Development and Qualification of a Floating Pier for the U.S. Navy Fleet

The U.S. Naval Facilities Command plans to deploy a floating modular hybrid pier (MHP) to berth most major Navy ship classes. Developed to replace deteriorating pile-supported piers, the MHP is made up of floating modules that can be assembled into any length of pier, and later disassembled and relocated separately or as a unit in another home port. This paper summarizes the development, testing, and evaluation of the MHP. The paper discusses the features of the pier that allow its reconfiguring for specific applications and introduces the most likely configurations for particular vessel support goals and mooring requirements. The paper also summarizes some of the key analyses performed to mitigate technical and functional risks.