Today in U.S. Naval History: March 14
Today in U.S. 1863 - R. For more information about naval history, visit the Naval History and Heritage Command website at history.navy.mil.
Compatibility of CO2 Extinguisher Components
![Figure 1: The obsolete diffuser on the right is cast differently than diffusers used today. Note the longer neck and placement of diffuser holes. The newer diffuser on the left is compatible with standard discharge hoses and has a shorter neck to allow it to properly seat when the hose is connected. See Figure 3 for how to determine if you have a CO2 extinguisher fitted with an obsolete diffuser that may be incompatible with standard industry discharge hoses.](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/figure-1-the-obsolete-diffuser-24425.jpg)
A recent marine casualty investigation of a shipboard fire onboard a U.S. flagged vessel in the Hampton Roads Captain of the Port (COTP) zone raised serious concerns with regards to carbon dioxide (CO2) fire extinguisher servicing. During shipboard fire-fighting operations a crewmember attempted to fight a fire using a 15lb CO2 extinguisher, but the extinguisher failed to properly discharge and only seeped from the neck of the extinguisher.
Coast Guard Foundation to Host Pacific Awards
![](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/-24423.jpg)
The Coast Guard Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to the education and welfare of all Coast Guard members and their families, announced that it will host its 29th Annual Pacific Area Awards Dinner in tribute to the United States Coast Guard at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 17, 2014 at the historic Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. The gala event will bring together civic and business leadersâŚ
Stena RoRo Heads Hospital Ship Construction
![](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/-24422.jpg)
International charity Mercy Ships recently signed an agreement for the construction of the world's largest civilian hospital ship tentatively named Atlantic Mercy, and Stena RoRo announced that it is engaged as project manager. The vessel, an investment of more than $100 million, will be built at the Chinese Tianjin Xingang Shipyard, and delivery is expected by July 2017. Atlantic Mercy will serve across the world with approximately 9-10 month-long stops in each port.
CEACT Allows Operators to REACT
![](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/-24417.jpg)
How updated electronic navigation practices improve safety and efficiency â and optimize cargo movement â on US inland waterways. It was a cold winter night. Heavy gusts and snow did not allow safe navigation and forced the ships on the upper Mississippi to secure alongside the few remaining jetties. Safety is the key issue for all river transport companies but at the same time efficiency and timely delivery of valuable goods is of utmost importance.
New FORAN User in Brazil
![Image: SENER](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/image-sener-24418.jpg)
Aliança Shipyard has acquired FORAN 3D Viewers for project control, construction and maintenance tasks. Strategically located in an area of 54,000 sqm in Niterói, alongside Baía de Guanabara (Brazil), Aliança Shipyard has experience in construction of high technology vessels as AHTS (Anchor Handling Tug Supply), MPSV (Multipurpose Platform Supply Vessel), PSV (Platform Supply Vessel), OSRV (Oil Spill Response Vessel).
Damen Completes PSV Order for World Wide Supply
![World Sapphire (Photo: Damen)](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/world-sapphire-photo-damen-24414.jpg)
The official christening of the World Sapphire marks the completion of a six-ship order whereby Damen Shipyards has delivered six Platform Supply Vessels (PSVs) to Norwegian company World Wide Supply (WWS) AS in just six months. The Damen PSV 3300 features a radical design rethink, with a wave piercing bow, slender hull lines and diesel electric propulsion with azimuth stern drives, combining to optimize seakeeping and fuel efficiency.
Rand Acquires Tanker for Conversion
Rand Logistics, Inc. has announced the acquisition of a Danish flagged chemical tanker that will be converted to a Canadian flagged river class self-unloader vessel.
NPS Littoral Operations Center to Focus on Global Littorals
![USS Freedom (LCS 1) (U.S. Navy photo by Sean Furey)](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/uss-freedom-lcs-1-us-24412.jpg)
What does it take to win in the littoral? Start with knowledge. Naval warfare in littoral waters is very different from open ocean operations. The U.S. Navy is dominant in âblue waterâ scenarios, but less so in the littoral, naval experts say. âWe are good at blue water operations, but we are not that skilled in fighting and operating in the littoral waters in places like the South China, the Baltic and Black Seas as well as the Persian Gulf,â said Prof. Wayne Hughes, a retired U.S.
VAVE Promises New Digital Reality
![Photo Courtesy of MCP](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/photo-courtesy-of-mcp-24411.jpg)
Maritime Communications Partner (MCP), the Telenor-owned on-board communications specialist, has announced the launch of VAVE, a unique digital business enablement platform for the cruise and ferry industry. The news follows the successful completion of an eight-month technical trial on the Corsica Sardinia vessel Mega Express Five. VAVE (Value Added Voyage Experience) has been conceived to bridge the digital divide between land and sea mobile behavior.
