Article and Photo

Submissions: Articles should

be about 500 words long; however,

C4IT, engineering, logistics and environmental specific articles can be up

to 2,000 words -- all acronyms must

be spelled out when first used. To

have your article considered for publication, photo(s) must accompany

each article. Articles can be submitted by DHL or other carrier in hard

copy and/or in Microsoft Word on a

3.5 disk, CD, or e-mailed electronically. Please submit original photographs and graphics. All slides,

photos, graphics and illustrations

should be in color where possible.

Please include by-line when submitting article. Let us know if you want

your photos and graphics returned to

you. Submit inquiries, letters, articles, and photographs to:

Editor, U.S. Coast Guard Engineering,

Electronics and Logistics Quarterly

CG HQ

CG-4, JR9-1130

1900 Half St., SW

Washington, DC 20593-0001

Phone: 202-475-5767

FAX: 202-267-4245

E-mail: Kerry.L.Freese@uscg.mil

Submission deadlines are as follows:

Summer 2008 - 03 April 2008

Fall 2008 - 03 July 2008

Winter 2009 - 03 October 2008

Spring 2009 - 03 January 2009

The U.S. Coast Guard Engineering,

Electronics and Logistics Quarterly

is published quarterly by the

Assistant Commandant for

Engineering and Logistics. This

publication is unofficial and not

authority for action. Views and opinions expressed are not 

necessarily those of the U.S.

Department of Homeland Security

or the U.S. Coast Guard. We

encourage readers to submit articles and letters to the editor.

Authors are encouraged to submit

articles through the Program

Representative. The U.S. Coast

Guard Engineering, Electronics and

Logistics Quarterly Editor and the

Engineering and Logistics

Directorate Management Board

retain final approval authority for the

publication or non-publication of all

article submissions. We will make

every effort to publish all submissions. We also reserve the right to

edit submissions for length, accuracy and grammar. All letters to the

editor must be signed along with

current address and telephone

number.

Spring 2008

Vol. 12, No. 43

ISSN: 1931-4051

U. S. Coast Guard

Engineering,

Electronics and

Logistics Quarterly

COMDTPUB P5700.2

RADM Dale.G. Gabel

Assistant Commandant for

Engineering and Logistics

Mr. Kerry L. Freese

Managing Editor and

Publication Staff

You can visit us on the web at www.uscg.mil/hq/cg4/eelquarterly

On the Cover: A member of NESU

Portsmouth conducts an engine overhaul. Read more NESU stuff on page

20.

All issues are available to Coast Guard personnel on

CG Central under “Magazine and Newsletter”
2 From the Assistant Commandant

4 Systems of Interest

6 Coast Guard Takes Delivery of HighTech Facility

8 First National Security Cutter

Completes Machinery Trials

10 Second National Security Cutter

Completes Final Lift

12 Coast Guard, Industry Conclude

‘Extremely Productive’ Sea Trial of

National Security Cutter

14 Technical Advanced Education

Opportunities

16 Yard Breaks Ground for Landfill Gas

Co-Generation Plant

20 The Mission of Today’s Naval

Engineering Support Unit

28 Windows in Coastal Locations

32 Continuous Commissioning: A pilot

project to investigate an energy saving

process at USCG SFO Galveston

38 Leading the Way

42 New Multi-Mission Capable MH-65C

46 A Science in the System

50 Yard “Outstanding Facilities

Engineering Organization” for 2006

51 2008 Coast Guard Engineer of the

Year Named

52 Coast Guard Civil Rights Service

Provider of the Year

53 Coast Guard Education Services

Officer of the Year

12 16 42 46

Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 1

Back Cover: The multi-color sunset acts as a backdrop for the 87-foot Coast Guard cutters

FLYINGFISH, of Boston, and HAMMERHEAD, of Woods Hole, Mass., temporarily moored at

Naval Station Newport, R.I., for a "Cutter Roundup." The cutters were two of 15 present and

27 represented from throughout the First Coast Guard District, which covers from Maine to

New Jersey, participating in the three-day training event. (Coast Guard photo/Lauren Downs) 

NEW

We have a new website address, you can reach us at

www.uscg.mil/hq/cg4/eelquarterly
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2 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Inthe last edition of the Engineering, Electronics, and Logistics Quarterly, I

presented my thoughts on operational and depot level maintenance,

which I framed as "unit level" and "above unit level" maintenance. In a

bi-level system, the unit is responsible for "unit level" maintenance, which the unit

executes using standardized Maintenance Procedure Cards. The Product Line is

responsible for everything else, or all "above unit level" maintenance, as well as

providing programmatic oversight for all "unit level" maintenance. Product Lines

are a key component in the Coast Guard's new logistics business model and how

they are formed as we transition from acquiring an asset to sustaining it is an

important step.

For most new surface assets the Coast Guard acquires, we currently establish a

Project Resident Office (PRO), which monitors construction, adherence to contracting, and delivery of the asset. As part of the modernization effort, PRO functions will either be assumed or augmented by an Asset Project Office (APO). It

is the APO's job to address all ten elements of logistics, which include asset

maintenance; supply; training; support and test equipment; manpower; packaging, handling, storage and transportation; facilities; IT support; technical data; and

design interface. The APO serves as the "one stop shop" for asset support,

ensuring integrated logistics is planned for and executed. It is the job of the APO

to hand to the operator all of the necessary operational doctrine, support equipment, and maintenance requirements needed to effectively operate the asset.

The key elements of the APO include the command staff, the Operations

Department, Standardization Department, Safety Department, Training

Department and the Product Line. Each of these departments have responsibilities to ready the asset for operations. These responsibilities include developing

the operating handbook and maintenance manual, establishing the Integrated

Logistics Support Plan, creating maintenance support contracts, determining

appropriate "C" Schools, and writing PQS and training standards among others.

Once all tasks are complete and the asset is ready to be delivered to the operator, many of the APO components will be spun off or disestablished. The

Product Line, for example, will be removed from the APO and installed in the

appropriate Logistics Center. The Standardization Department will move to the
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 3

Dale G. Gabel RADM, USCG

Assistant Commandant for

Engineering and Logistics

appropriate Training Center and the other departments will be disestablished and their

responsibilities assumed by the appropriate DCO, DCMS, or FORCECOM organization.

We are also investigating having a core group of experts remain at the APO to assist with

the next asset product line and to ensure adherence to the logistics business model.

Since the operational, safety, standardization and training pieces have already been created for our legacy boats, the Standard Boat APO that supports the Sector Baltimore and

San Francisco pilots contains only Product Lines and the cross functional support departments. These Product Lines serve as the single point of contact for all standard boat engineering and logistics issues for the Sector Baltimore and San Francisco Engineering

Officers. They have also been working to provide support to the fleet in general. For

example, an RB-S at Station Kaui recently experienced flooding after being hit by a large

wave. While the RB-S was able to return safely to port, the crew was not able to successfully de-water the vessel because the installed bilge pump was clogged. The technical

experts in the RB-S Product Line evaluated all aspects of the bilge pump failure. They

also reviewed the bilge pump inspection criteria for the BUSL, TANB, MLB and UTB classes of boats. As a result of the APO's investigation, modifications to the current preventive

maintenance procedures will be promulgated. For Sectors other than Baltimore and San

Francisco (the two Sectors involved in the Standard Boat Pilot program), the APO worked

with the RB-S PRO to generate a service bulletin, providing technical guidance for the

entire boat fleet.

The APO has also been realizing savings from the centralization of the parts supply chain.

The Item Managers in the APO's Product Line have been able to realize tremendous savings by purchasing common parts through the federal stock system and negotiating prices

with vendors for bulk purchases. In the first six months of the Baltimore pilot, this resulted

in a savings of over $23K dollars in parts requisitions for Sector Baltimore alone. Just a

few examples include:

❑ The Honda 225 spark plugs for the RB-S purchased from NAPA instead of Honda

resulted in annual total savings of $1.5K for just one Sector.

❑ Marine binoculars originally ordered for $300 each from West Marine were purchased

from the Federal Stock System for under $100.

The APO has also been working diligently on process improvement in areas such as depot

maintenance and boat outfitting. Working with the National ATON School, ANT Baltimore,

ELC, and CG-731, the APO Product Line is developing a standard rigging package for all

TANBs. This will ensure standardization and availability of certified gear for the Aids to

Navigation Teams nationwide.

These are just a few examples of how the Standard Boat APO is improving mission support and serving our operational customers under the new Product Line concept. As we

continue to roll out the new CG Logistics Business Model to additional sectors and then

new asset lines, we'll continue to realize the benefits of this customer-focused and efficient

model across the Coast Guard.
4 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Yard Delivers Five MEP

Cutters in Ten Weeks (Yard):

I was reading a recent issue of the U. S. Coast Guard's Engineering, Electronics &

Logistics Quarterly and noted a quote from the author of an article in the

Spring/Summer 2007 edition on subject Cutter which indicated that "The BERTHOLF

was the first major cutter to be christened for Coast Guard service since ... the

MIDGETT was launched 35 years ago."

I need to take exception to Mr Peterson's quote ... after all, what are/were the

270's??? Are they not as a "Major" cutter as the 378? Granted the 270 is a WMEC,

BUT it is nonetheless a "major" cutter in the Coast Guard Inventory. I am a former

CO of USCGC's HARRIET LANE and MORGENTHAU and as far as I am concerned,

they are both in a class of "Major" cutters. I believe Mr Peterson's statement is very

misleading and as a former Coast Guard Sailor who served on both classes of cutters, I take offense to the quote.

Thanks for listening...v/r, Mike Ragsdale

BEAR - 270' MEP cutter delivered 8/31/07

VENTUROUS - 210' MEP cutter delivered 9/21/07

OCRACOKE - 110' MEP cutter delivered 9/21/07

CUTTYHUNK - 110' MEP cutter delivered 11/2/07

VIGOROUS - 210' MEP cutter delivered 11/9/07

"More than anything else, the 110'/210'/270' MEP has reminded me of the resilience

and innovation of our own Coast Guard organic mission support organization. Faced

with delays on our major capital cutter acquisitions, in only a few months, this MEP

(as a bridging strategy) was conceived, designed, priced, tooled, equipped, staffed,

and executed -- and continues to provide significant fleet improvements at or below

cost and on schedule. If there is a better measure for a maintenance extension program running well, I don't know what it is."

RADM Gary Blore,

Coast Guard Chief Acquisition Officer

Systems of Interest

A Reader’s Thoughts:

USCGC CUTTYHUNK
MEP in Pictures

Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 5
6 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Open Channels q u i c k h it s
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 7

COAST GUARD TAKES

DELIVERY OF HIGHTECH FACILITY

On December 4th, 2007, the U.S. Coast Guard, Integrated Coast Guard

Systems, and Lockheed Martin completed the final phase of the $20 million

Command, Control, Computers, Communications Intelligence, Surveillance,

and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) simulator at Training Center Petaluma in

Petaluma, Calif. The completion of this state-of-the-art training suite represents a milestone in the Coast Guard's $24 billion, 25-year modernization

and recapitalization plan known as Deepwater.

