adjust to the new technology.
“I expect they’ll break them at some stage,” a senior industry source told ADM.
“They won’t be used to driving the pods and will stress the bearings till they break.”
A joint 2006 UK and Swedish investigation into crashes with pod fitted ships Prospero, Red Falcon and others stressed the need for adequate training and an understanding of how the pods system operated in different modes.
This report also highlighted the reliance the operators had on the OEM for maintenance and support, again a lesson for the RAN.
Recommendations from the report have been included into pod designs since this time but training on how to best use the system is still critical.
The RAN has yet to face this training challenge for both support and operation of the pod system.
Could we perhaps see RAN sailors operating and supporting tankers or cruise ships for hands-on training?
Disclaimer: Katherine Ziesing toured the Ferrol facility as a guest of Navantia.