Survival Craft Appoints Dutch Partners
![](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/-24410.jpg)
Survival Craft Inspectorate, a global provider of emergency marine evacuation systems, has appointed two distributors for the Dutch market as it eyes new growth opportunities. The business has agreed partnerships with North Sea Davit & Lifeboat Services BV at Nieuwegein, as well as Polyrep BV at Hellevoetsluis. Both companies will have sales and installation rights for the Aberdeen-based company's Safelaunch lifeboat release and retrieval systemsâŚ
Environmentalists Welcome EU Proposal to Protect Arctic Waters
![Photo courtesy of Gazprom](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/photo-courtesy-of-gazprom-24409.jpg)
The European Parliament has passed a resolution calling for a protected area around the North Pole which could ban oil companies and industrial fishing fleets from the region, informs Greenpeace. The move represents a clear break from the current positions of âArctic Councilâ members such as Norway, Denmark, Canada and Russia who have resisted calls for permanent protection of the Arctic region. In contrastâŚ
UK Submarine Specialist Shipyard Gets £300-million Investment
![HMS Astute: Photo credit MOD](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/hms-astute-photo-credit-mod-24400.jpg)
Over the next 8 years BAE Systemsâ shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness will undergo a transformation, part- funded by the Ministry of Defence, to improve the infrastructure of a site where submarines have been built for over a century. Around 850 contractors will work on the development at its peak to replace older buildings with newer, larger, state-of-the-art facilities to allow the construction of the UKâs future nuclear deterrent submarines, known as Successor.
US Coast Guard Declares PO Travis Connick 'Coxwain of the Year'
![Coxwain of the Year Award: Photo credit USCG](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/coxwain-of-the-year-award-24398.jpg)
Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Travis Connick received the award in a ceremony at Sector Corpus Christi, honoring him for his interception of a Mexican boat crew involved in the fatal wounding of a colleague in the service. The Coast Guard Cutter Halibutâs 16-foot response boat, was rammed by a Mexican boat evading capture, and one of its crewmembers, Senior Chief Petty Officer Terrell Horne III was fatally injured as a result. Coast Guard assets immediately responded, along with U.S.
ABB to Supply Energy Management Systems to Spain-Balearics Ferry
![Ferry Martin i Soler: Image credit ABB](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/ferry-martin-i-soler-image-24401.jpg)
Power and automation technology group ABB informs it has won an order from Spanish ferry operator Baleària to supply energy management systems for one of its largest vessels. It is expected that the system will improve vesselâs fuel efficiency over 2 per cent. ABBâs advisory software will be installed onboard the ferry Martin i Soler, with an option to extend the project to two further vessels in the Baleària fleet.
China Shipyards Deliver Tender Rig, Bulk Carrier
![China Guandog Shipyard: Image credit COSCO](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/china-guandog-shipyard-image-credit-24402.jpg)
COSCO Corporation (Singapore) Limited informs of the delivery of two new vessels from shipbuilding yards in China. 1. COSCO (Nantong) Shipyard Co., Ltd , a subsidiary of the Company's 51% owned COSCO Shipyard Group Co., Ltd, has delivered a tender rig,"T-18", to Seadrill. 2. COSCO (Guangdong) Shipyard Co. Ltd a subsidiary of the Company's 51% owned COSCO Shipyard Group Co. Ltd, has delivered a bulk carrier of 35,300 DWT, "FUAT BEY", to its Asian buyer.
Stowaways in S. African Port: Authorities Change Policy
![Rudder recess stoways: Photo courtesy of West of England P&I Club](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/rudder-recess-stoways-photo-courtesy-24403.jpg)
There have been changes in the way authorities deal with stowaways in South African ports, now making the ship responsible for preventing unauthorised personnel from boarding in the first place, the UK P&I Club informs. If immigration decide that any person illegally on board is a stowaway then the vessel will be liable for all the costs and consequences of repatriation. Over the past two weeks, threeâŚ
Ingalls Shipbuilding Appoint Mike Lipski VP Business Development
![Mike Lipski: Photo credit HII](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/mike-lipski-photo-credit-hii-24404.jpg)
Huntington Ingalls Industries' Ingalls Shipbuilding division inform that Mike Lipski will be the company's vice president of business development, effective April 1, 2014. HII explain that Lipski will be responsible for coordinating capture team efforts for new contracts and managing all business development activities. This includes working with the company's government and customer relations teams to optimize business development activities with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard.
Philippine Coast Guard Search for 10 Missing Fishermen
![Bridge team: Photo courtesy of Philippine Coast Guard](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/bridge-team-photo-courtesy-of-24397.jpg)
The Philippine Coast Guard informs that a rescue team onboard the cutter 'BRP Nueva Vizcaya' is conducting search and rescue operations for ten missing fishermen in waters in the vicinity of Ternate, Cavite. According to ANC News the search continues for the fishermen who went missing in the waters between Caballo and El Fraile Island in Cavite where the fishing vessel FB Dan Israel was in collision with a still unidentified cargo ship past midnight on Thursday.
Port of Cleveland Urges USACE to Start Dredging
![Arrival Cleveland: Image courtesy of Port of Cleveland](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w100h1500/arrival-cleveland-image-courtesy-of-24408.jpg)
To avoid significant financial losses to the port and local economy, dredging the Cuyahoga River and Cleveland Harbor must start without delay considered the Port Board at its March 2014 meeting. Accordingly they directed the Portâs management to work with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to ensure the timely start and completion of dredging necessary for the 2014 shipping season utilizing existing confined facilities for disposal of the [dredged] material.