As a result of commonality between Coast Guard and Navy C4ISR equipment, the training simulator provides both Coast Guard and Navy crews a

safe, high fidelity environment to develop the skills and expertise needed to

sail the military's newest, most capable ships in the 21st Century. To date,

over 80 Coast Guard and 20 Navy students have attended nine courses at

the new facility, and the first-of-its-kind team training was convened in

December for 30 members of the first National Security Cutter, BERTHOLF.

Additionally, the site has served as an invaluable resource in the installation,

evaluation, and testing of the C4ISR suite for BERTHOLF.

C4ISR encompasses a wide range of technical and operational functions,

systems, and activities. The C4ISR suite being installed on Deepwater cutters, as well as legacy Coast Guard cutters, provides the United States' lead

maritime homeland security agency with the same interoperable intelligence

and communications standard as that of the Department of Defense and

other government first responders.

The Calhoun Building, site of a multi-million dollar renovation and outfitting

project hosting the C4ISR training simulator, now houses classrooms, hightech shipboard operations simulators, and state-of-the-art radar and electronics systems to train crews of the Coast Guard's new Legend-class

National Security Cutters. Plans for further expansions over the next several

years will ultimately more than double the size and capacity of the facility to

accommodate training for additional cutter classes being built under

Deepwater.

Deepwater News Flash, courtesy of the Deepwater Project.
8 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Open Channels q u i c k h it s

FIRST NATIONAL SECURITY

CUTTER COMPLETES 

MACHINERY TRIALS
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 9

December 11, 2007 – The first National Security Cutter (NSC), BERTHOLF (WMSL 750), returned to

Northrop Grumman Ship System’s Pascagoula facility after completing Machinery Trials.

"The BERTHOLF Machinery Trial was an excellent opportunity for the industry and Coast Guard Team to

groom the various systems in preparation for the Builder’s Trial," said Richard Schenk, Northrop

Grumman vice president and general manager, U.S. Coast Guard Programs. "The five days at sea validated our belief that BERTHOLF will clearly exceed expectations."

“The Machinery Trials, which began on December 4, were an initial test of many of the ship’s capabilities

at sea. Among the tests completed, BERTHOLF successfully met its contractually-required speed of 28

knots."

“I could not be more proud of the government and contractor team whose dedicated efforts were critical

to the success of this sea trial,” said CAPT William Krewsky, supervisor, PMRO Gulf Coast. “There is

great urgency to get this ship fully operational, conducting Coast Guard missions to ensure the freedom

and security of our Nation; this sea trial went a long way to that end."

BERTHOLF is the first of eight planned ships in the new class of highly capable, technologically

advanced multi-mission cutters being acquired under the Deepwater Program. Northrop Grumman Ship

Systems is building the NSCs, while Lockheed Martin is building and integrating the Command, Control,

Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities on

board the cutters.

Several of the ship’s C4ISR systems completed initial tests during these trials including the surface

search radars, air search radar, and the AIS. The team also achieved TACAN certification during the trials.

“Machinery Trials allowed the team to successfully display the capability of all three primary sensors and

demonstrate the ship's navigation and communication system capabilities at sea,” said Brian Hillers,

Lockheed Martin NSC lead system engineer. “We were pleased with the system's performance during

the trials and look forward to further success as we approach Builder's Trials.”

The NSC will complete two additional sets of trials, including Builder’s Trials which are scheduled for

early 2008. BERTHOLF is scheduled to be delivered to the Coast Guard following Acceptance Trials in

spring 2008.

“This is a huge milestone for both the program and for the whole Coast Guard,” said CAPT Patrick Stadt,

prospective commanding officer, USCGC BERTHOLF. “This is the future of the Coast Guard and the

start of the next 40 years of the surface fleet.”

BERTHOLF (WMSL 750) leaves the

Pascagoula shipyard under its own

power to begin Machinery Trials.

Deepwater News Flash, courtesy of the Deepwater Project.
10 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Open Channels q u i c k h it s

Second National Security Cutter Co

WAESCHE is now fully assembled at the Northrop

Grumman Ship Systems facility in Pascagoula.
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 11

(November 28, 2007) – Recently, the

25-ton mast was successfully lifted

onto USCGC WAESCHE (WMSL 751).

This 29th and final lift makes the second National Security Cutter (NSC),

currently in production at Northrop

Grumman Ship Systems facility in

Pascagoula, 100 percent unit erected.

The mast lift was also the first completed by Goliath, the largest crane at

the Pascagoula shipyard, since it was

badly damaged during Hurricane

Katrina in August 2005.

"It was exciting to see Goliath complete the final lift on WAESCHE,” said

Bob Penney, ship program manager,

NSC 2. “Because of planning and

work sequencing lessons learned from

USCGC BERTHOLF, WAESCHE’s

mast was landed with 30 percent more

of its outfitting work completed prior to

the lift. We're very proud of everyone

on the team who worked so hard to

bring the ship to full assembly."

WAESCHE’s next milestone is launch,

scheduled for April 2008.

The 29-ton mast is successfully lifted

onto WAESCHE, bringing the ship to

42 percent complete.

mpletes Final Lift

Deepwater News Flash, courtesy of

the Deepwater Project.
12 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Open Channels

In December, 2007, the Coast Guard's acquisition and

operations communities anticipated with great excitement

Machinery Trials (MT) for BERTHOLF, the first of the new

class of National Security Cutters (NSC). According to

the Acquisition Directorate, the trials, which took place

December 4-10 off Pascagoula, Miss., were “extremely

productive” in helping to identify and reduce risk ahead of

BERTHOLF's delivery in spring 2008.

"While MT was certainly a significant milestone in of

itself, the real value was all the work that was done by

the contractors and our personnel (in careful oversight) to

prepare the ship for a safe and productive trial," RADM

Ronald J. Rábago wrote in a Dec. 9 message from

aboard BERTHOLF. "Nevertheless, the list of unknowns

on our path to ... a fully operational cutter is now shorter

because of the good work done during MT. In addition to

the stellar work of the Program Manager's Resident

Office [PMRO], the entire Acquisition Directorate team,

along with sponsor and technical authorities, have

brought us to this significant milestone."

MT was significant in many ways, including marking the

first time BERTHOLF got underway on her own power.

The trials also saw the first underway evaluations of the

ship's propulsion plant -- Combined Diesel and Gas

Turbine (CODAG) -- reduction gear, and steering system

in various modes of operation.

Many other systems, equipment, and facilities also were

exercised, including the Machinery Control and

Monitoring System (MCMS); the Aqueous Fire Fighting

Foam system; flight operations (with a leased Bell 412

helicopter); and BERTHOLF's hotel services (crew

berthing, accommodations, and galley).

During MT, 225 contractor and government personnel

were aboard (57 more than the NSC's baseline complement of 148). The trials crew included 40 personnel from PMRO Gulf Coast

(which is co-located

with the Northrop Grumman Ship Systems shipyard at

Pascagoula), to provide oversight and hands-on assessments of BERTHOLF's machinery.

The Coast Guard's MT team included Chief Warrant

Officer Walter Probst, test officer with PMRO Gulf Coast.

During a Dec. 19 interview, Probst noted that some innovative tests were performed with the propulsion plant,

including a demonstration that the ship would make standard speed running a single engine on one propeller

shaft, with the other shaft "freewheeling" and its prop

feathered to reduce drag. During another demonstration,

the ship met its required 28 knots speed using less than

85 percent power.

Some elements of BERTHOLF's machinery and computer software controls require adjustments, but that was the

purpose of performing MT, Probst added. Data from MT

in all modes of operation is being analyzed by industry

and Coast Guard engineers as they adjust BERTHOLF's

propulsion plant ahead of Builder's Trials.

"However, there was nothing that outright failed us,"

Probst said. "We now have a very good baseline of data

in all modes of operation and we have made good discoveries of things that didn't work quite the way we

wanted them to. Everyone -- from the vendors and

shipbuilders to the government personnel -- is

working collaboratively to come up with the best

solutions."

While not expressly part of the MT test series,

the ship's accommodations got a workout

from the large number of personnel aboard.

Reports from the crew show that

berthing spaces were

"more

Coast Guard, Industry Conclude 'Extremely

Sea Trial of National Security Cutter 
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 13

comfortable than some other ships ...

comparable to the 270' cutters," showers

and head facilities functioned well. In

the galley, the crew found sufficient

capacity to handle the extra personnel

aboard, even if the space became a little

crowded.

Other aspects of BERTHOLF's habitability will be more thoroughly tested later,

including the ship's gymnasium, computer room, officer's ward room, and chief's

mess.

In the coming months, the shipbuilder

and the Coast Guard will take

BERTHOLF to sea again, this time for

Builder's Trials (BT), which will completely exercise all equipment functionality.

BT events include "measured mile" and

full power runs of the propulsion system.

Additionally, the builder and the Coast

Guard will assess and "sell" the last of

the ship's compartments -- such as medical and galley facilities.

In shipbuilding a vessel's spaces or compartments are evaluated individually by

the government customer, who ensures

that each space meets contractual

requirements. When a space is accepted as complete, it is considered "sold."

BERTHOLF has more than 300 compartments, including engineering, bridge,

berthing spaces, water and fuel tanks.

Builder's Trials also serves as a complete review of the ship's condition

ahead of Acceptance Trials (AT) and

delivery -- currently slated for spring

2008. The Coast Guard has partnered

with the U.S. Navy (USN) to conduct the

final assessments of BERTHOLF before

it enters operation. During AT the contractor will demonstrate to the Coast

Guard and the USN's Board of

Inspection and Survey (INSURV) that the

ship meets its requirements. INSURV is

the premier organization for determining

the materiel readiness of naval ships.

With much work to complete before

delivery, all attention is focused on

readying the ship for acceptance. The

government/industry engineering design

and construction team in Washington

and at PMRO Gulf Coast are working

around the clock to prepare the new cutter.

"We have been able to progress very

rapidly based on what we learned at

MT," Probst said. "We have had our

noses to the grindstone these past several months and now our heads are up,

and we are looking forward to the next

phase of trials and delivery. The Coast

Guard is going to be very proud to get

this ship!"

