Photo By Frank Kaminski | Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport’s Undersea and Combat Systems Depot...... read more read more
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Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport’s Undersea and Combat Systems Depot Division recently completed its annual Torpedo Certification Examining Board inspection, earning the highest overall rating of "Satisfactory" and securing certification for another year.
“I'm thrilled with the results of the TCEB for this year,” said NUWC Division, Keyport Depot Manager Jay Scott. “I know there was a lot of hard work shown by the technicians, engineers and planners, just the whole staff proving that, day in and day out, they’re inspection-ready and ready to support the Fleet.”
Overseen by Program Executive Office Undersea Warfare Systems and executed by the Program Manager, Undersea Weapons Program Office, the TCEB ensures torpedo maintenance activities—such as the Depot and Intermediate Maintenance Activities—meet the standards for safely maintaining and delivering reliable warshot and exercise torpedoes and components to the Fleet.
The TCEB uses a rigorous inspection process with six key areas, each graded on a scale from “Excellent” to “Unsatisfactory.” The Depot scored “Excellent” in four out of six key inspection areas—Quality Assurance; Safety, Supply Support; and Workshop, Test and Ordnance Handling Equipment—and “Satisfactory” in the two remaining areas, Procedural Compliance and Maintenance Activity Management and Administration.
This year’s TCEB was led by a senior member of the Program Office and included experts from various Navy organizations specializing in undersea warfare, torpedo engineering, fleet maintenance and other key areas. The team spent a week at the Depot and thoroughly inspected every aspect of its operations, including management, safety, supply chains and equipment.
“During TCEB, virtually every process, component, control or policy is fair game,” said Scott. “This can be anything from evaluating the training and qualification process, inventory and warehousing, Emergency Action Plan, facility-related issues or Command Directive policies. It really is a holistic look at how we operate the organization as a whole to support the Fleet.”
Scott attributes the Depot’s successful inspection largely to its robust self-assessment practices, including its use of systems like Corrective and Preventive Action; the Failure Reporting, Analysis and Corrective Action System; and Engineering Review Boards.
"I think what we've done with our quality assurance program in the Depot over the past several years really has led to our organizational success,” said Scott. “The Depot extensively uses the CAPA system for identifying and addressing potential issues and conducts routine FRACAs and Engineering Review Boards. This ensures that even when we have findings, or we have critiques, or we have things that go wrong, we are able to hold each other accountable.”
This year's TCEB was made more challenging by a series of winter storms that caused delays and base closures, but Scott said the team rose to the challenge.
"We had a workforce that showed up,” said Scott. “They were ready to work. They were ready to show that they were committed. They understood the urgency of delivering weapons to the Fleet."
Jon Pentzer, head of NUWC Division, Keyport’s Undersea Weapons Department, praised the Depot for its outstanding performance overall.
“The Depot bested even last year’s outstanding performance with another record low overall findings for the Depot, 19 total with only a single major this year. This achievement is all the more impressive given the rigorous nature of the TCEB inspection, which is designed to ensure that the Depot is producing products that meet the highest standards of technical compliance, reliability and safety.”
Pentzer added, “The inspection team was thoroughly impressed with the Depot's performance, and their feedback reflects a high level of confidence in the Depot's ability to support the torpedo enterprise and the fleet with high-quality weapon components.”
-KPT-
Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport is headquartered in the state of Washington on the Puget Sound, about 10 miles west of Seattle. To provide ready support to Fleet operational forces at all major Navy homeports in the Pacific, NUWC Division, Keyport maintains detachments in San Diego, California and Honolulu, Hawaii, and remote operating sites in Guam; Japan; Hawthorne, Nevada; and Portsmouth, Virginia. At NUWC Division, Keyport, our diverse and highly skilled team of engineers, scientists, technicians, administrative professionals and industrial craftsmen work tirelessly to develop, maintain and sustain undersea warfare superiority for the United States.
| Date Taken: | 03.20.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.20.2025 16:48 |
| Story ID: | 493389 |
| Location: | KEYPORT, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 348 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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