DATE: Tuesday, April 29, 1997               TAG: 9704290247

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A13  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   36 lines

REPAIR WORK WILL DELAY SAILING FOR COMBAT SUPPORT SHIP ARCTIC

The combat support ship Arctic will miss today's battle group departure for the Mediterranean Sea because of a mechanical failure that was discovered last week when the ship sailed to Earle, N.J., Naval Weapons Station to pick up ordnance.

The 18-month-old ship had a broken reversible gear coupling, similar to a torque converter in an automobile's transmission, that is being replaced, officials said.

Assuming the repair work checks out, the Arctic will sail from Earle on Thursday, reach Norfolk on Friday and set off Sunday to catch up with the carrier John F. Kennedy battle group and Kearsarge amphibious ready group.

The Arctic, with a crew of 560, is a 48,800-ton multi-purpose supply ship that serves as the grocery store for the battle group. It carries fuel, munitions and other stores.

Commissioned Sept. 16, 1995, it is the third of a four-ship class of support ships known as the ``Supply'' class.

The first three - Supply, Rainier and Arctic, suffered major delays in their construction, caused mainly by the late delivery of reduction gears, according to Norman Polmar's book, ``Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet.'' The fourth ship in the class - the Bridge - is scheduled to be commissioned in March.

The ships were built by National Steel & Shipbuilding in San Diego.

Navy officials said the Arctic's malfunction did not involve the reduction gears, but an assembly to it.

The ship is expected to meet its counterpart, the combat support ship Detroit, in the Mediterranean in time for a turnover that will allow the Detroit to return to Norfolk as scheduled in late May with the Theodore Roosevelt carrier battle group, officials said.

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