Kitsap Navy News Sept. 16, 2011

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COVERING PUGET SOUND NAVAL NEWS FOR BREMERTON | BANGOR | KEYPORT

NAVY NEWS Kitsap

VOLUME 1, NO. 25 | 16 SEPTEMBER 2011

www.kitsapnavynews.com

Feds stop payments to PSNS contractor By Thomas James

tjames@kitsapnavynews.com

The federal government last week stopped all payments to a Bremerton-based Puget Sound Naval Shipyard contractor after citing violations of federal law. The Department of Labor on Sept. 1 told PSNS to withhold all payments from Puget

SEE STOP | PAGE 5 John Buchinger, the Naval Undersea Museum’s new educator, stands beside the MNV-2, part of an exhibit designed and built by the museum’s summer teen docent program. Also pictured is the RCV-125, “the flying eyeball.” TOMAS JAMES/STAFF PHOTO

By the kids, for the kids Navy museum gains new teen-organized exhibit, teen-focused educator By Thomas James

Tjames@kitsapnavynews.com

W

hat’s long and red, with a big black snout? If you guessed the MNV-2 submarine, you just might have been one of the eight teens that took part in the Naval Undersea Museum’s summer teen docent program, and helped choose, design and install the museum’s new Remotely Operated Vehicle exhibit. “ROV’s,” a card on the wall explains, “can be used to complete tasks divers can’t reach themselves.” That text, along with the rest of the narrative information provided with the displays, was researched and writ-

ten by participants in the program, said museum curator Mary Ryan. “The idea of the program is that they get to make the choices,” said Ryan. “It’s a learning experience.” Installed at the end of August, the exhibit is called Extending Our Reach, and features three artifacts from the museum’s collection of unmanned submarines. The MNV-2, or Mine Neutralizing Vehicle, greets visitors walking through the front doors, and forms the centerpiece of the exhibit. Behind it are the RCV-125, an exploratory submarine nicknamed “the flying eyeball” for its distinctive shape, and a scale model of the CURV III, a submarine built for remote recovery operations. The teens chose the three to show the two general categories of unmanned underwater vehicles, as defined by their mission: observation versus work. And although Ryan said this year’s group wanted to focus more on the variety of modern technology than on ancient history, the exhibit isn’t

without its historical points of interest: MNV-class subs were deployed to operation Desert Storm, while CURV, the mechanical grandparent to CURV III, was used to recover a lost nuclear weapon from the Mediterranean Sea. The exhibit arrived earlier this month at almost the same time as the museum’s new head educator, John Buchinger, who Monday detailed his plans to make the museum an asset for local teachers. The teen docent program, Ryan said, starts mid-June and runs through Aug. 31. During the annual program, participants split their time evenly between preparing the exhibit, building a functional ROV of their own and leading the museum’s summer educational program for younger children. Each year’s exhibit topic is based on a theme chosen by the museum’s director, but from there on out it’s all about the teens, said Ryan. This year’s group chose the centerpieces of the display from 10 ROVs in the museum’s collection, wrote the exhibit’s

SEE EXHIBIT | PAGE 5

THIS EDITION PSNS cyclists arn’t fazed by cut in safety program pg. 2 NBK badge program pg. 3 Rarely convenient, childrens questions Sarah Smiley ....................pg. 4 USS Augusta choice of presidents ............ pg. 13


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