Page 29 - Australian Defence Magazine April 2019

The first steel for the Arafuras was of- ficially welded by Luerssen and ASCOPV at Osborne on 15 November last year that steel, supplied by Wollongong-based Blue- scope, had been cut by Civmec in WA the previous month and then trucked across the Nullabor to Osborne in specially-designed pallets to maintain quality of the contents.
Peter Croser, Assistant Secretary Ships Acquisition - Specialist Ships at CASG, confirms that Arafura construction is be- ing closely monitored at several levels – by a team headed by Commodore Steve Tiffen, Director General Naval Construction; by Luerssen as the program prime; by ASC quality assurance and by the international certification society DNV-GL.
“Luerssen are there to impart the knowl- edge,” Croser explained to ADM. “This ship is relatively different in build strategy to the AWDs on which the ASC guys have been working, and the success Luerssen and ASC have achieved early on is amazing.
“The ASC Shipbuilding team and ASCOPV have produced very good, accu- rate blocks – a far cry from early experience with AWD when another contractor, who will be nameless, produced blocks that were sub-standard size and quality. With the first of the AWDs we put the first two blocks to- gether and had to adjust structural beams and put in strips between the hull to fill the gaps when the blocks were offered up to join, causing much rework and adjustment.
“These issues were resolved and later blocks for ships 02 and 03 were to a much more acceptable standard.”
Build methodology
Croser points out that for the first OPV, the Osborne team is faced with a new methods of build (the Luerssen way) and quite com- plex structures.
“But through delivery of accurate 3D mod- el cutting files from Luerssen, good quality steel from Bluescope (demanding tolerances),
The Royal Brunei Navy operates the reference ship on which the Arafura OPV is based.
accurately profiled steel from Civmec and high quality work from the ASC workforce and supervisors, these blocks are taking shape fast, accurately, and of a high quality.
“The Osborne team was scheduled to do 50 tonnes of steel in the keel by 25 February and they achieved that two weeks early. We were ahead of schedule in WA for preparing the steel and we were ahead of schedule for start production, and that wasn’t a proto- type, that was a real cut and a real first build.”
Croser refers to the benefits of centralisa- tion and the presence of about 25 Luerssen personnel in Adelaide where the design mod- el is located, as are design and build experts who can reach back to Germany and rapidly resolve – maximum overnight – any techni- cal queries from the construction team.
“Plus, they’re on the floor watching the work along with Naval Construction Branch surveyors and picking up on any issues and introducing better methods and practices. There will be more than three blocks in parallel around April so Luers- sen is ramping up with more personnel to support the increased production activity,” Croser notes.
Schedule
Launch of the first OPV is scheduled for May 2021 with delivery in December 2021 after trials and verification. Construction of the second ship starts this August with launch anticipated in February 2022, while work will begin on Ship Three at Hender- son in April 2020, with launch scheduled for November 2023.
Ship acceptance for the 12th and final OPV is scheduled for 2028/2029.
Starting construction in WA would not involve any Adelaide resources being moved to Henderson, where the Civmec workforce was already staffed at a level sufficient to un- dertake the same construction currently un- derway at Osborne. Some learning would be transferred between the SA and WA team during the build of the first OPVs.
“They have the resources at Civmec and the people; they work in the mining, the energy, the civil sectors, they already have steel work- ers with the skills to roll, cut, prepare and jig steel to get the accuracy required and con- struct OPVs under Luerssen supervision in addition to preparing the steel,” Croser said.
Between 200-300 people would prob- ably be required at Henderson to build the ships, in addition to support staff and the supply chain. However, the precise number would come out of the ASC experience af- ter taking into account the fact that the first
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