Free Republic

A U.S. coastal patrol ship faced seven Iranian Republican Guard Corps Navy fast in-shore attack craft before swerving to avoid crashing into one on Sunday, according to a 5th Fleet spokesman. The incident is the latest in a series of interactions the Navy has called "dangerous and unprofessional" in a year that has seen more run-ins between U.S. and Iranian ships than in recent memory. Iranian vessels harassed destroyers and PCs in four incidents in late August, resulting in warning shots in one case.

A Russian fighter jet zoomed within just 10 feet of a U.S. Navy spy plane over the Black Sea on Wednesday, the latest in a string of daring maneuvers involving Russian aircraft and the U.S. military, a defense official with knowledge of the incident told Fox News. The Russian Su-27 Flanker jet flew dangerously close to a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft used primarily for anti-submarine warfare while on routine patrol in international airspace, defense officials said. The Russian defense ministry accused the Navy plane of flying with its transponder—which emits an identifying signal—turned off. A U.S. defense official...

<p>The largest and most expensive destroyer ever built for the U.S. Navy once headed to sea in a snowstorm during builder trials. Now, it's heading into the remnants of a tropical storm as it leaves Maine for good.</p> <p>The skipper is watching the weather as the stealthy Zumwalt destroyer prepares to depart from Bath Iron Works on Wednesday en route to its commissioning in Baltimore, and then to its homeport in San Diego.</p>

...One of the small Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps watercraft stopped directly in the USS Firebolt’s path where it turned to face the American coastal patrol ship, said U.S. Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman. After several attempts at radio communication, the Firebolt was forced to maneuver to avoid a collision. The American ship came within about 100 yards of the boat...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy coastal patrol ship changed course after a fast-attack craft from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps came within 100 yards (91 meters) of it in the central Gulf on Sunday, two U.S. Defense Department officials told Reuters on Tuesday. It was at least the fourth such incident in less than a month. U.S. officials are concerned that these actions by Iran could lead to mistakes. Years of mutual animosity eased when Washington lifted sanctions on Tehran in January after a deal to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions. But serious differences still remain over Iran's ballistic missile...

A federal appeals court on Tuesday refused to halt the military commission trial of a Saudi national charged with orchestrating the 2000 attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 U.S. sailors. The 2-1 ruling said that Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri can’t challenge the commission’s authority to hear his case until after the proceeding has run its course. Al-Nashiri argued that military commissions only have authority over offenses that take place during an armed conflict. He said his actions were not war crimes because the U.S. was not officially at war with al-Qaida at the time of the attack. But...

Washington (CNN) — The US Navy has received an attack submarine sponsored by first lady Michelle Obama and named for her home state, the Navy announced Monday. The USS Illinois, a Virginia-class submarine, was christened by Obama at a ceremony last October. It was built by General Dynamics Electric Boat.Obama, a native of Chicago, has made support of service members and veterans of the military, along with their families, a central focus of her role as first lady.In Navy tradition, the sponsor a ship is mostly a ceremonial role and normally filled by a woman. Technically the sponsor is considered...

Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, is a left wing, cultural Marxist, whose social experiment policies are turning the US Navy into a feckless fiasco on the high seas. Mabus is responsible for pushing women into the Navy SEALs, Marine infantry, a new Orwellian gender neutral lexicon, Marine Corps Unconscious Bias Training, while also completely ignoring the Corps’ $36 million dollar study that showed why women can’t meet the rough standards of the combat arms and special operations. Mabus’s latest social experiment laboratory creation is the selection of Admiral Michelle Howard as Commander of US Naval Forces Europe. Howard was...

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."

Four vessels from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) "harassed" a U.S. destroyer on Tuesday by carrying out a "high speed intercept" in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz, a U.S. defense official said on Wednesday. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said two of the Iranian vessels came within 300 yards of the USS Nitze in an incident that was "unsafe and unprofessional." "The Iranian high rate of closure...created a dangerous, harassing situation that could have led to further escalation including additional defensive measures by Nitze," the official said.

