Free Republic

In the early 1970s, with the Vietnam War winding down, the U.S. Navy worried about how to keep its fleet effective during the inevitable budget drawdown at war's end. Their innovative solution: build small, fast ships that could, thanks to new technologies of the time, tackle the missions once performed by much larger ships. The Navy had studied hydrofoil ship concepts for two decades. Hydrofoils were large joined wings that lifted the ship into the air, above the water, at high speeds. Mostly free of the drag imposed by sitting in liquid, a hydrofoil ship could go much faster than...

French Navy (Marine Nationale) Rafale M carrier-based multirole fighters may conduct combat missions against the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria from a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier as soon as January 2017. The information comes from French TV channel TF1 (video in French). According to TF1 this subject was discussed between US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and French Navy Rear Adm. Rene-Jean Crignola, Commander Task Force (CTF) 50. The US Defense Secretary was visiting the French Navy aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle on Saturday. The reason why the French Navy would deploy its Rafale M aboard a US Navy...

8 Over the years it’s become commonplace for writers to sex up their descriptions of guided-missile destroyer (DDG) Zumwalt, the U.S. Navy’s newest surface combatant. Commentators of such leanings depict the ultra-high-tech DDG-1000 [4] as a battleship. Better yet, it’s a “stealth [5] battleship [6]”—a fit subject [7] for sci-fi [8]! Not so. And getting the nomenclature right matters: calling a man-of-war a battleship conjures up images in the popular mind of thickly armored dreadnoughts bristling with big guns blazing away at one another on the high seas, pummeling shore targets in Normandy or Kuwait, or belching smoke and flame...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - The regulars did not take it seriously when Enrique Marquez mused about terrorism at Morgan's Tavern, a dank dive bar where the bespectacled 24-year-old hauled ice, cleaned bathrooms and checked ID's at the door. After a few drinks, he would just start talking - about his money woes, trying to lose weight, wanting to join the Navy. News reports about terror were just fodder for more bar talk. "He would say stuff like: 'There's so much going on. There's so many sleeper cells, so many people just waiting. When it happens, it's going to be big. Watch,'...

The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) has long been a mainstay of the U.S. strike weapon inventory. Launching from ranges out to 1,000 miles and armed with a 1,000-pound warhead, it is the Navy’s “Kick Down the Door” weapon, attacking well-defended high-value land targets. The BLK IV missile is the latest variant in a steady progression of capability, incorporating mission planning, navigation and guidance, and command and control upgrades designed to improve responsiveness and target flexibility. Combat-proven and operationally reliable, Tomahawk remains a weapon of choice for planners and commanders alike. The FY 2016 budget maintains production and inventory levels,...

Bath, Maine — The largest destroyer built for the U.S. Navy cuts an imposing figure: massive, with an angular shape, hidden weapons and antennas, and electric-drive propulsion. But underneath the stealthy exterior resides a style of hull that fell out of favor a century ago in part because it can be unstable. The Navy will soon learn how this modern take on the “tumblehome” hull holds up when the first-in-class Zumwalt heads out to sea in December for builder trials in the rough-and-tumble North Atlantic. Amy Lent, of the Maine Maritime Museum, which works closely with the shipyard, said taxpayers...

Shortly after George W. Bush won re-election, the destroyer USS Hayler (DD 997) took its last voyage to a location somewhere in the Atlantic. She carried out one last act of service for the United States Navy, serving as a target for a SINKEX – in essence, a live-fire exercise – for the Expeditionary Strike Group centered on USS Saipan (LHA 2). USS Hayler represents an interesting might-have been. In fact, had Congress had its way, she would have been the lead ship of a new class of destroyers, often called the air-capable Spruance. In many ways, the air-capable Spruance...

A proposed Russian submarine launched doomsday weapon — the existence of which was almost certainly leaked by the Kremlin — gives clues to the Russian mindset for the development of new strategic weapons in the face of the West’s increasing ballistic missile defense capability and Russia’s shrinking national assets, a naval analyst told USNI News on Thursday. The Status-6 weapon was revealed on Wednesday during a Russian broadcast of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and military leaders in Sochi and a screengrab of the weapon was widely circulated following the broadcast. The weapon is allegedly a “robotic mini-submarine”...

In an explosive report we learn that ever since 2012, the United States has been spying on Israel in order to prevent the Jewish State from attacking suspected Iranian nuclear sites, according to Friday’s Wall Street Journal. The White House had sent an additional aircraft carrier to the region after learning that Israeli aircraft had flown into Iranian airspace in what U.S. officials feared was a test run for an attack on Iran’s Fordow plant. The carriers had attack aircraft on board prepared to respond to any Israeli attack on Iran.

A trio of Chinese Navy vessels that are making an around-the-world trip will be visiting Mayport, Florida on November 3rd through the 7th. This visit comes as tensions are increasing between U.S. and China over the South China Sea, with the Navy ready to sail within China’s man-made islands claim on disputed territorial waters. The three ships involved with the visit include the Type 052C Luyang II class guided-missile destroyer named Jinan. The 052C Luyang II class is roughly analogous to an Australian Hobart Class destroyer, not necessarily in raw capability but in general configuration. The Hobart Class is roughly...

