Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division (NSWCPD) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility and Japan Regional Maintenance Center (SRF-JRMC) to streamline support to the fleet.
NSWCPD, the Navy’s cybersecurity and Hull, Mechanical, and Electrical (HM&E) lead, entered into the MOU to establish expectations and responsibilities of support to SRF-JRMC, a full service, non-nuclear shipyard that is responsible for maintaining 22 ships of the Forward Deployed Naval Forces serving in the U.S. Seventh Fleet.
“This MOU improves collaboration and teamwork between NSWCPD and the SRF-JRMC which enhances the Fleet’s mission readiness and availability,” said Capt. Dana Simon, NSWCPD’s Commanding Officer.
The MOU adds accountability for tasking completed by NSWCPD at SRF-JRMC. It establishes maintenance duties, policies, and procedures. NSWCPD’s tasking includes installations, repairs, grooms, assessments, as well as conducting training, technical assists, test and evaluation, and other assigned and funded tasks.
NSWCPD engineers will also provide training to SRF-JRMC’s workforce to build capability within the maintenance center and to mitigate future travel between Philadelphia and Yokosuka, Japan, thus saving the Navy time and money.
“We want to make sure we can support the fleet as required and simultaneously provide SRF staff with on-the-job training to build their competency,” said Scott Freedner, NSWCPD’s Deputy Chief Engineer. “When an issue comes up in the Seventh Fleet the SRF-JRMC are the first responders and we want to help them to be best prepared.”
The MOU also establishes accountability for the work completed by the Command’s In-Service Engineering Agents (ISEAs).
“It ensures both chains of command are aware of actions taken by ISEAs on ships and that everyone knows the state of the ship when the ISEA departs,” Freedner said.
As part of the MOU, NSWCPD engineers complete an email agreement prior to arriving onsite with either Ship’s Force, the ship’s Commanding Officer, or the maintenance center to ensure that NSWCPD and SRF-JRMC understand the scope of the support requested. This documentation verifies that all work is assigned properly and confirms any configuration changes planned for the ship.
“This documentation provides the local tech authority with better awareness of the state of their ships,” Freedner said. “It has streamlined the way we are assigned work from the Seventh Fleet.”
NSWCPD employs approximately 2,600 civilian engineers, scientists, technicians, and support personnel doing research and development, test and evaluation, acquisition support, and in-service and logistics engineering for Navy ships. NSWCPD is also the lead organization providing cybersecurity for all ship systems.