“The MoD recognizes the importance of preserving warship design capability within the UK and will keep under review the means of maintaining it.” (Source: House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee, 2nd Special Report, 2002-2003).
BARROW'S DESIGN SKILLS, The Resource, Its Pedigree
Around 60% of the UK's warship design capability resides in Barrow shipyard.
There are over 600 designers based at BAE SYSTEMS Submarine Solutions, Barrow. They have designed and built large surface warships and submarines for the Royal Navy:-
- LPD class ships: HMS Albion, HMS Bulwark
- Auxiliary Oiler AO class, RFA Wave Knight
- Astute class submarines
- Vanguard Class submarines
- Successor submarines
- HMS Ocean, helicopter carrier
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Barrow's specialist engineers undertake complex activities such as:-
Nuclear Engineering - providing safety and performance improvements to a state of the art Pressurised Water Reactor that is fuelled for life.
Systems Engineering - integrating the thousands of sub-systems that add up to 100km of cabling, 10km of pipework and over 5 million lines of software code and managing the supply chain which consists of over 30 main suppliers.
Marine and Mechanical Engineering - providing solutions for the propulsive power train, auxiliary systems and life support. Astute has to be quiet, vibration free and robust enough to withstand a nearby underwater explosion.
Hydrodynamics and Control Engineering - the design of the submarine hull, hydroplanes and control systems to provide control of depth and good maneuverability. The submaine is literally 'flown' underwater.
Human Factors Engineering - ensuring that every system is safely operable and maintainable in all conditions by a relatively small complement compared with previous nuclear powered submarines.
Two schedules at the end of this section show the design capability at Barrow in tabular form.
The two figures below summarise the skill sets at Barrow shipyard.
Design and Engineering Structure – Shipbuilding
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Project & Programme Management |
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Systems Engineering & Integration |
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Procurement &
Supply Chain Management |
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Systems Design x System
- Hull/Naval Architecture
- Propulsion
- Mechanical
- Combat System
- Control & Instrumentation
- Electrical
- HVAC |
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Spatial Design x Area
- Units
- Modules
- Blocks/Rigs
- Routed systems
- Super-blocks
- Whole ship
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Design and Engineering Skills, Disciplines, and Systems at Barrow
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System Skills
- Naval Architecture
- Structures
- Electrical
- Electronic
- Mechanical
- HVAC
- Propulsion
- Communications
- Combat systems
- Control and instrumentation
- Radiation physics and shielding
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Disciplines
- Systems Engineering
- Systems Integration
- System Design
- Spatial Design
- Stress Analysis
- Weights Engineering
- Dynamics
- ARM/FMECA
- ILS/LSA
- RCM/LORA
- Safety Engineering
- Human Factors/ Operability
- Technical Publications
- Post Design Services
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Systems
- CAD/CAM
o CADDS 5
o CATIA
o Pro/Engineer
- PDM/PLM
o Optegra
- Analysis
o FEA
o CFD
- Requirements Management
- Project Management
- Risk Management
- Materials/Design databases
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The shipyard has a call currently for additional engineers. The skills needed are listed on www.worklifebarrow.co.uk and are summarised in the Current Vacancies section.