Productive' 

by Hunter C. Keeter

CG-925
14 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Open Channels

Technical

Advanced

Education

Opportunities

by LCDR James Kammel

CG-481

The Coast Guard is committed to developing aworkforce with the technical competencies needed to not only ensure successful mission execution

(operations), but also ensure that our specialists

have the skills needed to provide our operational

commanders with the assets and resources needed

to meet mission demands. To that extent, the Coast

Guard provides a wide range of professional development opportunities, one of which is the advanced

education programs. The Coast Guard offers many

different advanced education opportunities including:

Marine Engineering, Financial Management, Public

Affairs, Intelligence, as well as those sponsored by

the Assistant Commandants for C4IT (CG-6) and

Engineering and Logistics (CG-4).

The advanced education opportunities sponsored by

CG-4 and CG-6 include a wide range of technical

engineering, industrial management, and information

technology programs. These programs are different

from tuition assistance in that members will be

attending a college full time. Our officers and enlisted are given the chance to pursue a degree as a full

time student while receiving all of their active duty

benefits. The payback for this opportunity is 3

months for each month the first year and 1 for 1

every year after. While most of the officer programs

focus on obtaining a graduate degree, two programs, ACET and NET allow officers to pursue an
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 15

Technical

Advanced

Education

Opportunities

undergraduate degree. The enlisted programs are for the pursuit of an

undergraduate degree. Most of the programs allow up to 2 years for

completing the degree.

The officer programs include:

◆ Advanced Computer and Engineering Technology

◆ Aeronautical Engineering - Avionics, MSIA, and Structures

◆ Civil Engineering/Civil Engineering (MBA)

◆ Computers, Communication, and Electrical Engineering

◆ Industrial Management

◆ Information Technology

◆ Naval Engineering/Naval Engineering Technology

◆ Ocean Engineering

The enlisted programs include:

◆ Advanced Computer and Engineering Technology

◆ Aviation Maintenance Technology

Some people might ask what benefit they gain by attending one of these

programs? The first obvious answer is they can earn a degree, while

receiving their full salary and having school paid for. There are very few

companies out there that offer this type of benefit. The second benefit is

the opportunity to apply these newly gained technical skills in their

future jobs. Most people graduate from the program and immediately fill

positions of increased technical and leadership responsibility. The Coast

Guard's increased emphasis on technical authority has the potential of

dramatically increasing these opportunities. The final and less obvious

benefit is the prospect of enhanced promotability. Recent analysis of

promotion trends for officers in engineering/technical specialties appears

to indicate those members that have earned an advanced degree have

an increased opportunity for promotion. For example, in the last two

promotions cycles, 96% of those members in the C4IT community that

were promoted to O5 had an advanced degree. Enlisted personnel will

also find advantages in having a degree. Enlisted members who complete an advanced education program usually compete well on service

wide exams, CWO appointments, and many apply for Commissions.

In the coming months, CG-4 and CG-6 will announce their advanced

education opportunities via ALCOAST. Additionally, CGPC will provide

detailed information on the application process. Interested members

should keep a close eye on the message board for these two important

messages. These programs are very competitive, so make sure you follow the application process and get all of your required documents in

before the deadline. If you just can't wait and want more information

now, look under the Learning Tab in CG Central for CG Advanced

Education or follow this link to CG Central for more information about

the CG-4 and CG-6 sponsored programs:

http://cgcentralweb.uscg.mil/cLink/00000707. You can also contact the

CG-4/CG-6 Advanced Education Coordinator, Mary Fuata at (202) 475-

5737 or via email, mary.k.fuata@uscg.mil.
16 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Engineer’s Digest

WASHINGTON -- The Coast Guard Yard in

Baltimore, the service's only full-service shipyard, broke ground on an alternative energy

project that will take it "off the grid" for nearly

all of its electric and steam power needs. The

project is expected to yield the same reduction in greenhouse gases as removing 33,000

cars from the road annually.

The Yard will utilize methane gas piped from

the nearby Quarantine Road Landfill, owned

by the city of Baltimore, to produce electricity

and steam for the next 15 years. This is a

collaborative project between the Coast

Guard, Baltimore City, and AMERESCO

Federal Solutions, Inc. of Knoxville, TN.

Construction is expected to conclude in late

2008.

Yard Breaks

Ground for

Landfill Gas

Co-Generation

Plant
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 17

"Protecting and preserving our environment is a core mission of the Coast

Guard, so it's fitting that this renewable

source of energy will soon provide the

electricity needed to run the Yard as the

men and women there work tirelessly to

renew and modernize the Coast Guard's

fleet of ships and boats," said Coast

Guard Commandant ADM Thad Allen.

The project is the largest renewable

energy project in Coast Guard history

and the first landfill gas co-generation

plant in the State of Maryland. The initial project cost and future operations

and maintenance expenses will be paid

through the plant's annual energy savings.

"The Baltimore landfill gas project highlights the continuous effort of the Coast

Guard to manage energy resources,"

said Daniel Gore of the Coast Guard

energy program. "Since 1985 the Coast

Guard has reduced energy consumption

per square foot of building space by 27

percent. This project alone will remove

up to four percent of the Coast Guard's

total electricity consumption from the

grid and place it on a renewable

source."

The project will meet the renewable

energy requirements of the Energy

Policy Act of 2005 for the entire

Department of Homeland Security

through 2012. The bill mandated that,

The Yard held an All-Hands

Groundbreaking Ceremony

on November 13, 2007 to

begin construction of the

Landfill Gas Co-Generation

Plant. Honored dignitaries

included (left to right): U.S.

Congressman Wayne

Gilchrest of the 1st District

of Maryland; U.S.

Congressman Elijah

Cummings, Chairman of

the Subcommittee on

Coast Guard & Maritime

Transportation and representative of Maryland's 7th

District; U.S. Congressman

John Sarbanes of the 3rd

District of Maryland;

Captain Stephen Duca,

Commanding Officer,

Coast Guard Yard; Mayor

Sheila Dixon of the City of

Baltimore; Admiral Thad

Allen, Commandant of the

Coast Guard; Governor

Martin O'Malley of

Maryland, and Mr. George

Sakellaris, President of

AMERESCO Federal

Solutions, Inc. With the

rousing applause of over

500 Yard employees and

guests, the official party

gripped shovels and broke

ground to officially commence construction of the

Yard's Landfill Gas CoGeneration Plant, expected

to be operational in late

2008.
18 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Engineer’s Digest

Through an agreement with Baltimore City, a landfill gas collection system will be installed at the

Quarantine Road Landfill, located approximately one mile northeast of the Yard. Methane gas, a natural

by-product of the decomposition of municipal solid waste, will be captured and converted into bio-energy from the landfill. A new, one mile underground pipeline will be installed for the transfer of gas. Once

it reaches the Yard, the methane will be the fuel source for the new co-generation plant that will be capable of generating four megawatts of electricity and 35,000 pounds of steam, enough to meet all the

Yard's utility requirements. The amount of electricity to be generated is the equivalent of removing 2500

residential homes from the electrical power grid.
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 19

by 2009, five percent of electricity consumption for federal agencies be generated from a renewable source. When this electricity is produced on-site,

double credit is received.

The landfill gas project will save the Yard an estimated $2 million in annual

utility payments. The Yard will provide an annual payment of approximately

$200,000 to the City of Baltimore for rights to the methane gas. In addition,

the Coast Guard will pay for the construction and operation of a gas collection and processing system.

The Coast Guard Yard's primary role is to keep the service's fleet of cutters

and small boats operationally ready. The 112-acre, 108-year old installation

is also home to a dozen Coast Guard tenant commands and activities,

including first responders for search and rescue, marine environmental protection, maritime law enforcement, maritime mobility, and homeland security

missions.

"Coast Guard fleet operations worldwide are often the direct outcome of the

experience and skilled craftsmanship of the Yard and its tenant commands,"

said CAPT Stephen Duca, Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard Yard.

"With the independent energy source and power generating capabilities this

project will bring, the Yard will be able to meet its fleet support mission uninterrupted by the external power situation. Further, the entire Coast Guard

community in Baltimore will have a base of operations from which to respond

to natural and man-made disasters, freed from the constraints of the power

grid."

The project will be executed through an Energy Savings Performance

Contract with AMERESCO, an energy services company. Guaranteed energy savings by the contractor will be used to "pay back" the capital costs of

the project.

The 126-acre Quarantine Road Sanitary Landfill is one of five solid waste

disposal locations for use by the citizens of Baltimore City. Nearly 500,000

tons of residential and commercial waste are deposited annually at the location.

"This project will stabilize the Coast Guard Yard's energy costs for the next 15

years and possibly beyond, which is crucial in this time of rapidly escalating

prices for traditional energy sources," said CDR John Slaughter, the Yard's

facility engineer. "The initiative also showcases the talents of the people at

the Yard, the Coast Guard, the city of Baltimore, and our contractor to bring a

project of this financial, engineering, and environmental magnitude to reality."

Buried solid waste naturally decomposes and produces methane gas -- a fire

hazard as well as a potent greenhouse gas contributing to global warming.

While methane gas has significant negative environmental attributes in its

natural state, it is a combustible gas and is a potentially valuable, renewable

energy source.
20 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Engineer’s Digest

THE MISSION

OF TODAY'S

NAVAL

ENGINEERING

SUPPORT

UNIT

by LCDR Scott Keister

Executive Officer NESU Portsmouth

MAT personnel conducting an engine overhaul to

both of CGC ALBACORE's Main Diesel Engines.
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 21

Onseveral occasions I have been asked by

family and friends, "What exactly does a

Naval Engineering Support Unit (NESU) do?"

My typical response is a very generic description

created to satisfy those who may never even

have heard of the Coast Guard until 9-11. I tell

them we are responsible for providing assistance

to Coast Guard operational units to keep them

working so that they can fulfill the Coast Guard's

missions. The Maintenance and Logistics

Command Atlantic (MLCA) Standard Operational

Procedure Instruction defines the primary

responsibilities of a NESU as:

1. Maintain a clear understanding of the material

condition of all cutters and boats in their area of

responsibility.

2. Plan, execute, and monitor maintenance, repair,

and engineering changes of structural, electrical,

machinery, and ordnance systems of cutters and

boats.

3. Provide engineering, technical, and administrative

information and guidance on the operation, support, and material conditions of cutters and boats.

However, NESUs have significantly adjusted in recent

years due to changes in Coast Guard missions and

increased levels of operation tempo. Today's NESUs have

an expanded role and the amount of afloat assets that fall

under their umbrella of responsibility has ballooned to

include previously unsupported cutter classes, small boats,

and even buoys in some areas. The geographical spread

of the 10 existing NESUs necessitates core duty overlap.
22 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Engineer’s Digest

However, individual

NESUs have also developed unique engineering

roles that they provide

independent of their

region. Here at NESU

Portsmouth, our mission

is to provide engineering

and logistic support to

Atlantic Area and Fifth

District cutters, boats,

and navigational aids.

