SST Completes Engineering Project for the US Navy
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Figure 1. SST and Navy personnel recover STAFAC array in November, 2015. (Photo: SST)
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Figure 2. Map showing Andros Island, Bahamas and Tongue of the Ocean near location of the STAFAC array. (Image: SST)
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Figure 3. SST designed and built a 15-Ton A-frame for the installation of the array system in 2008. The same A-Frame was assembled and installed onto the MV Shelia Bordelon for the STAFAC Refurbishment Operation. (Photo: SST)
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Figure 4. SST subcontracted the MV Shelia Bordelon for the recovery and installation of the STAFAC mooring. (Photo: Bordelon Marine)
Sound & Sea Technology Inc. (SST) has recently completed the recovery, upgrade and redeployment of an undersea acoustic array which is part of a system the used by the U.D. Navy for subsea acoustic measurements (Figure 1). The array is moored near The South Tongue of the Ocean Acoustic Facility (STAFAC) on Andros Island, Bahamas (Figure 2) and has a tracking and communication system and seafloor cable system for power and telemetry.
The system consists of two vertical high gain measurement system (HGMS) array structures moored in 4,000 feet of water; an underwater tracking and communication system; and a seafloor cable system (with shallow water junction box) for power and telemetry from the United States Navy's Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) shore facility on Andros Island to the underwater array.
SST, with a Navy team, designed and installed the STAFAC mooring and mechanical systems, including a large A-frame (Figure 3) and has conducted all of the operations for maintenance and upgrades since 2008. For this recent upgrade task, SST prepared all the planning and engineering required for the recovery and installation of the array as well as at-sea operations including the vessel (Figure 4), diver and ROV support. SST personnel directed the at-sea operations for the installation of the North HGMS array, the upgrade of the STAFAC junction box, and the upgrade of the South HGMS array toward a successful outcome.
The work is part of an ongoing multiple award contract with the Navy to provide ocean engineering support to the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center.
February 2024
