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The US navy will move a strike group towards the western Pacific Ocean to provide a presence near the Korean peninsula, a US official said on Saturday. The Carl Vinson strike group, which includes an aircraft carrier, will make its way from Singapore, according to the official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. The news followed a Friday report by NBC that the National Security Council had included the return of nuclear weapons to South Korea in options presented to Donald Trump for dealing with the threat posed by North Korea. Killing North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, was...

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U.S. considers Zumwalt for possible deployment near S. Korea 2017/02/06 SEOUL, Feb. 6 (Yonhap) -- The chief of the U.S. Pacific Command said last month that the Navy's newest Zumwalt destroyer could be deployed near South Korea to deter North Korean aggression, the defense ministry said Monday. In a meeting with South Korean lawmakers last month in Hawaii, Adm. Harry B. Harris, Jr., commander of the U.S. Pacific Command brought forth the idea of having the country's largest missile destroyer operating near the resort island of Jeju or Jinhae, 410 kilometers south of Seoul, the Ministry of National Defense confirmed....

(Washington Examiner) At any given time the United States has an aircraft carrier deployed somewhere around the world, usually in a hot spot such as the Persian Gulf or the Western Pacific. But for the first week of this year, for the first time since World War II, no U.S. aircraft carriers were deployed, anywhere, a Navy spokesman confirmed. The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower had been in the Persian Gulf, contributing airpower to the counter-Islamic State campaign in Iraq and Syria. But it returned to its homeport of Norfolk, Va., on Dec. 30, after a seven-month deployment. And none of...

The United States Navy’s newest and most technologically advanced destroyer USS Zumwalt arrived at her new homeport in San Diego last Thursday following a three-month journey from the Bath Iron Works shipyard in Bath, Maine.

A Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer has been towed back into port just two days after it sailed following a total propulsion failure while taking part in Nato exercises. The Daring class warship, HMS Duncan, left Devonport naval base at Plymouth on Sunday take part in a series of maritime wargames with Spanish, Portuguese and German warships. But the 4,500 tonne hi-tech ship limped back into Plymouth on Wednesday under tow and shadowed by three additional dockyard tugs as well as the Ministry of Defence police.

Four vessels from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps "harassed" a U.S. destroyer on Tuesday by carrying out a "high speed intercept" in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz ... came within 300 yards of the USS Nitze in an action that was "unsafe and unprofessional."

US defense officials confirmed Wednesday the Iranian regime attempted to intercept a US Destroyer in the Strait of Hormuz. Four Iranian ships harassed and carried out a “high speed intercept” in the strait of Hormuz. Four Iran Ships "Harassed" US Destroyer, Carried Out "High Speed Intercept" In Strait Of Hormuz https://t.co/V6oXq33T1a — THE SPARK of LIBERTY (@United_Ignited) August 24, 2016

The United States will have to comply with New Zealand law when it sends a naval ship here in November, Prime Minister John Key says. ... A surface vessel, which would not be nuclear-powered or carry nuclear weapons, would be the most likely US ship to come, Mr Ayson said. "That doesn't mean that New Zealand has got some sort of victory here over American policy. It just means the two sides are finding another way to work around this." Greenpeace, however, hailed the announcement as a victory for New Zealand, echoing the sentiments of investigative journalist Nicky Hager who...

Russia criticized NATO discussions about a creating a permanent force in the Black Sea. "If a decision is made to create a permanent force, of course, it would be destabilizing, because this is not a NATO sea," Russian news agencies quoted senior Foreign Ministry official Andrei Kelin as saying. Russia, which annexed Ukraine's Crimea in 2014, has its own Black Sea Fleet based at Sevastopol. The NATO summit takes place as relations between Russia and the alliance are severely strained over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis and in Syria. While Russia says it poses no threat to alliance, NATO...