The U.S. Navy will need to develop an organic carrier-based fixed-wing anti-submarine warfare capability to counter the resurgent threat from enemy submarines. The Navy simply does not have enough attack submarines, cruisers, destroyers or helicopters to adequately protect the its deployed forces from subsurface threats because its ASW capability has atrophied since the end of the Cold War. “It’s a growing threat that will almost certainly influence the relevance of the carrier,” said retired U.S. Navy Capt. Jerry Hendrix, director of the Defense Strategies and Assessments Program at the Center for a New American Security. “The Navy will need a...

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

<p>Matt Bissonnette, a former member of Navy SEAL Team 6 who wrote an account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, agreed on Friday to forfeit $6.8 million in book royalties and speaking fees and apologized for failing to clear his disclosures with the Pentagon, according to federal court documents.</p>

Carnegie was against the annexation of the Philippines. But he didn’t just put his opinion on paper. In 1898, while the Treaty of Paris was underway, he went to see U.S. President William McKinley to talk him out of that agreement.

A female U.S. sailor was recognized last week for her efforts during the January incident that resulted in Iran detaining 10 Americans. Military.com reports the only female among the two crews of the Navy riverine boats that entered Iranian waters off Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf managed to activate an emergency beacon while she was kneeling, bound, and being held at gunpoint with her colleagues.

While there is no doubt that Harvey Milk died in the service of his country, his contribution to American history pales in comparison to the Silverback magnificence that was Harambe. Harambe who gave his life in a volley of friendly fire. Harambe. It also offers a strategic advantage: the name Harambe — even whispered — will demand respect, obeisance, and awe. A USS Harambe will strike fear in the hearts of our enemies in a way that the name "Milk” never could. USS Harambe will remind the world that America never forgets its heroes. USS Harambe, this who we are.

In the defence review approved by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government, Japan warned that "unintended consequences" could result from Beijing's assertive disregard of international rules. "China is poised to fulfil its unilateral demands without compromise," the government said in the review. China's official Xinhua news agency condemned the review for hyping up the "China threat" theory, which aimed to tarnish the country's image. In a statement, China's defence ministry said Japan sought excuses to step up military spending, accusing it of "evil intentions" towards China's legitimate defence needs. "China's military is extremely dissatisfied with this and resolutely opposed to it,"...

The "queering" of the armed forces took a giant leap forward last week with the announcement of a new ship being named in honor of Harvey Milk, a Navy veteran and the first openly homosexual elected official in California. The Village People are reportedly thrilled. Milk, who was a city supervisor in San Francisco until his 1978 murder, is perhaps best known for his fight against the Briggs Initiative, a statewide ballot question that would have banned openly homosexual teachers from public schools. Governor Ronald Reagan, to his discredit, opposed the measure and it failed by a wide margin. Milk,...

Attention on the poop deck. It seems our “first gay president” intends to “milk,” with pride, his fetish for all things “LGBT” in the closing months (mercifully) of his catastrophic presidency. USNI News (U.S. Naval Institute) reports that the Obama Navy presumes to ram, without consent, the most reprehensible aspects of the extremist homosexual political agenda down the throats of a divided American public. “The Navy is set to name a ship after the gay rights icon and San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, according to a congressional notification obtained by USNI News. “The July 14, 2016 notification, signed by Secretary...

This is what Obama thinks of the military. This is what he thinks of children. This is what he thinks of us. As J.E. Dyer reports, Obama will be naming a Naval vessel after Harvey Milk... The U.S. Naval Institute reports that Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus will be naming a Military Sealift Command support ship after slain San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, a 1970s crusader for gay issues. The ship class is the John Lewis class “fleet oiler,” and USNS Harvey Milk will be T-AO-206, the second unit of the class. In company with Milk and John...