"Battle Stations 21 is unprecedented in its size, scope and array of both effects and training systems. We can bring that same level of expertise and efficiency to trainers in a variety of industries."

Sheila Sheridan
McHugh T&S Senior Project Manager

McHugh served as design-build team leader for the U.S. Navy’s trailblazing Battle Stations 21 project at Great Lakes Naval Station. Designed to provide real-world conditions and challenges for the 40,000 recruits that train there each year, Battle Stations 21 has received international attention for its intensive use of immersion training and simulation. The $82.5 million facility puts recruits through a grueling, 12-hour series of tests, from the everyday to the horrific, in order to better prepare recruits for high-stress situations. GlobalSim was an integral part of the Battle Stations team.

Among the innovations McHugh T&S built into Battle Stations:

  • Handheld PDA computers integrated into the training management systems, so facilitators can not only track the recruits’ progress and record data, but exchange data and communicate with the control center;
  • A detailed human management system that enables the Navy to move 352 recruits through the facility at once;
  • Low-maintenance construction and finishes so the facility can handle 24-hour-a-day operations; and
  • High levels of repeatability, with automatic reset and reuse features.

Project Specifications:

Size:
At 157,000 square feet, Battle Stations 21 can easily hold the 210-foot-long replica of a guided missile destroyer, the USS Trayer that is the heart of the simulator. The ship is docked in a 90,000-gallon “moat” with wave effects.
Cost:
$82.5 million
Capacity:
Battle Stations 21 can house 352 recruits — four divisions of 88 recruits — at a time for its 12-hour program.
Building Program:
McHugh Training & Simulation’s design-build program provided a single source of responsibility for the trainer, constructed for a set price, while ensuring a team approach. Its construction-based approach ensured an unwavering emphasis on cost, schedule and safety controls.
Training Systems:
An Event-Based Approach to Training (EBAT) emphasizes objective-based training. Performance measures are integrated into the training management systems and fed back into curricula for continuous enhancement and life cycle maintenance of the programs.
Controllable Elements:
For a fully immersive environment at Battle Stations 21, McHugh T&S employed:
  • Realistic scenery
  • Flame effects
  • Water effects
  • High-definition projection
  • Custom video media
  • Computer animation
  • Animated props
  • Surround ambient audio
  • Point source sound effects
  • Subwoofer vibration
  • Defined ambient lighting
  • Strobes and lighting effects
  • Fog, smoke and air effects
  • Scent machines
  • Ambient temperature
  • Hot objects
Project Team:

Owner:
Naval Service Training Command, Navy Region Midwest

Lead Architect/Structural & MEP Engineers:
SmithGroup, Inc., Detroit

Design Architect/Civil Engineers:
Wight & Co., Darien, Ill.

Lead Integrator:
GlobalSim , Salt Lake City

Set Fabrication:
Scenic View, Inc., Morton Grove, Ill.

Media & Art Direction:
Design Island, Orlando

Action Equipment and Effects:
Advanced Entertainment, Monrovia, Calif.

Audio/Video:
Edwards Technology Inc., El Segundo, Calif.

Lighting Design:
Yeager Design, Lake Oswego, Ore.

Fire Effects Elements:
Kidde Fire Trainers Inc., Montvale, NJ