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Levingston Shipyard To Build Aluminum Hull For 80-Knot Gas Turbine Propelled SES The Bell Aerospace Division of Textron has announced that it has selected the Lev- ingston Shipbuilding Company of Orange, Texas, to fabricate the hull structure of the 100-ton Surface Effect Ship test craft. The test craft, a major step in the nation's long-range effort to determine the feasibility of building and operating large, high-speed SES in the 4,000 to 5,000 ton class, is being designed and built by Bell's New Orleans Operations, Michoud, La., under a contract from the Maritime Administration, U.S. De- partment of Commerce. The project is admini- stered by the U.S. Joint Navy/Commerce Sur- face Effect Ships Program Office. Levingston has been awarded a subcontract by Bell to fabricate the hull structure to Bell's design and specifications. Final assembly of the test craft will be performed by Bell Aerospace. The hull structure of the 100-ton test craft will feature a single hu'l form of welded marine aluminum, incorporating two side hulls ex- tending nearly the length of the craft and en- closed at the bow and stern by flexible end seals. The structural design is similar to that for high-speed marine craft in operation today. The test craft will measure approximately 72 feet in length and will have a beam of 33 feet. It is being designed for speeds in excess of 80 knots (approximately 92 mph). Levingston Shipbuilding, founded in 1933, has had extensive experience in fabricating a wide variety of vessels for the United States Government, the offshore oil industry, the maritime transportation industry and for ocean- ographic research. Last year Levingston completed delivery of four patrol escort vessels built under con- tract for the United States Naval Ship Systems Command. The company has worked exten- sively with aluminum and in one project alone nearly 1,000 tons of aluminum was fitted and welded into three vessels. Designed for speeds in excess of 80 knots (approximately 92 mph), the hull of the test craft at times will be no more than a few inches below the water. Another recent accomplishment was the fab- rication of the Glomar Challenger oceano- graphic research vessel for Global Marine Inc. This ship, which is working for the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in carrying out a deep-sea core drilling project funded by the National Science Foundation, has established several drilling performance records since be- ginning operations in 1968. The Levingston Shipyard is situated on the Sabine River, just north of the Intracoastal Waterway within 50 miles of the Gulf of Mex- ico. Other major subcontracts previously award- ed by Bell Aerospace New Orleans Operations for various subsystems and materials for the 100-ton SES test craft include: Buehler Cor- poration, Indianapolis, Ind.—design, build and test the main transmission system; Philadel- phia Gear Corporation, King of Prussia, Pa.— design and develop supercavitating, semi-sub- mergible controllable pitch propellers; Pratt & Whitney Division of United Aircraft, Farm- ington, Conn.—three FT-12, 4,500-shaft-hp marinized gas turbine engines for main pro- pulsion ; Aluminum Company of America- aluminum sheet stock, plate stock and extru- sions. HOSE McCANN TELEPHONE CQJNC. "PIONEERING MARINE PRODUCTS FOR OVER 35 YEARS'' Pioneers and originators of marine sound powered tele- phones over thirty-five years ago, Hose-McCann is re- garded today as the finest name in I.C. equipment, offering a wide variety of marine products, some of which are listed and illustrated below. Every Hose-McCann product is precision engineered and manufactured to provide many years of dependable, trouble-free operation. The name Hose-McCann as always, stands for reliability, integrity and the highest standard of quality. GENERAL ANNOUNCING AND DOCKING LOUDSPEAKER SYSTEMS WATCH CALL SYSTEMS AND ASSOCIATED ROOM UNITS STEERING STANDS MARINE AUTOMATIC DIAL SWITCHBOARDS & TELEPHONE INSTRUMENTS SOUND POWERED TELEPHONE SYSTEMS FIRE AND GENERAL ALARM PANELS RUDDER ANGLE INDICATOR SYSTEMS OTHER HOSE-McCANN PRODUCTS: • Navy and Commercial Sound Powered Telephone Systems and Accessories • Navi- gation Light Panels • Engineer's Signal and Alarm Panels • Annunciator and Control Panels • Power Failure Alarm Panels • Bells and Contact Makers • Automation Equipment • Dumbwaiter Communication Systems For further information and specifications on any of the above products, write to: HOSE McCANN TELEPHONE co, INC. U 524 WEST 23rd STREET, NEW YORK, N. Y. 1001 1 TEL. (212) 989-7920 (CABLE) CYBERNETIC NEWY0RK /]](• M^fc "Oriainafnrs and Pioneers nf Marine Sound Powered Telenhones" "Originator of Telephones 'Be prepared for trouble! That doesn't look like a pilot boat to me!" 10 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News