So what does this really

mean? The best "realtime" description of a

NESU's role was recently presented by CAPT

Lisa Festa at her

Change of Command on

13 June 2007. The following has been paraphrased from the notes

of her speech.

As a NESU we are here to support the operational cutters and stations. The men and women of each

NESU are outstanding technicians, they are experts in their specialty, and they are proud of what they

do each day. We strive to support our old, as well as our future, shipmates in any way we can. A

NESU Portsmouth Chief Petty Officer said, "Most of us here at NESU have been on cutters and we

know what it's like to ensure a cutter meets her operational commitments. So, once we come here to

NESU it's our job to take some of that burden off the back of our old shipmates." In fact, at NESU

CGC HARRIET LANE dry docked during MEP at the CG Yard.

55' ATON boat recently

pulled out of the water

for a depot level maintenance availability

with Industrial

Portsmouth.
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 23

Portsmouth, 80% of personnel have sea time,

23% are permanent cuttermen, and many of

them who transferred in last summer came

from cutters and many who departed this year

are returning to an afloat assignment.

On any given day a NESU is engaged in a

number of different projects supporting the

Coast Guard's cutters, boats, and Aids to

Navigation (ATON) units. None of our work is

done in isolation, because we work in partnership with the operational units and other support units to provide the required assistance for

operational units to complete the Coast Guard

missions. For example, our casualty response

and cutter availability work is always done hand

in hand with the MLCs and none of our buoy

and boat work would be completed without the

dedicated work of Integrated Support

Command (ISC) Industrial Divisions and the

Coast Guard Yard.

The structure at each NESU varies from location to location based on the type and number

of platforms serviced. At NESU Portsmouth we

have six divisions consisting of the Port

Engineer Division, Boat Maintenance Division,

Buoy Maintenance Division, Logistic Support

Team (LST), Maintenance Augmentation Team

(MAT), and Weapons Augmentation Team

(WAT), each of which make significant contributions to the Coast Guard each day.

The Port Engineers at each NESU are a mix of

our most seasoned and experienced officers,

the Warrant Officers and the Junior Officers,

who have just completed their student engineer

tours and will become the future Engineer

Officers of the Coast Guard. The Port

Engineers serve both our legacy and

Deepwater cutters as well as each NESU's

respective District Search and Rescue and

Aids to Navigation Cutters. The Port Engineers

provide technical and administrative support to

cutter crews including oversight of commercial

contracts for depot level maintenance and

repair functions. They also help the cutter plan

for extended maintenance periods by assessing the cutter's hull, mechanical, and electrical

systems condition and documenting required

work for near and long-term projects, including

overseeing critical generator upgrades and lead paint abatement projects. NESU Portsmouth Port

Engineers were instrumental in the early stages of the Mission Effectiveness Program, where they

worked with the Coast Guard Yard and MLCA prior to the stand-up of the Legacy Sustainment Support

Unit, in overseeing equipment upgrades to ensure the Medium Endurance Cutter fleet continue to serve

the Coast Guard until the Deepwater assets are delivered.

WAT Personnel conducting a MK75 change out

on CGC GALLATIN.
MAT personnel conducting

a Ship Service Diesel

Generator change out on

CGC STATEN ISLAND.

24 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Engineer’s Digest

The Boat Maintenance Division at NESU

Portsmouth manages all depot level boat

maintenance, boat casualty support, and sets

up transportation for the Fifth District boats.

The Boat Division performs depot availability

scheduling and work planning, Casualty

Response (CASREP) technical guidance and

funding for CASREPs requiring funds over a

designated threshold, condition assessments

of non-standard boats, as well as sharing the

responsibility with the unit and Sector for the

centralized management of boat maintenance

funds. The Boat Division is also tasked with

identifying and implementing improved maintenance practices and maintenance cost verification through data collection. NESU

Portsmouth has been out in front during the

early stages of the Coast Guard's centralized

boat maintenance initiatives. They have participated in the Honda Engine Product

Support Integrator Program that was sponsored by the Office of Naval Engineering.

This is an agreement with Customs and

Border Protection to have our Honda engines

overhauled in St Augustine, Florida by the

National Marine Center, and it will be a key

support element for the Response Boats as

we transition to the new Logistics Support

Systems. Just as important, is the daily interaction that the Boat Division has had with the

MAT personnel completing emergency repairs

to CGC FORWARD's #1 Ship Service Diesel

Generator.
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 25

Stations and the ATON Teams to work closely with the Engineer Petty Officers to address their

unit casualties and work out viable repair plans with the Industrial Detachments.

The Buoy Maintenance Division at NESU Portsmouth manages the overhaul of all floating aids

and the supplying of the replacement buoy needs within the Fifth District. This includes tracking

the location and status of all aids to navigation, in the overhaul process and in storage; maintaining an up to date inventory of available buoys and associated hardware; and the scheduling,

transport, and staging of all buoys. The Buoy Division is also tasked with improving the maintenance process and reducing the inventory of hardware, while continuing to deliver all buoys on

schedule. The careful coordination of the refurbishment of buoys became even more critical

when the Coast Guard lost a key supplier of new buoys as part of the fallout of Hurricane Katrina.

As a direct result, the Buoy Division partnered with the Coast Guard Yard, as well as the

Industrial Division at ISC Portsmouth, to overhaul buoys that would normally have been scrapped

if we had a reliable source of new buoys. The Buoy Division also found time to work with the Fifth

District and ISC Portsmouth to supply the City of Portsmouth some non-sea-worthy buoys for display in the new park next to Naval Hospital Portsmouth.

The WAT augments shipboard ordnance personnel in the accomplishment of routine preventive

maintenance, and corrective maintenance for combat systems and ordnance. WAT Portsmouth

services ordnance systems for six 270' WMECs, three 210' WMECs, two 110' WPBs (MK38), and

two 378' High Endurance Cutters (WHECs) home ported in Charleston, SC. WAT personnel at

each NESU may travel outside their respective area of responsibility in support of requests for

assistance and special operations. WAT Portsmouth personnel also provide assistance to other

units on an "as available" basis, including cutters completing Tailored Annual Cutter Training at

Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek and Naval Station Mayport. In partnership with MLCA, the

WATs volunteered to take on the role of conducting Ordnance Technical Inspections aboard our

110-foot patrol boats in order to ensure the safety and reliability of their weapons systems.

Additionally, WAT Portsmouth has faithfully worked to ensure the cutters going through annual

cutter training at Little Creek were free of CASREPS on their MK92 radar and MK75 weapon system, regardless of whether the cutter was home ported here in Portsmouth or from Key West,

Boston, or Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Recently overhauled buoys at ISC Portsmouth awaiting transfer to operational units.
26 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Engineer’s Digest

The Logistics Division is comprised of the Procurement Section and the Logistics Support Team (LST).

The Procurement Section provides procurement and accounting services for all NESU managed

accounts. The Logistics Support Team is a unique section of NESU Portsmouth in that they support all

the cutters on the East Coast and not just the ones here in the Fifth District. The LST project managers

serve as members of the cutter availability Acquisition Team (A-Team) to identify and procure long leadtime material required for all MLCA supported cutter's depot repair work items. They have purchased

and performed the quality assurance inspections on over 6000 government furnished equipment items

for 33 maintenance availabilities this last year at a success rate of over 99% in terms of delivering the

right part to the right location at the right time. This level of success is even more impressive when you

realize that they are also shipping equipment to Bahrain in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. They

work very closely with MLCA Type Desk Managers and the Engineering Logistics Center and constantly

strive to improve their processes to ensure equipment arrives on time and cutters return to their missions as quickly as possible.

The MAT at each NESU provided hull, mechanical, and electrical (HM&E) support to their chartered

cutters in their respective District. In the Fifth District this includes the six Portsmouth-based 270'

Medium Endurance Cutters (WMECs) and one 175' Coastal Buoy Tender (WLM) along with MAT

Detachment Fort Macon, N.C. providing support for two 110' Patrol Boats (WPBs). Additionally, as

resources are available, MAT Portsmouth provides maintenance support to twenty-one additional cutters located throughout the Fifth District.

MAT Portsmouth has established themselves as the ALCO and CATERPILLAR engine overhaul experts

of the Coast Guard. NESU Portsmouth has gained the reputation as the "Subject Matter Experts" for

overhauls and quite often with the development of the casualty repair plan. The MAT has worked in

partnership with the Engineering Logistics Center in forward-looking maintenance initiatives such as the

Reliability Centered Maintenance Program where they perform vibration and infrared signature analysis

to predict pending equipment failures before they actually happen. Additionally, the MAT has a

Technology Lab which uses technologies such as diesel engine inspection, diesel engine signature

analysis, motor circuit analysis, and laser alignment to determine equipment condition and reliability.

They administer the Fifth District and Patrol Forces Southwest Asia deployed cutters' critical gauge and

meter calibration programs, they have brought engineering consoles back to operational status after

CGC BELUGA being pulled out of the water on a railway.
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 27

they've been laid up for six

months as part of the

Mission Effectiveness

Program, and served as

Atlantic Area's P-100 pump

overhaul facility for all East

Coast Cutters.

From all of these accomplishments, it's obvious that

the men and women of each

NESU spend a great deal of

time supporting cutters and

boats. The entire workforce

of the Coast Guard is being

challenged to meet changing expectations and

stretched to cover new roles

in Homeland Security in

addition to our traditional

missions. In order to evolve,

it is paramount that we as

an organization recognize

our own strengths and

remain in touch with each

unit's role within this ever

expanding framework. The

people of the NESUs provide building blocks for the

operational units at the forefront of the Coast Guard

who are most in the public

eye. Those units' ability to

successfully adapt is based,

in part, on the strong NESU

foundation that exists within

today's Coast Guard.

Port Engineer taking Ultrasonic Test readings to verify hull thickness

for CGC NORTHLAND.

MAT personnel completing emergency repairs to CGC FORWARD's #1 Ship

Service Diesel Generator.
28 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Engineer’s Digest

Windows in

Coastal Coastal

Locations Locations

by Marsha Levy, AIA

CEU Providence
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 29

According to the ASTM and majorproviders of liability insurance for architects and engineers, 90% of all building

defects stem from water intrusion. Most of

these defects originate from two building components -- windows and roofs. In the southeastern United States, a substantial number

of building losses during the hurricanes of the

last decade and beyond resulted directly from

the failure of roofs -- and windows. Our experience at Coast Guard facilities mirrors the

rest of society.

Windows have often been treated as mere

commodities in the past -- items that are simply purchased and installed without reviewing

detailed performance or code requirements.

In fact, windows must be carefully specified

and installed, especially in coastal areas.

