USS Louisiana (SSBN 743) undocked Dec. 7, 2021, at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility, as part of an Engineered Refueling Overhaul, the final ERO for Ohio-class submarines.
According to Louisiana Project Superintendent Ken Rogers, Code 392, Submarine Program Office, the ship arrived at PSNS & IMF Aug. 13, 2019, and entered dry dock Sept. 11, 2019.
“While the ERO won’t be complete until Fall 2022, we are tracking nearly 6,500,000 man-hours and 95 percent of all work complete at undocking,” Rogers said. “We are currently on time for what we expect to be the biggest repair package in ERO history at more than 800,000 work days.”
Some of the major work accomplished includes overhauling the emergency diesel generator, replacing the shaft, inspecting and repairing several tanks, installing the Submarine Warfare Federated Tactical System, configuring the living spaces for enlisted women submariners, upgrading the boat’s control station and radio room, and repairing various hydraulic, air, plumbing, and sea water systems.
Valuable lessons learned by previous submarine availability project teams were passed on to the Louisiana team, including taking a systems approach to hydraulic, mechanical and electrical testing, as well as undocking readiness. The Louisiana team is now well-poised to pass on their own lessons learned about precision estimates for superstructure repairs and how test constraining the schedule can improve predictability.
“Despite many challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, unexpected new work items, and competing shipyard priorities, the Louisiana team kept a positive attitude in support of this undocking,” said Capt. Jip Mosman, commander, PSNS & IMF. “The entire availability up to this point has been a shining example of what we can accomplish when we work as a team. Bravo Zulu to everyone involved!”
Rogers said he is proud of how the team met every challenge the availability has thrown at them, and that the contributions of ship’s force have been essential to success thus far.
“We have a phenomenal partnership with ship’s force,” Rogers said. “They were instrumental in ensuring work controls met timelines and personnel were always available to support testing and evolutions to support system restoration. We have the same overarching goal—complete the ERO and return the boat to the fleet for Patrol 65.”
PSNS & IMF chose the Louisiana project to test NSS-SY sprints well into the project. A sprint is a fast and focused effort to identify where barriers can be removed or systems put in place to streamline processes.
The Louisiana team partnered with their colleagues at PSNS & IMF, as well as with the NSS-SY pilot project teams at the other public shipyards. These include the USS Virginia (SSN 774) Project Team at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine; the USS Mississippi (SSN 782) Project Team at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Hawaii; and the USS Pasadena (SSN 752) Project Team at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia.
“We were the team asked to implement the Operations Control Center as part of the NSS-SY efforts,” Rogers said. “Team dynamics played a key role in our success with the OCC effort.”
To learn more about Team Louisiana’s NSS-SY contributions, go to navsea.navy.mil/Media/News/Article/2668121/ and navsea.navy.mil/Media/News/Article/2668249/.