The Underwater Communications and Depth Sounders Team at Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport celebrated the 100th installation of the Next Generation Fathometer AN/UQN-10 system this April, completed on USS George Washington (CVN 73) in Yokosuka, Japan.

“This is a key milestone for our team and the Navy,” said Equipment Specialist Rob Wax, who serves as the UWC/DS team’s project lead. “This shows the commitment that our country has to naval sea power and ensuring the latest technology is available to those in the Fleet serving.”

According to Wax, the AN/UQN-10 system is a depth sounder that measures and displays the depth of water beneath a vessel to help it navigate safely and avoid underwater obstacles.

Tommy Coughlin, team lead for this program, said the team—true to its “mission-focused, Fleet-first team” mentality—briefly celebrated its 100th AN/UQN-10 installation before turning its attention to the next one.

The UWC/DS team serves as the In-Service Engineering Agent for the AN/UQN-10 and various other underwater communication and depth sounding systems, providing troubleshooting and repair support to fleet personnel and maintenance centers worldwide, said Wax.

The AN/UQN-10 system, which is being installed on six classes of surface ships—including carriers, destroyers, cruisers and amphibious assault ships—offers numerous advantages over older systems, according to Curtis Beers, the UWC/DS team’s employment coordinator for Alteration Installation Team evolutions. These include increased signal fidelity, extended transducer lifespan and a touchscreen, Windows-based interface.

The AN/UQN-10 can also record more than 700 hours of data tracking depth changes over time, which is valuable for understanding the causes of past collisions and near-misses with underwater objects and helping prevent such incidents in the future.

Beers emphasized the dependability of the AN/UQN-10 system.

“We’re replacing systems that are fairly old with very reliable systems,” he said. “It just shows the Navy’s commitment to doing these upgrades to get the warfighter what they need once they pull away from the pier.”

The UWC/DS team plans to complete more AN/UQN-10 installations by the end of this month, said Beers.

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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.