Free Republic

What ARE the Russians up to? NATO fears grow over why 'research vessels' sent by Moscow have taken over mothballed secret Arctic base in mountain hideaway Concerns are growing over Russian ships that have docked in a once-secret naval base in the Arctic. Military leaders in Norway are nervous about its powerful neighbour's presence on its 'strategically important' coastline following a spike in tensions between Russia and NATO nations. Some experts have criticised the shutting down of Olavsvern Naval Base - a huge complex buried in mountainous terrain near the town of Tromsoe - which has been closed since 2009....

To keep track of increasingly stealthy Russian, Chinese, and Iranian submarines, the U.S. is building a robotic ghost ship - an unmanned, autonomous patrol ship - to follow them around the high seas.

Russian Navy commander Admiral Viktor Chirkov's claim that Russia will build a new, super-sized aircraft carrier exceeding 85,000 tonnes has been met with scepticism by analysts. Many have questioned how realistic this ambition might be, given the current limitations of Russia's shipbuilding industry in particular and defence industry in general. The proposed supercarrier, announced by Adm Chirkov on 23 March, would be a quantum leap in capability and size over the Russian Navy's single existing carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov , which at 43,000 tonnes is less than half the displacement of the US Navy's Nimitz-class carriers. The new ship, which would...

Hi everybody, I’m Bill Whittle and this is the Firewall. Let’s just assume for a moment that you’re a radical, left-wing zealot, who was raised by actual communists, and who, naturally enough views the United States military as the tool of capitalist exploitation and colonial racism. Now, further assume that through a perfect storm of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, fate, money, power and media bias somehow conspired to make you Commander in Chief of those same armed forces. What would you do? You couldn’t very well scuttle 11 carrier strike groups. You can’t just destroy entire...

Today the Russian navy possesses around 270 warships including surface combatants, amphibious ships, submarines, and auxiliaries. On paper, that is. But that count includes many ships that are inactive and in poor material condition plus scores of small patrol vessels with very limited combat capability. Of the 270 ships, just 125 or so are in a working state. And of those 125, only around 45 are oceangoing surface warships or submarines that are in good shape and deployable. All the above figures come from Dr. Dmitry Gorenburg of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. By...

A disabled U.S. Navy veteran in Glendale, Arizona, is “devastated” after he says police confiscated 28 of his guns, valued at over $25,000, after a neighbor made “false” allegations that he threatened him. Rick Bailey, a 56-year-old retired software systems engineer, told TheBlaze on Tuesday that he and his neighbor were engaged in a months-long dispute over his landscaping company. He said his neighbor would park two large, smelly “dump trucks” used for his business and other vehicles in the small cul-de-sac where they live. Bailey said he eventually filed a complaint with the city and the neighbor was ordered...

An Iranian military observation aircraft flew within 50 yards of an armed U.S. Navy helicopter over the Persian Gulf this month, sparking concern that top Iranian commanders might not be in full control of local forces, CNN has learned. An MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter approaches the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in November 2014. An MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter approaches the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in November 2014. The incident, which has not been publicly disclosed, troubled U.S. military officials because the unsafe maneuver could have triggered a serious incident. It...

Senior editor of Saudi online paper Arab News, Siraj Wahab, has just tweeted that Egyptian ships forced Iranian retreat from Bab Al-Mandab strait near the Port of Aden. A statement issued by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry stated that Egypt is coordinating with Saudi Arabia, together with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for the participation of its Air Force, Navy, and ground forces, should it prove necessary. However, it should be noted that Iran threatened Saudi Arabia today (Thursday), announcing that its foray into Yemen would end up costing it dearly.

The US Navy is set to unleash an army of 'ghost drones' to scour the coasts for enemy submarines. They hope to end the growing threat of quiet, diesel powered enemy submarines enters American waters undetected. The robot boats will go to sea for us to three months at a time.