Treating windows as commodities has resulted in enormous property loss. The loss of

windows in hurricane winds can pressurize

the interior of a structure and initiate structural

failure. Many windows experience failure in

weather conditions that are not as extreme as

a hurricane. Water infiltration from poorly

manufactured windows can result in problems

such as mold, structural deterioration, and in

some situations, repair costs comparable to

the cost of replacing the building. The economic and social effects of hurricanes like

Hugo, Wilma, and Katrina, along with a surge

in mold and related construction defect claims,

spurred the insurance industry to lobby for

stricter building codes

that reflect the need for

building components

such windows -- not just

structural frames -- to

resist major hurricanes

and typhoons.

The most critical factor

for proper selection of

windows is the wind

speed in the area. The

basic wind speeds in

most locations have been

incorporated into the

International Building

Code (IBC), now adopted

or in the process of adoption by nearly every jurisdiction in the United
30 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Engineer’s Digest

States. The wind speeds incorporated in the IBC and used for coastal regions have been updated and

mapped by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in their standard publication Minimum

Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures, also known as ASCE 7. Both ASCE 7 and the IBC

require exterior building components such as roof coverings and windows to resist the loads imposed

by wind speeds in the area. A glance at these wind speed maps will show that the majority of the

Coast Guard's facilities are located in areas with wind speeds over 100 mph, with some Florida facilities

in a 150 mph and up zone.

Using windows that have

been designed and tested

for these conditions is a

critical part of facilities

maintenance and design.

The testing for wind resistance not only addresses

structural requirements, but

also includes air infiltration,

water infiltration, and energy performance. The more

recent editions of the IBC

have a newer requirement

for glass and windows --

windows and glazed areas

must be impact resistant in

coastal areas that are subjected to damage from

wind-driven debris. The

requirement for impactresistance applies to many

Coast Guard facilities.

Generally, the requirement

for impact-resistant windows applies to new structures located in hurricane-prone regions with wind speeds over 110 mph, and located within 1 mile of

the coastal mean high water line. The requirements also apply to Hawaii and areas with wind speeds

over 120 mph. Of course, these code requirements apply to new buildings and major renovations. But

window replacement projects at Coast Guard facilities should also address these requirements. At our

facilities, these issues demand consideration. They affect the service life of our facilities, living conditions, and energy consumption.

The process of selecting a window in a coastal area begins with determining basic wind speed. The

wind loads are often adjusted upward, depending upon whether the structure is a critical facility, the

height of the structure, and the type of terrain. The process used is described in detail in ASCE 7.

Once the maximum pressure is determined, the window selection process can begin. At this time, the

most commonly used standard for determining the performance of windows is the American

Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA) 101. This standard has been adopted by ANSI and

the National Wood Window and Door Association (NWWDA), the association that grades wood windows and doors. This standard establishes performance grade testing for window types based on various pressures. Window types are designated by initials, such as DH for double hung. There are five

basic performance class categories, from lowest to highest are: Residential (R), Light Commercial (LC),

Commercial (C), Heavy Commercial (HC), and Architectural Window (AW). The performance grade is

the negative and positive pressure, in pounds per square foot -- the design pressure. As an example, a

DH-HC-50 window is a double hung, heavy commercial window, with a design pressure of 50 pounds

per square foot. A design pressure of this range could be used in some coastal locations with a 115

mph wind speed, depending on terrain. It should be noted that some window materials, such as vinyl,

cannot easily develop the strength required to resist these wind loads. Other window types, such as tiltin double hung windows, present problems in high wind zones. The window sashes are held in place
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 31

by pins or clips, and these pins or clips (shown at left) may compromise the structural performance of the window. Inexpensive tilt-in windows that do not meet the standard needed for the

area can experience sash blow outs, where sashes held in place by flimsy clips or pins fall out

of the frame. It is important to verify that testing has been done on windows of the same size

as those intended for installation.

A requirement for impact-resistance calls for tests that are not part of AAMA 101, and can limit

the selection of products available. There are two categories of impact-resistant testing for windows: small-missile and large-missile. The height and exposure of the window determines

whether it must meet the requirements for small or large missile testing. The testing procedure

is an ASTM standard, and subjects the window to many cycles of repeated impacts that simulate wind-driven debris in a hurricane. A window is declared large-missile resistant after it has

been exposed to repeated impacts with a piece of lumber weighing approximately 9 pounds,

measuring 2" x 4" x 6 feet in size, traveling at a speed of 50 feet per second (34 mph). The

product must pass positive and negative wind loads for 9,000 cycles, with impact creating no

hole larger than 1/16" x 5" in the interlayer of the glass.

While hurricanes and major wind events form the basis of these code requirements, resistance

to water and air infiltration is directly related to testing for structural performance. Many water

intrusion problems are the result of installing windows that are not designed to resist the wind

speeds in the area. For these reasons, selecting the right windows impacts not only performance in extreme conditions, but habitability and energy performance at a facility.

Energy efficiency is also a significant consideration. Several manufacturers of impact resistant

windows offer windows with insulating glass assemblies that will meet or exceed EPA Energy

Star standards. Energy efficiency is now a focus of most Federal agencies, and adoption of

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) ratings is progressing within the Coast

Guard. Energy efficient windows are eligible for LEED credits for new and existing buildings.

In regions where reinforced concrete and masonry construction is a standard practice, such as

southern Florida, shutters have been permitted in lieu of impact resistant glazing. These products can serve their purpose very well. Outside Florida, codes and product availability have

limited the use of shutters. The IBC generally limits the use of shutters or protective panels to

2-story buildings. Retrofitting shutters to an existing building may present difficulties due to the

lack of an adequate substrate for fasteners at the window perimeter, and existing walls may

also present space limitations for many

shutter configurations. Veneers, wood

frame walls, and other light framing not

designed to accept shutters can present obstacles for securely attaching

shutters. If removable shutters are

used, the need to store and install

shutters is an operational consideration.

Individuals who are familiar with building in Florida know that Florida codes

have required protection of openings

and impact resistance for years.

Construction methods and products for

southern Florida reflect these requirements, which exceed the requirements

of the IBC. However, these kinds of

measures are new to many areas, and

new construction practices and products are needed for those locations.
32 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Engineer’s Digest

This article describes Continuous Commissioning® and discuss its applicability and effectiveness when used in a Coast

Guard facility. Continuous Commissioning® is a trademarked process of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station

(TEES) which seeks to verify proper and efficient operation of a building's HVAC system, to resolve occupant comfort

problems, and to do so on a continual basis. Its initial stages were attempted at Sector Field Office (SFO) Galveston,

Texas during the summer of 2006, resulting in seven recommendations that, if implemented, could save as much as

$2500 per year in utility bill savings, and $63k in capital cost savings in the SFO's 8300 ft2 Administration building.

Introduction to Continuous Commissioning

Continuous Commissioning® is an ongoing process in which comfort, maintenance, and energy use problems in a building can be solved. Whereas new building commissioning focuses on bringing a building to meet design specifications of

HVAC system performance, CC® optimizes building controls and operation for the existing requirements and uses of the

building. In the years since Texas A&M University's Energy Systems Laboratory has developed and implemented this

process, it has been put to use in over 300 buildings across the United States with an average saving of 15-20%

Continuous Commissioning®:

SFO Galveston Building
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 33

A pilot project to investigate an energy

saving process at USCG SFO

Galveston

($0.21-$0.28 per square foot per year in 2003) in utility cost savings in commercial buildings, with an average payback

period of less than two years for the measures implemented (1).

CC® begins with obtaining utility bills and energy consumption data for a building, to generate an energy consumption

baseline. From there, the building's HVAC system's parameters are measured, maintenance problems are identified,

and measures are recommended to address problems. Next, savings are documented, and the process continues, with

more measures and recommendations as conditions dictate. Specific measures for improving HVAC system performance are included in the CC® Guidebook cited at the end of this article. Positive outcomes not only include energy

savings, but increased occupant comfort and productivity, as well as increased maintenance staff knowledge of their

system; since CC® relies on coordination and cooperation with the building’s maintenance staff (1).

CC® has cut a wide swath and been applied to many types of facilities, climates, and both new and old buildings. Within

Texas, CC® has been implemented across Texas A&M campuses in College Station, Corpus Christi, and Laredo; the

Texas State Capitol Extension Building, the Solectron building in Austin, TX; Texas Tech University Campus in Lubbock,

TX; and Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX. Outside of Texas, CC® projects have been undertaken at the

Materials Research Institute in State College, PA; the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City, UT; and the Walter Reed

by LT David Kowalczyk

USCGC DECISIVE
34 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Engineer’s Digest

Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, MD (1). Since CC® has delivered superlative results for so many other facilities, it was hard to pass up the opportunity to try this process out for the Coast Guard.

Pilot Project SFO Galveston

SFO Galveston's Admin building was the site for this study. This was a good site because of maintenance and occupant comfort concerns. The building has a 30-ton Carrier chiller serving its only air handler unit. The HVAC distribution

system is a single duct variable air volume system. There are also four 1.5 ton units serving what used to be a command center on the second floor of the building. The building has approximately 8300 ft2 of conditioned area.

The maintenance staff had several concerns about the HVAC system. The first was the building seemed hot during

summer days, possibly due to the second problem; little or no airflow coming out of the downstream -- most terminal

boxes from the air handler unit. The staff wanted to know if these problems could be addressed by procuring a larger

capacity chiller or air handler unit. Addressing these concerns drove the process. The overarching question, however,

was "Is Continuous Commissioning relevant to the Coast Guard?"

Continuous Commissioning® techniques include developing a benchmark for power use of the HVAC system, measuring

the airflow from the Air Handling Unit (AHU), and checking all terminal boxes for proper operation. Conditions found led

to a hand-over-hand inspection of the supply ducting, and the cooling load of the building was calculated.

The CC® measures and other recommendations developed are listed in the table below.

Recommendation CC® Measure Description Funding Source Cost Savings

1 N/A Do not replace the

Central Chiller or

AHU, they are properly sized.

N/A Not spending

approx $34,400

for the Chiller

and $28,700

for an AHU that

don't need to

be replaced.

2. N/A Relieve kinked duct

about the station

office. Plug the three

supply ducting leaks,

and repair damaged

insulation.

Maintenance

Budget

Approx

$200/year of

"found air" savings.

3. Measure 4.10 Repair the electronics

closet terminal box

and verify proper

operation of the VAV

box without damaging

electronics. Come to

an agreement with

electronics personnel

regarding the operating temperature of the

compartment.

Maintenance

Budget

N/A, depends

on temperature

setting.

4. Measure 4.8 Reattach the static

pressure switch to the

AHU, and verify proper operation.

