Stewart & Stevenson Completes Emergency Diesel Generator Sets for Carrier

Stewart & Stevenson Services, Inc., announced that the company's Distributed Energy Solutions Division in Houston has successfully completed production and testing on four high voltage emergency generator sets for the U.S. Navy's next nuclear aircraft carrier. Delivery of the first pair was made in May of 2003 and the second pair is more than a year ahead of schedule. The Nimitz Class carrier, originally designated CVN77 and later named the USS George H.W. Bush in a Pentagon ceremony in early December 2002, is under construction at Northrop Grumman Newport News in Virginia. The carrier will rely on backup power provided by Emergency Diesel Generator (EDG) sets produced by Stewart & Stevenson. Stewart & Stevenson was awarded a $19.4 million contract by Newport News in April 2001 to deliver four 2000 kW high voltage generator sets that will provide backup electrical power. Powered by EMD 16-cylinder 645 Series diesel engines with Dresser-Rand generators, the units are a critical part of the on- board safety systems. The generator sets are built to strict Navy requirements for mechanical shock and electrical transient response and must develop full voltage in 10 seconds. Stewart & Stevenson has long been noted for supplying generator systems to the U.S. armed forces beginning with World War II when the company was the second largest supplier of diesel generators under the Lend-Lease Program. Later, Stewart & Stevenson developed the highly reliable power generator set that became military standard and provided prime power supply for launch control at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, the diesel generator that powered the Army's Nike Missile Program, and high shock generators for the Navy.