Free Republic

The Bath shipyard has contracts to build 11 new DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers for the Navy over the next eight years. Bath Iron Works is known for building Navy warships from the ground up, but if it wants to stay in business it has to do the same to its workforce. The shipyard is in the midst of a massive hiring push to finish a backlog of ship work and reinforce its army of mechanics, many of whom are nearing retirement age. With Maine’s historically low 3 percent unemployment rate and a statewide skilled labor shortage, BIW can’t afford to...

Two vessels named “H. M.S. Terror” and “Erebus” were left in the Northwest Passage in 1845 but not before the crews suffered lead poison and botulism — and they cannibalized each other before the freezing to death. Now, a closer look is on one of those vessels. Parks Canada archaeologists recently used underwater drones to explore the wreck of the aptly named H.M.S. Terror. according to National Geographic. Discovered in 2016 off King William Island in the Canadian north, the ship and its contents have not yet been properly studied until now, 174 years after it sank.

The second-in-command of a Navy submarine was fired this week, making him the third senior leader of a ship to be dismissed in two days. Lt. Cmdr. Jonathan Cebik was removed Monday from his position as executive officer of the USS Jimmy Carter over concerns regarding his personal judgment. Two other senior officers were removed for the same thing Tuesday. Such dismissals are by no means unusual, current and former Navy officers told the Washington Examiner. A 2004 Navy inspector general report found that 78 officers were removed for similar reasons between January 1999 and June 2004, an average of...

Navy Facing Billion-Dollar Tab, Years to Get China Lake Fully Operational After Quake By: Gidget Fuentes August 21, 2019 1:11 PM A pair of strong earthquakes that struck the Navy’s key hub for air warfare research, development and testing six weeks ago handed the service a huge bill to replace, rebuild or repair damaged facilities. The Navy estimates more than $2 billion in repairs are needed to repair facilities damaged by a pair of earthquakes six weeks ago at its vital hub for air warfare research, development and testing. China Lake Naval Weapons Station encompasses 1.1 million acres north and...

Photos showing off the inside of a Russian nuclear submarine, the largest in active service in the world, have been released, with the huge ship being the inspiration behind the sub from the classic Sean Connery movie The Hunt for Red October. Images show crew members working on the Typhoon-class sub, also known as an Akula, a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine belonging to the Russian Navy. The sub appears to be the Dmitriy Donskoi, which entered into active service in 1982 and, after the decommissioning and scrapping of its Typhoon sister boats, became the largest submarine in the world. The...

The US Navy is to replace touchscreen controls on destroyers with physical systems in 2020 after a report into the fatal 2017 USS John S McCain collision branded the controls ‘unnecessarily complex’. The investigation into the accident that resulted in the deaths of 10 sailors said that the complexity of the control system and a lack of training led to the collision. Bridge design on US naval vessels is largely uncontrolled by the military, with a lack of specific requirements leaving design decisions to shipbuilders. The step-back in technology will give sailors more tactile feedback and remove the ambiguity and...

HONG KONG — China has denied a request for a U.S. warship to visit Hong Kong, American officials said Tuesday. The incident came amid rising tensions between Beijing and Washington over tariffs and follows the U.S. last week imposing sanctions on China after it bought arms from Russia. The USS Wasp, an amphibious assault ship, had been due to make a port call in the former British colony of Hong Kong in October, diplomatic sources told Reuters. "The Chinese government did not approve a request for a U.S. port visit to Hong Kong by the USS Wasp," a spokeswoman for...

Navy Reverting DDGs Back to Physical Throttles, After Fleet Rejects Touchscreen Controls By: Megan Eckstein August 9, 2019 10:46 AM SAN DIEGO – The Navy will begin reverting destroyers back to a physical throttle and traditional helm control system in the next 18 to 24 months, after the fleet overwhelmingly said they prefer mechanical controls to touchscreen systems in the aftermath of the fatal USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) collision. The investigation into the collision showed that a touchscreen system that was complex and that sailors had been poorly trained to use contributed to a loss of control of the...

The U.S. Navy officer was eager to talk. He’d seen his ship, one of the Navy’s fleet of 11 minesweepers, sidelined by repairs and maintenance for more than 20 months. Once the ship, based in Japan, returned to action, its crew was only able to conduct its most essential training — how to identify and defuse underwater mines — for fewer than 10 days the entire next year. During those training missions, the officer said, the crew found it hard to trust the ship’s faulty navigation system: It ran on Windows 2000. The officer, hoping that by speaking out he...

​President Trump said Wednesday that he would order the Navy to rescind medals given to military lawyers who prosecuted a ​former ​Navy SEAL the president supported during his court martial on murder charges. “The Prosecutors who lost the case against SEAL Eddie Gallagher (who I released from solitary confinement so he could fight his case properly), were ridiculously given a Navy Achievement Medal,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “I have directed the Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer & Chief of Naval Operations John Richardson to immediately withdraw and rescind the awards​,” Trump continued.

