My Awesome Husband

Below is an article Erik wrote for the Shipyard Log. He is actually the one who totally conceived and pushed to get this process implemented. He had to go to multiple meetings to convince the engineers and all the higher ups that it would work and show them how much money it would save. The navy is now using this at other ship yards. He has been working on this for a long time. But being the humble guy that he is, he gave credit to other guys. This isn't the first time he's made great innovations for the navy and saved the tax payers money, some years ago he designed a rigging set up and had the machine shop on base craft it, it proved to be a vital piece of equipment for a submarine repair job. The Navy has since patented it and is using it all over. He gets his engineering gift from his brilliant dad-Fred Hauptmann.

Divers innovate New waterborne repair process introduced on Olympia

By Erik Hauptman, Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard Diving Supervisor

Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard divers recently pioneered a new process for waterborne replacement of an electrical hull fitting (EHF) on Los Angeles-class submarines. The first job was completed on USS Olympia (SSN 717) March 15. It used a small fraction of the resources a drydocking would have taken and the submarine was returned to full mission readiness.

An EHF repair typically requires Main Ballast Tank (MBT) flood hole covers to be installed by divers. After the patches are installed, the MBT can be vented to atmospheric pressure.

The topside access covers are then removed and repair personnel can enter the MBT
to conduct work.

Because Olympia has no topside access covers, her MBT is only accessible by personnel (other than divers) in dry dock.

An unscheduled dry-docking for Olympia would have caused scheduling conflicts and was not a viable option.

Deferring the repair until the next docking would have limited the ability of the submarine to complete her mission. Shipyard divers proposed a method to change the EHF waterborne by venting the tank and replacing the EHF without the use of patches or cofferdams.

Ship Safety Officer Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jeffrey Stephens coordinated the effort and supervised the evolution. Lead project engineer Chris Young wrote technical guidance for performing the repair. The Electronics Shop was the lead trade and coordinated the work among all assist trades.

Navy Diver 1st Class Landon Vanvalkenburg supervised the divers as they accessed the flooded tank and made their way to the damaged EHF. The divers measured the water level in relation to EHF penetration, and determined it was safe to remove the EHF for repair.

The removal took less than one hour. After repairs were completed, the divers reinstalled the EHF in one-and-a-half hours. The entire job took less than a month from planning until the job was complete.

“This effort reflects a willingness to work together to find solutions,” said Rigger/Diver General Foreman Thomas Glazier. “This is an excellent example of deck plate innovation that maximizes resources while maintaining readiness. I congratulate them all for a job well done.