A small group of shipbuilders gathered in the North Yard Service Area’s Large Enclosure facility in early May to acknowledge the initiation of on-site blast and coat production for Columbia-class submarines.

“Every major module we build for the Columbia program has to pass through here at some point,” said David McGrain (O52), an engineer in Outsourcing who helped lead the project.

Work in the North Yard Service Area – which supports blast and coat for large modules and small parts, as well as tile work – began in April. However, blast and coat work for the Columbia program has been ongoing for the past two years at a contractor’s facility in Hampton. The North Yard Service Area brings that work into the gates at Newport News Shipbuilding and accommodates modules
that are too large to be transported off-site by truck. Blast and coat is a major milestone as work on modules transitions from heavy
metal manufacturing to outfitting. The North Yard Service Area will allow NNS to support the future planned delivery of one Columbia-class submarine per year. In addition to O52, McGrain said it was important to acknowledge the contributions of the Columbia Program Office (K07), Plant Engineering (O41), Supply Chain Procurement (O51), Main Industries Inc., and W.M. Jordan Co. for their roles in bringing the project to fruition.