Crews are searching for the pilot of a U.S. Navy fighter jet that crashed in Death Valley National Park, injuring seven people who were at a scenic overlook where aviation enthusiasts routinely watch military aircraft speeding low through a chasm dubbed Star Wars Canyon, officials said. A search was underway for the pilot of the single-seat F/A-18 Super Hornet that was on a routine training mission... The lookout point about 160 miles (257 kilometers) north of Los Angeles is popular with photographers and aviation buffs who gawk at jets flying in the steep, narrow canyon. Officials closed the area after...

Following reports that the military prosecutors of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher are receiving Navy Achievement Medals -- despite failing to secure a conviction for Gallagher on murder charges -- President Donald Trump is stepping into the fray. On Tuesday afternoon, Trump took to Twitter, calling the medal awards "ridiculous" and demanding that they be rescinded. "Not only did [the prosecutors] lose the case, they had difficulty with respect to information that may have been obtained from opposing lawyers and for giving immunity in a totally incompetent fashion," Trump tweeted."I have directed the Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer & Chief...

Schultz: Coast Guard Expanding Western Pacific Operations By: Dzirhan Mahadzir July 23, 2019 11:48 AM Crew members from USCGC Munro (WMSL-755) conduct law enforcement from the cutter’s 35-foot Cutter Boat in the Central Pacific, Dec. 2, 2018. US Coast Guard Photo KUALA LUMPUR – The U.S. Coast Guard will increase its presence and deployments to Asia – particularly around Oceania and U.S. Pacific territories – and test out a new operational deployment concept in the region, service head Adm. Karl Schultz told reporters on Thursday. “My vision for the Coast Guard is to expand our permanent presence and effectiveness in...

The French navy has located one of its submarines that disappeared more than 50 years ago with 52 crew on board. La Minerve was discovered on the seabed in the Mediterranean off the port of Toulon. “It’s a success, a relief and a technical feat,” Florence Parly, the defence minister, tweeted. “I am thinking of the families who have waited for so long for this moment.” La Minerve was on a military exercise when it disappeared in January 1968. Repeated searches have failed to find the vessel until now. Under pressure from relatives of crew members, a fresh search was...

DUBAI —A British warship tried but failed to prevent Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from seizing a British tanker in the Strait of Hormuz last week, intercepted radio communications show, fueling a wave of recriminations in London on Sunday over who was to blame for the incident last week. In recordings obtained by the shipping consultancy Dryad Global and posted on its website Sunday, a member of the Revolutionary Guard is heard ordering the British-flagged Stena Impero tanker to divert course toward Iran. “Alter your course,” the man says. “If you obey you will be safe.” A British naval officer...

China is building a potent air launched anti-ship cruise missiles along with aircraft to carry those weapons. Meanwhile, the once-dormant Russian bomber force is back—though not in the numbers of the Soviet era. Moreover, with the emergence of new adversary stealth aircraft—some of which have the capability to fly very high and very fast—which are also armed with cruise missiles, the Navy will need the range and speed that the Tomcat offered to fend off those threats. The F/A-18E/F can do the job—but only to an extent.The United States Navy retired the venerable Grumman F-14 Tomcat in 2006 after more than three decades in...

Video from the U.S. Coast Guard shows crew members boarding a suspected drug smuggling vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, with one pounding on the hatch until someone inside opened it, reportedly finding over 17,000 pounds of cocaine. Coast Guardsman jumps onto narco-submarine loaded with drugs in Pacific Ocean

Radiation levels in the water around a sunken Soviet-era nuclear submarine are some 100,000 times higher than normal, scientists have warned, raising fears that the K-278 Komsomolets may still pose a threat 30 years after it sunk. Norwegian scientists have been analyzing the area around the submarine, which came to rest on the floor of the Norwegian Sea after sinking on April 7, 1989. The accident—caused by a fire in the engine room—resulted in the deaths of 42 of the Komsomolets' 69 crew. Most were killed by radiation exposure while waiting for the Soviet navy to rescue them. The 400...

Two California-based sailors have been recognized for extraordinary heroism during a nighttime raid on a remote underground Islamic State group hideout, where the pair fought off 20 terrorists and shielded their comrades from grenades and enemy fire. Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technicians 1st Class Christopher Greene and Travis Holland were each presented with the Bronze Star with combat "V" device last week at Naval Outlying Landing Field Imperial Beach, California. They were recognized for their actions during a Sept. 18 mission in Iraq's Anbar province while assigned to Special Operations Task Force-West. The team traveled to the ISIS headquarters hideout by...

The crew on a nuclear-powered Russian military submarine prevented a “planetary catastrophe,” according to a top naval officer who spoke at the funeral for the 14 sailors who died during a fire on the vessel. Captain Sergei Pavlov, an aide to the commander of Russia’s navy, said Sunday the sailors “saved the lives of their colleagues, saved the vessel and prevented a planetary catastrophe.” Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, said there were no signs the incident could have caused a larger catastrophe. “As for the reactor, there are no problems with that,” he said. After days of secrecy about the...