Free Republic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-EHwYOfY94 Hope the pilot has some extra underwear around.

<p>Last week, the Navy released the results of a lengthy investigation it had completed, concerning the conduct of one officer and nine enlisted sailors after they willingly surrendered their two Riverine Patrol Craft to the Iranians and were subsequently detained for 15 hours in the Persian Gulf last January.</p>

<p>MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — One of the last two surviving members of the Doolittle Raiders — who bombed Japan in an attack that stunned that nation and boosted U.S. morale — has died in Montana, his family said.</p> <p>Retired Staff Sgt. David Jonathan Thatcher died Wednesday in a Missoula hospital. He was 94. He suffered a stroke on Sunday, Thatcher's son Jeff told the Missoulian newspaper (http://bit.ly/28V8l2c).</p>

The U.S. Navy has fallen into a troubling pattern of designing and acquiring new classes of ships that would arguably best be left as single ship or at most in limited numbers. It’s also building several types of new aircraft that fail to meet specifications. The Navy is developing a new class of supercarriers that cannot function properly, and has designed them to launch F-35 fighters that are not ready to fly their missions. This is all happening during an era of out-of-control budgets, which bodes poorly for American sea power and leadership ahead. That the Navy is concentrating larger...

BATH, Maine (AP) — The mother of a fallen Navy SEAL christened the second Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer Saturday in honor of her son, who died in Iraq when he threw himself on an insurgent's grenade to save the lives of two fellow SEALS. The 610-foot, 15,000-ton ship, built by General Dynamics Bath Iron Works for the U.S. Navy, was named for Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Monsoor. The 25-year-old California native died in 2006 and was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. "May God bless this ship, and all who sail within her," said Sally Monsoor before smashing a...

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...

The US Navy has held meetings to discuss highly controversial technology which could one day allow the government to track the movements of every single citizen in the country, The Sun has learned. A number of naval officers visited the home of an American presidential candidate and “transhumanist” called Zoltan Istvan, who believes human beings should be fitted with technology to boost their brain power or enhance physical attributes. Istvan said they discussed the possibility of implanting humans with chips fitted with global positioning (GPS) technology.

The U.S. Navy chaplain who was removed from the military for disobeying a “lawful” order banning prayer “in Jesus’ name” has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and overturn a decade of rulings in his case. The petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court was filed by attorney John B. Wells on behalf of Gordon J. Klingenschmitt. His case was filed back in 2011, after his removal from the military over the issue of praying “in Jesus’ name” sparked years of battles. Since his removal, Klingenschmitt has been leading the PrayInJesusName.org ministry, and he also has been serving...

The destruction of the US military keeps humming along at a breakneck pace. According to the Pentagon and the Faustian Sellouts of the Round Table, aka the Joint Chiefs of Staff, things are going splendidly in the US military. As the military reels from severe readiness, morale and social issues, you will consistently hear some bureaucratic clown like Secretary of Defense Ash Carter declare that this is the best military the US has ever fielded. Hmm?.. In the screenwriting world, they call that “a beat,” aka dead silence. Let’s take a look at how well things are going these days:...

U.S. Navy sailors in Japan can say goodbye to their sake. Following an alleged drunk driving incident by a 21-year-old Petty Officer 2nd Class Aimee Mejia, the Navy announced Monday that drinking alcohol would be banned for all 19,000 personnel in Japan. Imbibing will be banned both on and off base, and sailors will no longer be able to freely leave their bases. Leaving base grounds will be allowed only for running necessary errands, or commuting from an off-base home. "These measures are not taken lightly," said Rear Adm. Matthew Carter. "For decades, we have enjoyed a strong relationship with...

The US Navy has started to receive its first power pulse modules, in container form, to power its experimental particle railgun, the Raytheon Company said in a press release on Monday. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Raytheon's pulse power container design was developed for a $10 million contract with Naval Sea Systems Command to develop a pulsed power system, which will enable land or sea-based projectiles to reach great distances without the use of an explosive charge or rocket motor, the release added. US missile defense © Flickr/ U.S. Missile Defense Agency Reliance on Kinetic Missile Defense Systems Puts US at Disadvantage...

<p>As China continues to posture in the South China Sea, tensions rise between China, Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and other regional powers such as Japan and India.</p> <p>At the defense blog War is Boring, US Naval War College Professor James Holmes discusses recent developments in the South China Sea and the risk of regional conflict.</p>

Long forgotten, private color film of the actual attack on Pearl Harbor

Two F/A-18 fighters crashed Thursday off the coast of North Carolina, defense officials told Fox News. The Coast Guard said four people were recovered and have been rushed to a hospital,...

Documents show that slain Navy Seal and “American Sniper” author Chris Kyle misrepresented the number of medals he received. Navy documents obtained by an online magazine through an open records request show that Kyle earned one Silver Star and three Bronze Stars with valor. In his best-selling book, Kyle wrote that he had received two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars. A Navy spokeswoman confirmed the validity of the documents and says the armed services branch is investigating the discrepancy. The Intercept first reported the discrepancy and posted the documents. Kyle’s widow, Taya Kyle, didn’t immediately return a phone call...

SHIMA, Japan (AP) - President Barack Obama said Wednesday he plans to use his historic visit to Hiroshima with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to reflect on the suffering of war and the need to take steps to prevent it. Abe said he had no plans to reciprocate Obama's gesture by paying his own visit to Pearl Harbor. Obama's opened his trip to Japan with much intrigue about his upcoming stop in the city where the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb. But that first-ever visit by a sitting American president was caught up in the controversy in Japan over...

Capt. James Kirk just got the keys to the baddest ship in the fleet -- U.S. Navy's fleet, not Starfleet. The ship is the future USS Zumwalt, the first of the Navy's newest class of destroyers, and contractor General Dynamics turned it over to the Navy on Friday at Bath Iron Works in Maine. The ship will be commissioned -- and officially become the USS Zumwalt -- on October 15 in Baltimore. Until then, Capt. Kirk (U.S. Navy, not United Federation of Planets) and his crew will test the ship's array of futuristic systems.

General Dynamics Bath Iron Works delivered the first Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer to the Navy on Friday, Naval Sea Systems Command announced. The delivery of the 16,000-ton Zumwalt (DDG-1000) optimized for stealth and operations close to shore follows last month’s successful acceptance trials of the ship overseen by the service’s Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV), Navy officials told USNI News. INSURV evaluated the ship’s hull, mechanical and engineering (HM&E) systems during the underway testing period last month. “Zumwalt’s crew has diligently trained for months in preparation of this day and they are ready and excited to take charge of...

<p>Navy Secretary Ray Mabus says in a letter that he has the power to name warships as he chooses, in response to a former Marine and congressman who charges he has politicized the process.</p> <p>Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican and House Armed Services Committee member, wrote Mr. Mabus to question the naming of an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer after former Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.</p>

In January, two US Navy high speed Riverine boats were apparently underway from Bahrain to Kuwait when they strayed into Iranian waters, while attempting to contact a vessel to refuel. The Pentagon first said that they had engine trouble. Yet, if that was the case, why didn’t the other boat tow the boat with mechanical problems to international waters and safety? Then, the Pentagon said that they had navigational issues. How is this possible in 2016, with each boat having an array of GPS and radar equipment? Even if one boat’s systems completely shut down, couldn’t they rely on the...