Falsifying Navy Steel Results

A metallurgist in Washington state pleaded guilty to fraud Monday after she spent decades faking the results of strength tests on steel that was being used to make U.S. Navy submarines.

Elaine Marie Thomas, 67, of Auburn, Washington, was the director of metallurgy at a foundry in Tacoma that supplied steel castings used by Navy contractors Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding to make submarine hulls.

From 1985 through 2017, Thomas falsified the results of strength and toughness tests for at least 240 productions of steel — about half the steel the foundry produced for the Navy, according to her plea agreement, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma. The tests were intended to show that the steel would not fail in a collision or in certain "wartime scenarios," the Justice Department said.


The United States Navy's nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Vermont is christenedat Electric Boat in Groton, Conn. in October 2018. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day via AP, File)


There was no allegation that any submarine hulls failed, but authorities said the Navy had incurred increased costs and maintenance to ensure they remain seaworthy. The government did not disclose which subs were affected.

Thomas faces up to 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine when she is sentenced in February. However, the Justice Department said it would recommend a prison term at the low end of whatever the court determines is the standard sentencing range in her case.

In a statement filed in U.S. District Court on her behalf Monday, her attorney, John Carpenter, said Thomas "took shortcuts."

"Ms. Thomas never intended to compromise the integrity of any material and is gratified that the government’s testing does not suggest that the structural integrity of any submarine was in fact compromised," Carpenter wrote. "This offense is unique in that it was neither motivated by greed nor any desire for personal enrichment. She regrets that she failed to follow her moral compass – admitting to false statements is hardly how she envisioned living out her retirement years."

Thomas' conduct came to light in 2017, when a metallurgist being groomed to replace her noticed suspicious test results and alerted their company, Kansas City-based Bradken Inc., which acquired the foundry in 2008.

Bradken fired Thomas and initially disclosed its findings to the Navy, but then wrongfully suggested that the discrepancies were not the result of fraud. That hindered the Navy’s investigation into the scope of the problem as well as its efforts to remediate the risks to its sailors, prosecutors said.  READ MORE...

Solar Powered Airplane

The U.S. Navy is developing an uncrewed solar-powered plane that can remain airborne for 90 days at a time thanks to massive solar panels on each of its wings.

The aircraft, evocatively called Skydweller and built by a U.S.-Spanish aerospace firm Skydweller Aero, could help the Navy keep a watchful eye on the surrounding seas while escorting ships months at a time or act as a communications relay platform. The company was awarded a $5 million contract by the U.S. Navy to develop the aircraft.

The solar-powered plane adds new software and upgraded hardware to Solar Impulse 2, a piloted solar aircraft that flew around the world in 2015-16 but had to stop every five days. The company converted the design into the Skydweller by removing the pilot seat, which allows for a longer range and more space for hardware for autonomous abilities.

The Skydweller has a wingspan of 236-foot and is covered in 2,900 square feet (269.4188 meters) of photovoltaic cells that generate up to 2 kilowatts of power. Its makers also plan to fit the aircraft with hydrogen fuel cells as a backup to boost performance or serve as a backup in case of bad weather.  READ MORE

S O S

 

SAME OLE SHIT...   just another day...  another dollar...  with 25 cents going to our uncle...   to help pay for all the programs given to people who either do not want to work or claim consistent persecution like the JEWS claim against the ARABS...   and, of which the ARABS don't deny...  nor do they deny their HATRED of Americans regardless of their color, looking only at their passports.

I recall that when I was an enlisted man in the NAVY that SOS meant SHIT ON A SHINGLE...  or, creamed chopped beef on toast...  ain't it funny how names and events and meals get slang interpretations by those who ain't necessarily educated or intellectual.

SO...  whether you are working or living off the tax payer like my wife and I living on Social Security, each day is SOS for the most part unless you are wealthy... and then SOS to you means increasing one's income...  and, I remember someone said that Howard Hughes, on his death bed said, "I'd like to earn just one more dollar."

Every 4 to 8 years, POTUS's come and go...  none of them really ever achieving anything, even when the Congress is of the same Party...  and SOS to them means RE-ELECTIONS.

How STUPID do we have to be, to understand that those with WEALTH AND POWER don't give a FLYING FLIP about us or our silly ass points-of-view since individually we can do absolutely nothing to stop them which is really depressing when one thinks about this from an SOS point-of-view...

WE ARE DOOMED TO ALWAYS REMAIN EXACTLY WHO WE ARE AND WHAT SOS MEANS TO US NOW WILL STILL MEAN THE SAME THEN...

ONCE AGAIN

 It would appear that ONCE AGAIN September 11, 2001 has come and gone with a memory lapse of what this country went through 19 years ago.  A few random photos were posted on the internet and social media forums and blogs and a few articles were written and published by the mainstream media and some people were interview and Churches in NYC held memorial services, but BLM matter and the memories of the CIVIL WAR seem to be a more important issue here in AMERICA, HOME OF THE FREE.

• China released COVID into the world population and all the Democrats care about is blaming Trump
• China has the largest NAVY in the world today and all the Democrats care about is blaming Trump
• Racism runs unmolested in our cities today and all the Democrats care about is blaming Trump

As a Vietnam Veteran, I find this behavior unacceptable but I have no idea what the rest of America THINKS because America is clouded over by the BLM movement, remembering the CIVIL WAR, and letting us all know that 13% of the population is going to bitch, moan, protest, riot, and loot until they get what they want.

BUT, and this is just my opinion, if the 13% actually get what they want, RACISM will increase in America as the rest of us begin to flex their muscles in the only way that we know how and that is PASSIVE RESISTANCE and RELUCTANT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE that will manifest itself in our subtle actions towards the 13% in the future.

THIS IS NOT A THREAT BUT COMMON SENSE AFTER SEEING SO MANY UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES IN THE PAST DEVELOP OVER OUR INAPPROPRIATE ACTIONS.

For those of you who understand SYSTEMS THINKING, we are reaction to SPECIAL CAUSE VARIATION when we should be reacting to COMMON CAUSE VARIATION...