The US Navy’s Ohio-class submarine, USS Ohio, has successfully completed the expansive major maintenance period (MMP) at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF).
The latest MMP is the fourth for USS Ohio after being converted from a ballistic missile submarine, and is also part of its normal operating cycle, scheduled to be performed after completion of a 12-month forward deployment.
SSGN programme superintendent Jerry Piotrowski said: "Even with the extensive and complex work package, the teamwork between Ohio’s crew and the project team to get the job done well was unbeatable."
The 110-day modification programme involved providing upgrades to the submarines’ navigation, communication, radar, and sonar systems, in addition to its diver air system, superstructure, depth control tanks, air-conditioning units, fairwater planes, as and a number of seawater and ventilation valves integration.
Additional tasks in the programme included resolving troubleshooting and repairing several indication issues of the submarine, which had earlier prevented the crew from monitoring water levels and movement remotely from the ballast control panel.
Armed with Lockheed Martin-built Trident missile, the Ohio-class submarines features Northrop Grumman’s advanced SEAL delivery system (ASDS) and four 533mm torpedo tubes with an mk118 digital fire control system.
The submarine is also equipped with eight launchers for the mk2 torpedo decoy, WLR-10 threat warning system and the WLR-8(V) surveillance receiver.
Capable of operating on a 325hp Magnatek auxiliary propeller motor, USS Ohio is also integrated with AN/BQQ-10(V4) sonar processing system and BPS 15A I/J-band radar.
Image: The US Navy’s guided-missile submarine, USS Ohio at Naval Magazine Indian Island. Photo: US Navy photo by Lt Ed Early.
