Facility Upgrades at the U.S. Naval Academy Hydromechanics Laboratory

The United States Naval Academy (USNA) is located on a prime piece of Annapolis real estate that overlooks the mouth of the Severn River. The yard (campus) is bordered by water on two of four sides. This makes it easy to access the large fleet of sailing dinghies, ocean going sail training craft and 108 foot long yard patrol craft on which our future naval officers train. On the night of September 18, 2003, a storm surge created by hurricane Isabel raised the waters in the Severn eight feet above the normal astronomical tide line (Beven and Cobb, 2003). A storm surge of this magnitude was unprecedented and flooded many of the buildings at the academy which brought about an unplanned re-build of many of the expensive lab facilities located on the ground floor. This paper provides an overview of upgrades made to the Hydromechanics Laboratory (NAHL) in the recovery from this disaster. On a positive note, the NAHL is now in much better condition than it was before Isabel.