NORFOLK The failures of a civilian police officer at the gate of Norfolk Naval Station allowed an intruder to enter the base without authorization last March and fatally shoot a sailor aboard the destroyer Mahan as it sat pierside, a Navy investigation has found. The guard failed to ask the intruder for identification or his intent, did not immediately pursue him when he realized the driver was not making a U-turn, and did not sound an alarm to warn others on base, demonstrating a complete lapse of proper security procedure, said the Navy report, released Tuesday evening. Those errors were...

More than 45,000 Russian troops as well as war planes and submarines started military exercises across much of the country on Monday in one of the Kremlin's biggest shows of force since its ties with the West plunged to Cold War-lows. President Vladimir Putin called the Navy's Northern Fleet to full combat readiness in exercises in Russia's Arctic North apparently aimed at dwarfing military drills in neighboring Norway, a NATO member.

Click on this link then click "Maritime Strategy" (English). http://www.navy.mil/local/maritime/

Thousands of Americans, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and famed evangelist Franklin Graham, have come to the defense of a chaplain who could be thrown out of the Navy because of his Christian faith. Lt. Cmdr. Wes Modder has been accused of failing to show “tolerance and respect” in private counseling sessions regarding issues pertaining to faith, marriage and sexuality – specifically homosexuality. Modder, who is endorsed by the Assemblies of God, has also been accused of being unable to “function in the diverse and pluralistic environment” of the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command in Goose Creek, S.C. The...

“To wage war, you need first of all money; second, you need money, and third, you also need money,” goes the famous saying of Raimondo Graf Montecúccoli, an Italian who served in the armies of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nations. Consequently, with the debate on the U.S. Navy’s budget for the next fiscal year raging on (see here and here), it is perhaps time to assess not how much money is spent on the American navy, but whether it is spent wisely. The discussion surrounding China’s anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) capabilities and the costs that these capabilities impose on...

In March 1945, 15 battleships, 29 carriers, 23 cruisers, 106 destroyers, and a train of oilers and supply ships sailed from "a Pacific base." What was this base? The mightiest force of naval Power ever assembled must have required a tremendous supporting establishment. Ulithi, the biggest and most active naval base in the world was indeed tremendous but it was unknown. Few civilians had heard of it at all. By the time security released the name, the remarkable base of Ulithi was a ghost. The war had moved on to the Japanese homeland, and the press was not printing ancient...

A chaplain who once ministered to Navy SEALs could be thrown out of the military after he was accused of failing “to show tolerance and respect” in private counseling sessions in regards to issues pertaining to faith, marriage and sexuality, specifically homosexuality and pre-marital sex, according to documents obtained exclusively by Fox News.

The story of one of the truly epic events in the history of naval warfare. The survival of Malta was the vital hinge upon which turned the whole Allied strategy in the Mediterranean Theatre of war. This film describes how a vital convoy was forced through to relieve the valiant island of Malta, despite appalling losses.

BREMERTON, Wash. -- Naval Sea Systems Command says the mothballed aircraft carrier USS Ranger will be towed out of Puget Sound on Thursday on its way to be scrapped in Texas. Robert Johnson sees more than a relic of gray steel and worn rivets when he looks across the Sinclair Inlet. He sees home. "It gave me a piece of my soul I think," the Navy Vietnam veteran said. It is the same ship that is on his hat, the USS Ranger, a massive aircraft carrier. "A lot of people served on it. A lot of people worked on it,...

Canada’s military has again delayed the opening of a major new Arctic port, a sign the government is struggling to assert sovereignty over a remote resource-rich region. The planned deep water naval facility at Nanisivik – some 3,100 km (1,900 miles) north of Ottawa – is one of the key components of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s “use it or lose it” approach to the Arctic. The port, initially due to open in 2012, will now not be operational until 2018.

In 1965, the aircraft carrier USS Midway was bombing Vietnam. VA-25, an attack aviation unit of the Navy, operated from the Midway. In October, one of the toilets on the ship cracked. The crew planned to dispose of it. Commander Bill Stoddard, the executive officer of VA-25, came up with a novel way to get rid of the toilet. To celebrate the six millionth pound of ordnance dropped by his unit, Cdr. Stoddard had the toilet painted with the "Fist of the Fleet" emblem of his unit. It was then loaded onto his Skyraider. Cdr. Stoddard dropped it on a...