Naval Vessel Rules: Taking Naval Ship Classification To A New Plateau

摘要

In the wake of acquisition reform, many process reengineering changes have taken place across the Naval Ship engineering and construction enterprise since the late nineties. One key element of those changes has been wider use of commercial practices, such as ship classification to Classification Society standards, which is a process in broad use across the commercial shipbuilding industry. This paper chronicles the adaptation of the ship classification process for application on U.S. Navy combatant ships, as well as the development and evolution of the ABS Naval Vessel Rules (NVR) which have been jointly developed by the American Bureau of Shipping and the Naval Technical Authorities of the U.S. Navy. The multiple dimensions of fundamental change are described, along with areas where this initiative has served as a catalyst for companion improvements and an enabler for process efficiencies.