Maintenance

Budget

Approx

$2300/year
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 35

The first recommendation was driven by the cooling load calculation. The installed central chiller plant is a 30-ton unit,

but according to estimation-based calculations, the building cooling load won't exceed 14 tons. The AHU's supply air

flowrate was measured as approximately 6000 cfm of supply air, but all that was needed was about 2500 cfm to meet

the building load. This drove the recommendation that increasing the capacity of both units was unnecessary, saving

approximately $63k in capital costs. The second recommendation results from the findings of the hand-over-hand

inspection of the supply ducting. Several leaks were discovered, in hard to find spots above ceiling panels and in the

attic. It is estimated that the losses from these leaks, 600 cfm of 55o

F air, can be valued at $212 per year in utility

costs. This is not energy savings, but rather a recovery of a lost quantity.

The third recommendation refers to an electronics closet where the terminal box had been removed completely, the

thermostat was set to full cooling, and the space was 63o

F. The OEM of each piece of electronics equipment in the

space was contacted, and of those who responded or had printed specifications, the lowest of the high operating temperatures for their equipment was 80o

F. This is an incomplete picture of the cooling needs of this electronic gear, but it

indicates that building maintenance personnel with electronics personnel might have some leeway in which to work

together and agree on a temperature for this electronics closet. CC® Measure 4.1, which calls for adjustment of total air

flow for a constant air volume system, is the closest applicable CC® measure because this room was being operated

with essentially its own constant volume system (1).

Reattaching the static pressure sensor, the fourth recommendation, has by far the largest impact on utility costs. This

is due to the fact that a tremendous amount of power can be saved by reducing fan speed to match the needs of the

building, rather than keeping it on full power at all times as was the case before this project. The fan had been manually set near 100% to address high temperature and low flow-rate complaints by building occupants. CC® measure 4.8 is

installing a Variable Frequency Drive, or VFD, on a variable air volume system, and is the corresponding measure,

because even though the VFD is installed, it's not functioning unless it's connected to the static pressure sensor (1).

The fifth recommendation is not a CC® measure, but illustrates the value of CC® in providing a good opportunity to identify applicable retrofit measures. The exit sign is an unsung source for tremendous energy savings, these bulbs must

be online 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This base has 19 exit signs, and if they are relamped with 1.2w LED fixtures, the annual utility savings at today's rates will be over $100. The LED product found had a manufacturer's guarRecommendation CC® Measure Description Funding Source Cost Savings

5. N/A Replace exit sign

lights with 1.2 W

energy saver bulbs

(2).

Maintenance

Budget, replace

as old bulbs

wear out.

Approx

$100/year(utility savings only

not counting

re-lamping

costs).

6. N/A Balance the ventilation system to

ensure even air

delivery to manned

spaces.

Maintenance

Budget

N/A

7. Measure 6.1

and 3.3

Shut down the split

unit systems serving the former command center. The

central plant is

capable of cooling

the entire building at

a higher SEER than

the split units. Set

the VAV boxes in

unoccupied spaces

to minimum flow.

$0 Approx

$100/year
36 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Engineer’s Digest

anteed life of 25 years (2). It is most cost effective to wait until existing lighting systems are ready for

relamping to replace them with more efficient products rather than just relamping before replacement is

necessary (3). Actual relamping savings will depend on the cost and frequency of replacing existing fixtures versus the recommended product.

The sixth recommendation is justified by measurement; the air changes per hour in various rooms

ranged from about 2 to over 30. Not all rooms in the building are occupied at this time, and that drives

the final recommendation to shut the terminal boxes in those rooms down to minimum flow. In addition,

four split units were installed to provide extra cooling to a portion of the second floor that used to be a

command center. These units no longer need to be on, the central chiller plant is capable of meeting the

load of the entire building without the split units, and they can be shut off for an estimated savings of

about $100 in utility costs per year. The corresponding CC® measures are 3.3, turn off systems during

unoccupied hours, and 6.1, use the most efficient chiller, because the EER of the Central Plant is 13.5

vs. the split units which have SEER's ranging from 10-11 (1).

Split unit compressors found beneath the SFO building.
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 37

In conclusion, CC® was applicable and energy savings

results were more lucrative than in the average office

building. Three CC® measures applied to this building,

and the total savings are estimated at $.31 per ft2 per

year, for a total annual utility bill savings of approximately $2500, using current billing rates, and a capital cost

savings of approximately $63k for not replacing the

chiller and AHU. Taking into account the $200 spent on

meters by the CG and the $2,000 value of the TSI

meter used for most measurements, the payback period

using utility savings will be approximately one year. The

payback period is far lower if the capital cost savings for

"equipment not replaced" is taken into account. To

reduce the impact of metering costs on future projects,

several meters could be shared by facilities in a region.

The key to wisely invoking processes like CC® in a

building include weighing the size of the building, utility

expenses, complexity of the HVAC system, maintenance problems present, and occupant comfort problems.

Acknowledgements: This work was performed under the

supervision of Dr. David Claridge of Texas A&M

University's Mechanical Engineering Department and

The Texas Engineering Experiment Station’s (TEES)

Energy Systems Laboratory. Dr. Claridge,

dclaridge@tamu.edu, is the POC for any questions

about Continuous Commissioning® services from the

Energy Systems Laboratory.

Special thanks are in order to the many people who

helped in this project including CDR Gregory Gesele, LT

Ivan Meneses, Mr. Tommy Mount, Mr. Jeff Berrill, Mr.

Wayne Moore, Ms. Brenda Robinson, Mr. Bob Hurinda,

Mr. Larry Thompson, and Mr. Robert Taylor.

LT David Kowalczyk earned his Masters of Science in

Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M in May, 2007.

He is the Engineer Officer on CGC DECISIVE and can

be reached at David.J.Kowalczyk@uscg.mil.

Continuous Commissioning® and CC® are registered

trademarks of the Texas Engineering Experiment

Station.

Sources:

1. Liu, Mingsheng ; Claridge, D.E.; Dan W Turner;

Continuous Commissioning Guidebook U.S.

Department of Energy 2002.

2. Janmar "Series 231 LED exit sign retrofit kit"

http://www.janmar.com/pdf/clr_retrofit/231.pdf

3. Turner, Wayne C. Energy Management Handbook

3rd Edition; The Fairmont Press Inc; Lilburn, GA 1996.
38 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Engineer’s Digest

Leading the Way

by LTJG Amalia Daratsos

Office of Naval Engineering (CG-451)
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 39

The Coast Guard is transitioning to a modern

business model, and in many

aspects, the boat forces support

community is leading the way. The

Defender Class boats and 26-ft

Trailerable Aids to Navigation

Boats (TANB) are being integrated

into a centralized outboard engine

maintenance program. The program is modeled after the successful Aviation Business Model

and is managed by the

Engineering Logistics Center

(ELC). The Honda Outboard

Engine Maintenance and Logistics

Support Program is commonly

referred to as the Honda Product

Support Integrator (PSI) Program.

The PSI Program is a symbol of

modernization; as it expands

through all districts and

Headquarters Boat Forces Units, it

will be largest depot-level engine

maintenance and repair program

in Coast Guard history.

The Defender Class is comprised

of RB-HS and RB-S boats manufactured by SAFE Boats

International. The boats are powered by twin Honda BF225 fourstroke outboard engines. The

TANBs are manufactured by Metal

Shark and are powered by twin

Honda BF150 four-stroke outboard

engines. The sheer volume of

these engines in the Coast Guard

inventory required a plan for conducting and managing maintenance, while keeping in line with

the Commandant's vision of modernization. Through a Business

Case Analysis of Honda outboard

maintenance, Customs and Border

Protection's (CBP) repair facility

National Marine Center (NMC)

was evaluated, along with District
40 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Engineer’s Digest

Nine's maintenance program for Honda outboard engines. As a key member of the

Department's Boat Commodities Council,

NMC was a central point of depot maintenance and logistics, receiving, repairing, and

shipping engines daily, while District Nine's

model locally maintained engines, but was

centrally funded. Sectors in District Nine were

responsible for making repair arrangements

and transporting engines while Naval

Engineering Support Unit (NESU) Cleveland

funded repairs and managed warranties.

Although the pilot PSI program at NMC was a

bit more expensive, it managed logistics support in-house and demonstrated the ability to

absorb the volume of Coast Guard engines

envisioned with full implementation.

In December 2005, the Coast Guard leveraged the Boat Commodities Council and

signed an interagency agreement with NMC in

St. Augustine, Florida, to perform all depotlevel maintenance on District One and District

Five Defender Class engines. The Coast

Guard chose to use NMC in a pilot program

for maintaining District One and Five Honda

BF225 engines because they optimally maintain engine inventory and

employ highly efficient

management processes.

As a result of the agreement between NMC and

the Coast Guard, the

repair facility in St.

Augustine, Florida is now

the largest Honda repair

facility and BF225 dealer

in the United States.

The pilot program was

evaluated for one year and

originally included Boat

Forces Center, Special

Missions Training Center,

and Boat Force units in

Districts One and Five.

The pilot later expanded to

include their MSSTs.

During the evaluation period, NMC's shop and warehouse were stocked with

the required equipment to

perform depot-level maintenance on the

Honda outboards. Meanwhile, sectors in

Districts One and Five identified and shipped

unit spare engines to NMC to establish an initial Ready For Issue (RFI) pool.

The goals of the pilot program were to evaluate cost effectiveness of the program, reduce

costs by reducing the level of spare engines

held in the field, maximize operational readiness and availability with a three day turnaround period, minimize mean time to repair,

and validate organizational and depot-level

maintenance tasks. During the pilot period,

there were valuable lessons learned, but there

were also many successes. During implementation in Districts One and Five, the Coast

Guard reduced life-cycle costs and labor

costs, and increased mean time between failures of previously repaired engines.

The Office of Naval Engineering (CG-45), the

Office of Boat Forces (CG-731), and the

Maintenance and Logistics Commands

(MLCs) completed an in-depth evaluation of

the business case analysis and data from the

pilot program. They agreed that sending

National Marine Center, St. Augustine, Florida.
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 41

engines to a centralized facility such as National Marine

Center for depot-level maintenance was the best overall

solution to providing optimal life cycle support. The PSI

pilot's success was due in part to improved centralized

warranty management, configuration tracking, supply

support, failure trend analysis, and critical access to

qualified technical support. Units participating in the pilot

no longer had to wait in the queue for local Honda dealers for service and support, and were assured compliance with the most up-to-date service

bulletins.

When depot-level maintenance is

required, units request a spare engine

from their forward staging point.

