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Nimitz Takes 1st SSPC Military Honor

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

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The U.S. Navy’s storied USS Nimitz has taken top honors in SSPC’s first Military Coatings Project Award of Excellence, which recognizes exceptional coatings work performed on U.S. military ships, structures or facilities.

The massive project, honored last week at SSPC 2011 in Las Vegas, involved abrasive blast cleaning and preserving 66 tanks and voids comprising more than 170,000 square feet while the supercarrier’s hull was waterborne.

The level of pierside preservation below the waterline was unprecedented in U.S. Navy history for preservation of tank and void structure.

The project demonstrated that nearly all portions of the aircraft carrier structure could be made accessible to re-preservation, even when using the most sophisticated modern coatings in less-than-ideal conditions, project officials said.

Pierside preservation of ship tanks allows the Navy to separate the link between drydocking and tank preservation.  Reducing drydocking time increases the operational availability of these strategic national assets.

The keel of the USS Nimitz was laid June 22, 1968, at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, VA. The Nimitz Class carriers are the largest warships in the world.

SSPC Chapter Awards

SSPC also paid tribute at its meeting to its rapidly expanding network of chapters. The organization now has 10 active chapters in North America and seven international chapters.   

The award for Outstanding North America Chapter went to the Northern California/Nevada Chapter, chaired by Ron Robison of Redwood Painting Co., for its many successful activities and several training sessions over the last year.

Outstanding International Chapter honors went to SSPC’s United Arab Emirates Chapter, which was chartered in April 2010. The UAE chapter has already helped launch chapters in Saudi Arabia and Qatar and held two events. The UAE chapter is chaired by Pradeep Y. Radhakrishna, of WGI Heavy Minerals Inc.

Papers, Other Awards

SSPC also conferred these 2010 awards:

JPCL Editors’ Award

• “Preparing Repair Mortars for Wastewater Service: Broom Finish or Blasted Surface?” Vaughn O’Dea, Rick Schwab, Tnemec Company Inc.

• “Dry Film Thickness Measurements: How Many are Enough?” Robert Francis, Aurecon Australia Pty, Ltd.

• “Corrosion Protection of Offshore Wind Turbines?A Challenge for the Steel Builder and Paint Applicator,” Karsten Mühlberg, Hempel (Germany) Ltd.

• “Hubble Bubble Test and Trouble: The Dark Side of Misreading the Relevance of Coating Testing,” Dr. Mike O’Donoghue, Vijay Datta, Carl Reed, Mike Winter

Outstanding Publication: “Controlling Traffic on Highway and Bridge Painting Jobs,” Robert Ikenberry, California Engineering Contractors, Inc.

President Lecture Series

• Gerald O. Wilson, Autonomic Materials Inc.

• H. Magnus Andersson, Autonomic Materials Inc.

Coatings Education

• Pradeep Radhakrishna, WGI Heavy Minerals, Inc.

• L. Skip Vernon, CLT, Inc.

Technical Achievement

• Paul Gossen, National Surface Treatment Center

• Eric Kline, KTA-Tator Inc.

John D. Keane Award of Merit:  William D. Corbett

Honorary Life Member: Thomas M. Dunkin II