< An U.S. Navy picture shows what appears to be a Russian Sukhoi SU-24 attack aircraft flying over the USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea. The repeated flights by the Sukhoi SU-24 warplanes, which also flew near the ship a day earlier, were so close they created wake in the water, with 11 passes, the official said. REUTERS/US Navy

China continues to expand its territory in the South China Sea, militarizing disputed Islands. They are taking strategic control over a major trade route that effects more than $5 trillion in global trade. The Chinese have deployed weapons and placed people on various islands throughout the area to feed its need for oil and keep routes open for its own energy needs. Their hunger for oil-rich islands in this trade route is having an impact on freedom of Navigation in the South China Sea. Recently they have even expanded their reach near the Philippines. China is setting up logistics for...

The United States dispatched a destroyer to join the massive international search for the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 that went missing Saturday morning with 239 on board, as it appeared increasingly likely the plane had crashed into the ocean. Air traffic controllers lost track of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370 shortly after it left Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing, carrying 239 passengers and crew, half of which were Chinese nationals. Vietnam’s military said a search team discovered a 12-mile long oil slick in the Gulf of Thailand that may be the downed Boeing 777, but there had been no...

Two Iranian warships set sail Tuesday for the Atlantic Ocean on their navy's first-ever mission there, state TV reported. The voyage comes amid an ongoing push by Iran to demonstrate the ability to project power across the Middle East and beyond. The report said that the destroyer Sabalan and the logistic helicopter carrier Khark will be dispatched on a three-month voyage. "The warships will have task of securing shipping routes as well as training new personnel," the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Iran's navy chief Admiral Habibollah Sayyari as saying.

The United States will deploy at least two warships into the Black Sea off the coast of Sochi, Russia, to respond to a potential terror attack during the upcoming Olympics, top officials said on Monday. The positioning of the ships would also enable the rapid evacuation of Americans in the event of an attack, CNN reported. The State Department would take the lead if evacuations became necessary. The ships will have helicopters that could fly Americans out of the country if needed. There are also aircraft on standby in Germany that could be at Sochi in about two hours if...

Chinese Navy (PLAN) exercises it's Carrier Strike Groupwith it's LPD and escorts, including two SSNs During the last week of December, the Chinese Navy, the PLAN, conducted exercises with a large group of vessels in what some are calling the Chinese combined fleet. It included their carrier, the Liaoning, CV-16, which is a modernized and refitted Russaain carrier and sister of the Russian, Kuznetsov. it included one of the Chinese large Landing Platform Docks (LPD) which is similar in size and function to the US Navy San Antonio Class LPDS. it included one of the Chinese Type 052C, Lanzhou...

An air rescue for the passengers aboard a research ship that has been trapped in Antarctic ice for a week will wait for a break in the weather to start airlifting people from the vessel, Australian maritime authorities say. The 74 scientists, tourists and crew aboard the Akademik Shokalskiy, a Russian-crewed research vessel touring the Antarctic, have been trapped in ice since Christmas Eve. A helicopter on board a Chinese icebreaker, the Snow Dragon, will be used to collect the passengers once there is a break in the weather, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said in a Monday night conference...

A Chinese naval vessel tried to force a U.S. guided missile warship to stop in international waters recently, causing a tense military standoff in the latest case of Chinese maritime harassment, according to defense officials.The guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens, which recently took part in disaster relief operations in the Philippines, was confronted by Chinese warships in the South China Sea near Beijing’s new aircraft carrier Liaoning, according to officials familiar with the incident.“On December 5th, while lawfully operating in international waters in the South China Sea, USS Cowpens and a PLA Navy vessel had an encounter that required maneuvering...

Just in case WHAT? Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, the Mutt & Jeff of American Defense policy. We are so screwed.

China continued moving tanks and armored vehicles and flying flights near North Korea this week as part of a military buildup in the northeastern part of the country that U.S. officials say is related to the crisis with North Korea. The Obama administration, meanwhile, sought to play down the Chinese military buildup along the border with Beijing’s fraternal communist ally despite the growing danger of conflict following unprecedented threats by Pyongyang to attack the United States and South Korea with nuclear weapons. Officials said one key military unit involved in the mobilization is the 190th Mechanized Infantry Brigade based in...