These locations are outlined in the

Honda BF225 Engine Centralized

Logistics Standard Operating

Procedures (SOP) Rev 2. If there are

no spare RFI engines at the forward

staging point, the servicing NESU

sends a request to NMC for an RFI

engine. When the engine is received

by the unit, the non-RFI engine is sent

back to NMC in the same approved

shipping container the RFI engine was

sent in. This process ensures unit

operational availability and reduces

the requirement for specialized training

at minimally-manned Coast Guard stations. The IT tool, Custom Automated

Maintenance and Inventory Tracking

System (CAMITS), is used by the

NESU to enter changes in engine status. Since engines are serialized for

tracking, significant component history,

and inventory management, the exact

location of each engine is clearly evident to the NESU.

In July 2007, NMC and the Coast Guard agreed to

expand the program Coast Guard-wide. Depot-level

maintenance of Honda BF150s, which power the standard 26-foot Trailerable Aids to Navigation Boat (TANB),

were then added to the program. Districts Seven and

Eight have since been inducted into the program. Due to

the large quantity of engines in District Eight, implementation of the remaining sectors is taking longer than

anticipated. The remaining districts will be inducted by

December 2008. At full implementation, over 1,000

BF225 engines and over 150 BF150 engines will be

enrolled in the program.

The program is striving to embody the "power by the

hour" concept, which is utilized by the aviation community and is attributed to their success in managing assets.

The meaning of "power by the hour" is that the exact

price to operate an asset is known, including maintenance. This allows the operator to anticipate a standard

level of maintenance to be completed by a contracted

source for a fixed price based on a set number of operating hours. The Coast Guard and NMC are working

towards determining a fixed price to repair BF225 or

BF150 engines based on operating hours to ensure the

Honda PSI Program fulfills the "power by the hour" concept.

The Honda PSI Program is an integral part of the Coast

Guard's modernization future. Our partnership with

Customs and Border Protection's National Marine Center

influences the key relationships of the Department's Boat

Commodities Council and increases efficiency within our

organization. The program verifies centralized maintenance as the key to ensuring a standardized fleet of

boats to perform the mission at a moment's notice.
42 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Engineer’s Digest
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 43

In late summer of 2007, even as technicians torqued the last bolt on the final HH-65C

Arriel 2C2 during re-engining modification, the Coast Guard was purchasing new components for the next step in the H-65 evolution. The result was designated as the MH65C by Department of Defense (DoD) authorities. Still called by its common name

"Dolphin," the MH-65C incorporates the changes that transform the aircraft into a multimission Airborne Use of Force (AUF) asset.

Much more than just adding firepower, the MH-65C is a big step forward in airborne

communications interoperability. The design and integration work was done primarily at

the Coast Guard's Aircraft Repair & Supply Center (ARSC) in Elizabeth City, NC, in

partnership with longtime avionics collaborator Rockwell Collins and other vendors

such as Wulfsberg Electronics and FLIR Systems. The upgrade package includes

replacing four legacy communication components with state of the art systems to

include satellite and High

Frequency Automatic

Link Establishment (HF

ALE). The MH-65C also

integrates best-in-class

sensors such as the DF430 radio direction finder

and the FLIR Systems’

electro-optical/ infrared

(EO/IR) system to make

the MH-65C a far more

capable detection platform for all missions.

Designed specifically to

U.S. Coast Guard specifications, FLIR System

"ESS" model is so

advanced that it has

gained the interest of

DoD. Weaponry includes

the M240 automatic

machine gun on a fixed

mount and a shoulderfired .50 caliber rifle for

precision disabling fire.

The MH-65C prototype,

by LCDR Tamara Koermer

HH-65C Systems Manager

Office of Aeronautical Engineering (CG-41)

Figure 1. MH-65C with M240 machine gun and precision fire weapon deployed.

New Multi-Mission

Capable MH-65C
44 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Engineer’s Digest

CG6599, was built

from a new airframe

already in the USCG

inventory (see Figure

2). Fully constructed

at ARSC, it is the first

U.S. Coast Guardbuilt helicopter.

CG6599 flew its first

flight as an MH-65C

on 02 February 2007

(see Figure 3).

Extensive electromagnetic testing and

verification was completed at Naval Air

Systems Command

in Patuxent River,

MD, (see Figure 4)

during summer and

late fall. The first production aircraft was

delivered to HITRON

Jacksonville, FL, in

October 2007.

ARSC is producing

roughly two MH-65Cs

per month and met

the requirement to

deliver six airframes

to HITRON before 30

January 2008 when

the Agusta MH-68

aircraft lease expired

(see Figure 5).

Following HITRON,

the MH-65C will be

delivered to the fleet

through 2011 at a

rate of twenty-two airframes per year. Air

Stations Atlantic City

(supporting the

National Capital

Region Air Defense

(NCRAD)), Port

Angeles, San

Francisco, Houston

and Savannah will all

receive the new MH65C in 2008.

Figure 2. MH-65C in assembly at ARSC.

Figure 3. CG6599, MH-65C inaugural flight 2 February 2007 prior to final paint.
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 45

Figure 4. ARSC supporting the fleet! AET2

Brad Young and CG6599 in the frequency testing chamber at Patuxent River, MD for electromagnetic sensitivity testing (NOTE: this photo

was digitally altered to remove the crane and

cables that suspend the aircraft).

Figure 5. CG6599 in flight

during final verification

testing.
Gr en Coast Guard 

46 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

e Environmental

there are systems within systems. There is

order, development -- and there is evolution.

It is organically structured within a flexible membrane that

allows for change. When placed under stress, all elements morph and adapt until the entire system restructures itself toward higher levels of productivity.

What sounds like something described in a field ecologist’s notebook, is instead an emergency response strategy designed and used by U.S. government officials. It is

the Incident Command System, and is known to many

responders simply as the ICS.

Though it has many uses, a common application of the

ICS is responding to oil spills.

In such cases, scores of agencies will flock together to

form structures that upon close inspection will often ironically resemble the ecosystems they were formed to protect.

Here, in the case of a spill, there are many diverse parts

with different functions: state and local, community

groups and trustees, federal agencies -- all fused together with a common cause: protect the marine environment. In some cases, the differences between agencies

are subtle. Other times, they are more obvious, especially if a spill occurs in a body of water near the border of

two countries.

The Passamaquoddy Bay, which empties into the Bay of

Fundy, Canada, to the north and into the Gulf of Maine to

the south, is a crystal clear example of where this

becomes a paramount issue.

“Fish and other marine life don’t recognize the border so

if there’s extreme impact on one side versus the other,

everybody’s resources are impacted,” said U.S. Coast

Guard CDR Wyman Briggs, of the Coast Guard First

District in Boston.

Briggs is the assistant chief of the incident management

A Science

in the

System

Story and photos by PA2 Luke Pinneo

Here,
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 47

SAINT ANDREWS,

New Brunswick,

CANADA - A US

Coast Guard 25-foot

response boat from

Station Eastport,

Maine, manages a

length of oil-containment boom during a

cross-border contingency exercise on

Passamoquaddy Bay

12 September 2007 in

St. Andrews, New

Brunswick, Canada.

The training focuses

on protecting the delicate marine environment and ecosystems

from potential oil or

other hazardous

material spills. (Coast

Guard photo/Luke

Pinneo) 

branch of the First District, which spans from

New Jersey to the Maine/Canada border.

In his job, if there were ever an oil spill in or

even close to the Gulf of Maine – it would be

his business.

Briggs has served with the Coast Guard for

nearly 20 years, half of which he’s devoted

to the service’s environmental protection

mission. Armed with an environmental science undergraduate degree and an environmental policy masters degree from Harvard

University, he has battled such monster spills

as the Exxon Valdez in 1989, and others

ranging from 60,000 to 100,000 gallons,

each in geographically diverse environments.

His connection to the Gulf of Maine has

deeper roots than just the job. As a boy, he

said he spent many summers along the

coast of Maine fishing, hiking, and absorbing

the natural splendor of the land.

It made such an impression on him that he

chose to stay. He now works at the district

building in downtown Boston, and at the end

of every day he drives nearly three hours

north -- back home to Portland, Maine.

The job provides him with a chance to give

back to the land. Recently in September

2007, he, other Coast Guardsmen, and a

number of agencies and responders from

both sides of the U.S./Canadian border met

for a week in New Brunswick to train in a

true-to-life oil spill scenario. The exercise

was designed to resemble a real oil spill

where many agencies from the U.S. and

Canada would respond. The real challenge

that was soon evident to Briggs and others

was that the ICS was not used during the
48 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Gr 

e en Coast GuardEnvironmental 

drill, but rather Canada’s brand-new RMS (Response

Management System).

Briggs admitted the RMS was about 80 percent the same

as ISC in both structure and function, but the enormous

drawback was that it conflicted with one of the main traditional ideas of the ICS: common terminology.

The example of communication breakdown Briggs provided was when the U.S. Coast Guard refers to “public

affairs,” they speak for the most part of that element within the ISC that handles media affairs.

The Canadian agencies refer to the media affairs group

as the “communications” unit. That is to say the group or

unit that will communicate the situation or event to the

public and the media.

But in ICS lingo, the term “communications” is usually

associated with hand-held radios, telephones, Internet

connection and other means of “communications.”

Same word, entirely different interpretations, and that’s

simply one example.

The use of common terms is essential in the clutch.

When many people, from many groups with different

agendas show up -- under stress -- at a spill, the need

for clear interpretation is obvious and yet the likelihood

for misinterpretation is high.

As it is with ecosystems, in the ICS, communication flow

and a fluid exchange of information from one part to

another is vital to the successful production of the whole.

And although the ICS was designed to use common terminology, there still are several instances of misunderstanding.

According to Briggs, one way the U.S. Coast Guard overcomes some of the terminology challenges that arise

during an ICS guided response, is through the use of

Scientific Support Coordinators (SSC).

The SSCs are representatives from the National Oceanic

and Atmospheric Administration and they are, in

essence, translators -- translators of the language of science.

During a spill, the SSCs rise to the surface and form a

bond and communication loop between the responding

scientists, the on-scene coordinators, and the command.

Steve Lehmann is the SSC for New England, and is

quick to etch a clear line between what the SSCs are and

what they are not.

“I’m not a biologist, or an ecologist. My job is to coordinate science and to interpret science.”

Like Briggs, Lehmann, works in downtown Boston. In his

quiet and sun-filled office, his walls are a testament to

both his love of nature and his passion to protect it. A

historic and colorful collection of photographs, most of

which he took, feature a blend of pristine natural landscapes contrasted by other documentary images of oil

spills, vessels oozing with black sludge, and pollution disasters of the past.

Lehmann elaborated on his role of protecting the environment as a scientific coordinator.

“To a large degree we don’t always try to be the smartest

people in the room, but we always know who the

smartest person is,” he said, with a half smile. “We speak

softly and carry a big Rolodex.”

He is a vital link.

