NAVSEA in renaissance

Sea Power, Apr 2000 by Nanos, George P Jr

The destroyer USS Arthur W. Radford is repaired at NAVSEA's Norfolk Naval Shipyard.

Arriving with tremendous hype and celebration, the 21 st century is offering excitement and change at speeds we have never before encountered. This new millennium is advancing information systems, expanding knowledge, and introducing startling new technologies. All of us feel this change in so many aspects of our lives-from eBusiness on the Internet to eAppliances in the home. In fact, the citizens of the world truly are experiencing a transformation in their lives. It is a personal and global renaissance, causing a rebirth of mind and spirit.

NAVSEA-the Naval Sea Systems Command-is in renaissance too. This revival is both exciting and challenging to its nearly 50,000 professionals. During the past two years, the NAVSEA "family" has been reborn as a single corporation, rededicating ourselves to "keeping America's Navy #1 in the world."

NAVSEA and its predecessors have served the fleet for more than 200 years. We have played major roles this past century, along with so many others, in creating and supporting the world's most powerful and capable Navy, which contributed mightily to winning both the Cold War and the Gulf War for the United States and our allies. We were here yesterday, we are here today, and we will be here for the next millennium!

The fleet's solution provider, NAVSEA is unmatched in both knowledge and experience relating to the design of ships and combat systems, as well as their life-cycle support. As our customers identify problems, we have the capability, resources, and energy to implement the most effective and efficient solutions. NAVSEA has led the technology innovation at each stage as our Navy evolved from sail to steam, and from diesel to nuclear propulsion. Ready for the next great technology leaps, NAVSEA is becoming an agile learning organization strongly embracing millennial change, responding at high speed, and inserting cutting-edge technology.

A Fleet Focus

We are dedicated to fixing fleet problems now. Capitalizing on our unity, stability, capability, and agility, NAVSEA delivers. Daily we track the fleet around the world and anticipate its need for solutions-often responding before assistance is requested. At NAVSEA, we do all of this so we can keep America's Navy #1 in the world. How do we do that? How can we keep our Navy on the cutting edge? How can we give our Sailors the very best ships, combat systems, and life-cycle support? It isn't easy, but NAVSEA professionals relish the challenge and excitement.

Our renaissance is marked by renewed vigor. It embraces change and unleashes creativity. First, we defined our core equities-those unique technical capabilities and skills that NAVSEA must develop and retain in order to sustain the U.S. Navy in the future. Then, to ensure these equities directly supported Navy missions and goals, we aligned ourselves organizationally to create a whole greater than the sum of the parts. We are integrating this diverse effort to operate as a single organization-aligned, coordinated, and steaming on the same course and speed. This has been a key to NAVSEA's rebirth.

In an interview for the April 1999 Sea Power, I emphasized NAVSEA's tremendous rate of change and promised to provide the fleet "Customer Service, Second to None." What a difference a year makes. Our vision has been farreaching and our strides have been steady in providing world-class service and support to the fleet. You need only visit NAVSEA City 2000 at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space Exposition to see and experience it.

A demonstration of NAVSEA's Distance Support program illustrates our adoption of cutting-edge technology in eBusiness to support the fleet with telemaintenance. This electronic connection, supported also with a "24/7" call center (877-4-1-TOUCH) staffed 24 hours a day/seven days a week, provides high-quality support to the fleet around the world. When the fleet has a question or problem, we have a way to assist with e-mail, video connection, or a call to a real person. With just one email to http://www.fleetsupport.navy. mil we can leverage Web-based support jointly at Navy systems commands to provide a more immediate response. These new technical-support resources enable NAVSEA to be a leader in providing maintenance assistance anywhere in the world-electronically, telephonically, and personally.

To achieve naval-force interoperability, the chief of naval operations (CNO) designated NAVSEA to resolve a number of major issues and impediments. In response, NAVSEA developed an alliance of shore-based technologies, creating a testing and evaluation capability that had never before been attempted-a system called the Distributed Engineering Plant (DEP-see Sea Power, March 2000). It moves battle group (BG) system testing ashore, identifies and resolves problems before deployment, and replicates BG operations anywhere in the world. DEP already has contributed significantly to BG training, testing, and readiness. NAVSEA's skilled professionals developed, tested, and made this concept operational in approximately 10 months. The future holds the possibility for additional applications with joint and allied forces.