Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center (MARMC) successfully conducted a Chapter 13 fire drill in concert with guided-missile destroyer USS Ramage (DDG 61) and Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Jan. 25 in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

MARMC began the Navy's first coast wide area bid with the oversight on Ramage's extended selected restricted availability in November 2016.

"USS Ramage and the on-time completion of her availability has been a primary focus of MARMC," said MARMC Commanding Officer Capt. Daniel Lannamann. "To our advantage, fixing ships is what we do best. This is not new to us, other than we are in a different location. The way we execute this availability and the drills associated with it will set the standards for our future coast wide avails. We are committed to getting everything right, including exercises and drills that help build our relationship with those team members at HII in Pascagoula."

All private shipyards which host and repair in plant a Navy vessel are required to complete a Chapter 13 fire drill annually to guarantee the safety of personnel and the military asset. In Norfolk, this means hosting a drill should be expected at least once every three years.

"The purpose of the fire drill was to provide realistic training opportunities and to integrate MARMC, ship's force, HII firefighters, and Pascagoula firefighters in a shipboard environment," said MARMC Safety Director Frank Walker.

This helps the firefighters who are not familiar with a Navy ship get the experience of walking the passageways and learning the spaces of the vessel in order to properly combat a fire, and protect the ship and the people on board.

"The drill was a big success and we were graded satisfactory," said Walker. "There are a lot of moving pieces when we go through one of these exercises, and it is very difficult for all the key players to perform their roles in a high stress situation. It is very important that we get it right, and everyone involved did really well in the execution and completion of this drill."

Another key component of this ship overhaul process being conducted out of homeport is safeguarding the physical security perimeters, which includes both the land and waterways associated with the shipyard space the Ramage overhaul will be conducted within.

"Our primary focus from a security standpoint is twofold -- due to the coast wide bidding process, we wanted to make sure HII meets all Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) standard items for plat protection concerning both the ship and the Sailors," said MARMC Security Operations Manager Daniel Powers. "During our recent visit to HII, we did a comprehensive review of HII's security plan to make sure they were meeting the in-depth security process. We also conducted a tabletop discussion to make sure they are aligned with Solid Curtain-Citadel Shield 2017, which is a Navywide exercise performed at all private shipyards and deals with protection and management of security access points."

"We appreciate MARMC's security representatives coming down and putting an extra set of eyes on our security programs to make sure we are doing our best to protect our yard, as well as the Ramage during her availability here at HII," said HII Director of Security Rick Graham.

"This being a new process, the coast wide bid, we have run into several challenges where we have had to come up with unique solutions," said Lee Wallace, Ramage MARMC project manager. "In order to preserve the safety of our crew and to ensure this process is smoother for future out of homeport availabilities, we are currently tracking lessons learned to be applied to future project teams."

Since HII's primary focus has been on the shipbuilding aspect of yard work, there were several logistical areas which needed to be worked out among the MARMC project leads and the HII team tasked with making the repairs and modifications to Ramage.

"Our normal routine working with the private shipyards in the Hampton Roads area has been well established over decades of building and cultivating those partnerships," said MARMC's Administrative Contracting Officer Erica Collins. "Therefore, our partnerships have created a strong sense of the standards and expectations of repairing and upgrading a Navy ship. With HII, we are building that relationship from the ground up and that includes getting our project teams, organizational cultures, and daily routines set up and functional in Mississippi just as they are in Norfolk in a very short window of time."

Ramage is projected to complete the shipyard portion of her availability by the end of summer and will begin sea trials shortly after in Norfolk.

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