He said Coast Guard responders, especially those that

occupy the command element, must have a clear picture

of what’s happened, what is still happening, and how it

will effect the environment in the near and long-term

future. It’s the SSC’s role to know which scientists can

provide the most accurate information about the situation,

and to relay that data back to the command.

Without a full understanding of each cause and its effect,

it’s possible that some command choices could be more

harmful than helpful.

Briggs agrees.

He suggests hypothetically that during an ICS oil spill

cleanup, after the Coast Guard boat crews have recovered all the oil from the water, a command decision is

made to start cleaning oil from the shoreline.

Seems like a logical next step. Or is it?

Briggs argues that in some cases, to have cleanup crews

trudging and stomping through fragile marshes or wetlands might be devastating to the nesting wildlife and

ecosystems that live and produce there. At times, it

makes more sense to let nature break it down over time,

or let the tides capture it where it can be cleaned from

the water.

Either way, responders are left to make tough choices.

At best, they need to be able to make informed and educated decisions.

Lehmann said in cases like those, and others where scientific data and prediction models are crucial to an effective response, the Coast Guard leans heavily on the

SSC.

He adds that when a spill happens, the conch calls on
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 49

nearly every branch of science to respond. “Big oil spills

are the most scientifically interdisciplinary event you’ll

ever run across.”

He describes a concert of scientists including marine

biologists, ecologists, physicists, chemists, geographers,

and others.

Once all of the components -- scientific, government, private, community -- are in place, the challenge Lehmann

sees time after time is getting consensus. “One man’s

ceiling is another man’s floor,” he said.

In some cases, there

are environmentalists

screaming on one

side and the responsible party, or spiller,

screaming on the

other. Lehman said

that the Coast Guard

and the SSCs are

usually wedged tightly

in the middle.

“When you have two

scientific or two political groups that are

screaming really hard,

there’s probably a little

truth in what each of

them is saying, and

it’s our job to meter in

between.”

It then becomes a

goal of achieving balance.

“If you look at an

ecosystem, nobody set it up that way,” said Lehmann.

“It’s that way because it’s balanced. Sometimes it gets

out of balance, but it usually gets itself back into balance.

It may take some time, but it finds its own balance -- it

finds its equilibrium.”

Command structures, he observes, are the same way.

He said he frequently refers to the organizational structure of a command as being organic.

“You can impose a system on top of it. You can impose

this Incident Command System -- which is a very good

system -- but if you try to hold that system too tightly, it’s

going to finally break around the edges because it’s not

allowed to grow. If you give it some flexibility, which is

how it’s designed to be, then slowly and sometimes

rapidly, that spill command structure morphs into what is

needed.”

He said it almost always happens.

“When it doesn’t happen is when it’s not allowed to do

that -- when there is some human force preventing that

from happening,” he said.

That force, he said, is rigidity.

And sometimes the response is not successful. As he

illustrates, there are also ecosystem that don’t make it at

first, but they evolve until they’re productive.

The same is true of an oil spill response using the ISC.

“A spill that is going to go on for a while -- it evolves into

its own management structure,” he said. “It finds an equilibrium with the spill.”

Is it any wonder, that our man-made systems and our

structures and our models and methods mirror those of

ecosystems, and the natural order of the planet in general?

It shouldn’t be. Given the chance to step back and

observe from a clearer viewpoint, one can easily see that

we’re all part of one big picture.

And, as Briggs noted, it’s a pretty picture and a precious

one. “It’s amazingly productive, as long as we don’t

abuse it.”

A U.S. Coast Guardsman from the Atlantic Strike Team looks out over Passamaquoddy

Bay during a US and Canadian cross-border contingency exercise September 12, 2007, in

St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada. The training focused on protecting the delicate

marine environment and ecosystems from potential oil or other hazardous material spills.

(U.S. Coast Guard photo/Luke Pinneo).
50 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Bravo Zulu

Under the leadership of Commander (CDR) John

Slaughter, Chief, Facilities Management Division of the

Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore, Maryland, the shipyard

recently received the U.S. Coast Guard Cowart Plaque as

the Service's "Outstanding Facilities Engineering

Organization" for 2006. The annual award is bestowed by

the Society of American Military Engineers and named in

honor of the late Vice Admiral Kenneth Cowart, Chief

Engineer of the Coast Guard from 1950 to 1958. CDR

Slaughter has served as the Yard's Chief Facilities

Engineer since summer 2006.

The Yard's Facilities Management Division is the Coast

Guard's third largest shore facility. CDR Slaughter supervises a staff of 13 Coast Guard military and civilian

employees who, under his direction, achieved significant

civil engineering goals at the Coast Guard's only, century

old shipyard last year.

Taking substantial effort as a federal agency to become

less dependent on foreign, non-renewable sources of energy, the Yard established a Memorandum of Understanding

with the City of Baltimore that will result in the recovery of

landfill methane gas for future use as Yard electricity and

steam energy. Capture of the methane gas generated by a

nearby, city-owned landfill will serve as a renewable source

of energy for the shipyard over the next two decades as

well as remove potentially dangerous greenhouse gases

from the environment.

Other facilities engineering achievements include receipt of

the 2006 Department of Homeland Security Environmental

Achievement Award and the 2006 Coast Guard

Environmental Award.

Yard "Outstanding

Facilities Engineering

Organization" for 2006

CDR John Slaughter Leads Shipyard Facilities

Management Division to National Recognition
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 51

Commander John Slaughter, Yard Facilities Engineer, is

the 2008 U.S. Coast Guard "Engineer of the Year." The

Commander's civil engineering expertise, visionary outlook, and strong leadership fueled the success of such

projects as the Yard's new Land Use Plan and the contract for the Landfill Gas Co-Generation Plant.

The former initiative will enhance the industrial capabilities of the Yard and study the consolidation of the

Engineering Logistics Center's operations. The Landfill

Gas Co-Generation Plant construction project will convert nearby landfill methane gas into electricity and

steam for the Yard for the next two decades. The Commander's management and engineering skills have

positively moved forward the study and clean-up of the Yard's Superfund sites. He has proactively reached

out to the community with consistent, updated information on the project's progress. During Commander

Slaughter's tenure as Chief of the Yard's Facilities Management Division, the Yard has received the Coast

Guard's "2006 Outstanding Facilities Engineering Organization," the "2006 Department of Homeland

Security Environmental Achievement Award," and the "2006 Coast Guard Environmental Award For

Pollution Prevention."

Commander Slaughter came to the Coast Guard Yard after serving as Executive Officer for Civil

Engineering Unit (CEU) Miami where he managed major maintenance and improvement projects for Coast

Guard units in the southeastern United States. During his tenure, he coordinated civil engineering

response to eight major hurricanes including Katrina, Rita, and Wilma in 2005.

The Commander's prior assignments include Engineer Officer at the Greater Antilles Section, San Juan,

Puerto Rico; CEU Cleveland; Naval Engineering Support Unit Miami; and student engineer and damage

control assistant aboard the Coast Guard Cutter DAUNTLESS.

Commander Slaughter graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering from the Coast Guard Academy in

1990. He received a Masters Degree in Ocean Engineering from Florida Atlantic University in 1997 and a

Masters in Business Administration from Regis University in 2001. He was awarded the American Society

of Military Engineers' Oren Medal for outstanding contribution to the Coast Guard Civil Engineering

Program in 1999. The Commander is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Florida.

Commander Slaughter hails from Gladstone, Oregon. He and his wife, Vivian, are the proud parents of

two sets of twins: Lucas and Katerina, age five, and Gwen and Lily, age two. The Slaughter family resides

in Pasadena, Maryland.

The Commander was honored at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. when recognized as the

2008 Engineer of Year for the United States Coast Guard during ceremonies on February 21, 2008.

2008 Coast

Guard

Engineer of the

Year Named

Commander John Slaughter
52 • Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly

Bravo Zulu

Les Delney, Yard Equal Employment Opportunity

(EEO) Specialist, is the U.S. Coast Guard Civil

Rights Service Provider of the Year (Full-Time).

Demonstrating command leadership in civil rights,

Delney professionally resolved over 120 contacts at

the lowest level this past year with none resulting in a

formal complaint of unlawful discrimination.

He communicated the need to Yard management to

promote diversity when filling position vacancies in

order to enhance actual and perceived fairness and

due process regarding promotions. Despite an

intense industrial production schedule, Delney

ensured the successful training of the Yard's workforce in Human Relations Awareness and Sexual

Harassment Prevention.

An enthusiastic proponent of community outreach, he

teamed with colleagues from the other Baltimore

Area Coast Guard commands to produce several

special observances and ethnic heritage celebrations

that were attended by the Yard campus personnel

and members of the community throughout the year.

He has devoted countless hours to the Coast

Guard's Partnership in Education program in

Baltimore and has teamed with the Yard's Chaplain

to create abundant opportunities to foster a positive

public image of the Yard.

Born in Haiti, Delney served six years in the United

States Marine Corps and brought 20 years of experience in the equal employment opportunity field when

he came to the Yard in 1997. He has served as the

Yard's EEO Counselor since 2004.

Coast Guard

Civil Rights

Service

Provider of

the Year

Les Delney
Spring 2008 - EE&L Quarterly • 53

Chief Warrant Officer Denise Worden, Chief, Yard

Military Personnel Branch, is the U.S. Coast Guard

Outstanding Education Services Officer (ESO) of the

Year (Medium Ashore Unit/Collateral Duty). The

award recognizes those Education Services Officers

who made extraordinary contributions to the educational development of Coast Guard members within

their command's area of responsibility.

CWO Worden created a newsletter entitled ESO

Update discussing, among other topics, Coast Guard

and Department of Defense news, testing schedules,

and tuition aid programs. She disseminated the

newsletter to 13 tenant activities at the Yard.

CWO Worden mentored junior officers and collateral

duty ESOs regarding ESO responsibilities. In the

absence of other commands' ESOs, she stepped up

and provided their military members and civilian

employees with career guidance and test administration services as well as managed officer accession

interview boards.

CWO Worden handles education services for visiting

ships undergoing repairs at the Yard. She proctored

college exams for Yard civilian employees and was

the only Baltimore area ESO to administer the

Armed Services Qualifications Test -- In Service

retest.

CWO Worden is a 23 year veteran of the Coast

Guard. Hailing from Worcester, Massachusetts, she

has been stationed at the Yard since 2005.

Coast Guard

Education

Services

Officer of

the Year

CWO Denise Worden
Coast Guard Headquarters

CG-4, JR9-1130

1900 Half St., SW

Washington, DC 20593-0001

The Engineer The Engineering and Logistics ing and Logistics

Directorate ... ate ... “Always Ready” ays Ready” to

Support the Men and t the Men and Women of the omen of the

Coast Guar Coast Guard and Our Mission. d and Our Mission.