It was announced yesterday that Saudi Arabia wants to purchase four extremely up-gunned Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ships (LCS). The deal will be worth $11.25 billion including weapons and support. This will also be the first export sale for the troubled LCS program, and these Saudi ships will be far more capable than any version of the LCS the Navy plans on procuring. This fact may present an incredible opportunity for the Navy to get the version of the Littoral Combat Ship they really need, and possibly at an awesome price. Saudi Arabia’s highly upgraded variants of the Freedom-class Littoral Combat...

The Navy is investigating adding an anti-ship missile to its submarine force — bringing it inline with the majority of the world naval submarines, the director of Naval Reactors said on Wednesday. In response to a question from the audience at the 2015 Naval Submarine League Symposium, Adm. Frank Caldwell said the Navy was exploring adding the capability to the fleet. “For this audience, I’ll tell you we are considering that and we are taking some some steps to delivering that kind of capability to our submarine force and I can’t really say anymore than that,” he said. The U.S....

BEIJING -- China this week hosted a visit to its sole aircraft carrier by senior U.S. Navy officers amid tensions over reported plans by Washington to challenge Beijing's territorial claims in the South China Sea. The delegation of 27 commanders and captains boarded the Liaoning on Monday and held discussions on "exercise management, personnel training, medical protection and strategies in carrier development," the Chinese navy said on its official microblog. That was followed Tuesday morning by a visit to the navy's submarine academy, where further dialogues were held, the navy said. The visits appear to reflect the growing momentum of...

On board the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Bay of Bengal, Oct. 17: An Indian warship played "shotgun" for this US super-carrier during an air defence drill last night, about 150 nautical miles east-southeast of Chennai during the latest edition of the Malabar war games, which also include a Japanese destroyer. "The 'shotgun' role will be shared by the Indians and the Japanese in this exercise," said Captain Craig Clapperton, commanding officer of the carrier. On Sunday, an Indian fleet tanker is expected to pull alongside and feed the carrier in a hostile scenario described as "opposed replenishment at sea"....

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Whereas a high sprint speed was a driving factor in designing the Littoral Combat Ship, the follow-on frigate will instead be optimized for lethality and survivability, the Navy’s frigate program manager said Thursday. As the LCS program transitions to a multimission frigate, the 40-knot sprint speed requirement will go away to allow for more armor, more weapons, an over-the-horizon missile and full-time anti-torpedo protection, Capt. Dan Brintzinghoffer said at an American Society for Naval Engineers event. This change, he said, is a recognition of simple physics. “If we don’t change anything [in the hull design] and add...

While the requirement for a carrier-based long-range strike capability is a frequent subject of discussion around Washington, the U.S. Navy’s need for improved air superiority capabilities is often neglected. The service has not had a dedicated air-to-air combat aircraft since it retired the Grumman F-14 Tomcat in 2006. But even the Tomcat was adapted into a strike aircraft during its last years in service after the Soviet threat evaporated. Now, as new threats to the carrier emerge and adversaries start to field new fighters that can challenge the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin F-35C Joint Strike Fighter, attention...

In September, the Navy decommissioned USS Simpson (FFG 56), the last Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate in service. This ended 38 years of this service from this class of 51 vessels in the United States Navy, but for those 38 years, the Navy got one heck of a ship. Displacing 4,100 tons, the Perry-class frigates were equipped with a Mk 13 missile launcher that held RIM-66B SM-1 surface-to-air missiles and RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, the Mk 75 76mm gun, a Mk 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapon System, two banks that held three 324mm anti-submarine torpedoes, and two helicopters (either SH-2 Sea Sprites...

The USS Simpson has been decommissioned, marking the end of an era in America's naval fleet. The 30-year-old vessel was the last modern warship to sink an enemy target during battle. Built in 1984, the Simpson down Iran's Joshan gunboat in the Persian Gulf in 1988 - America's only maritime battle since the Second World War. But now, as the Department of Defense grapples for funds to complete the new zumwalt-class fleet, the Simpson's days have come to an end. It will be towed to a port in Philadelphia and possibly sold to a US ally. The ship was built...

America's most advanced nuclear submarine was slicing through the water off Hawaii last month, 400 feet under the surface, when a sonar operator suddenly detected an ominous noise on his headphones. It was a faint thump … thump … thump — the distinctive sound of a spinning, seven-bladed propeller on a Chinese attack submarine called a Shang by the Pentagon and its allies. A neon green stripe on his sonar screen indicated that the Shang was only a few thousand yards off the U.S. sub's bow. "Sonar contact!" he yelled to 15 officers and crew in the dimly lighted control...

In 1995 and 1996, Taiwanese politicians signaled greater support for declaring their island country officially independent of China. Beijing’s response was swift, forceful … and ultimately an embarrassment to China. The Chinese army fired several missiles toward small, Taiwanese-held islands. That’s when the United States intervened in a big way, sending two entire aircraft carrier battle groups into the waters around Taiwan — and even sailing one carrier through the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese military was powerless against this show of force. Beijing couldn’t even reliably track the American warships, and had no forces of its own capable of threatening...