Free Republic

Past fears that carriers were vulnerable to new technologies weren’t proven right… nor were they proven wrong. Over at The National Interest this week, former Naval Diplomat shipmate — U.S. Marines say there are no former Marines, just Marines; are there former shipmates? — Bryan McGrath wades into the debate over Tom Ricks’s Washington Post column urging the U.S. military to get smaller to get better. Let me wade in as well; the water’s fine. Ricks takes aim at the U.S. Navy’s fleet of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in particular. He cites the expense of CVNs, but Bryan zeroes in mainly...

Russian warships enroute to Syria Russia has kept a constant presence of four warships in the eastern Mediterranean coast AFP Published: 18:47 September 5, 2013 Gulf News Istanbul: Three Russian warships crossed Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait Thursday en route to the eastern Mediterranean, near the Syrian coast, amid concern in the region over potential US-led strikes in response to the Damascus regime’s alleged use of chemical weapons. The SSV-201 intelligence ship Priazovye, accompanied by the two landing ships Minsk and Novocherkassk passed through the Bosphorus known as the Istanbul strait that separates Asia from Europe, an AFP photographer reported. The Priazovye...

China has been quietly taking steps to encircle the United States by arming western hemisphere states, seeking closer military, economic, and diplomatic ties to U.S. neighbors, and sailing warships into U.S. maritime zones. The strategy is a Chinese version of what Beijing has charged is a U.S. strategy designed to encircle and “contain” China. It is also directed at countering the Obama administration’s new strategy called the pivot to Asia. The pivot calls for closer economic, diplomatic, and military ties to Asian states that are increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment throughout that region. “The Chinese are deftly parrying our ‘Pivot...

The Navy's Next-Generation Warship Gets Two Critical Defensive Boosts Robert JohnsonMarch 4, 2013, 8:06 AM The Navy's new $440-million Littoral Combat Ship needs some help taking care of itself. The LCS is said to be vulnerable to incoming strikes, meaning it might not survive a shootout with, say, China. Thankfully the ship may get two new life-saving escorts. First, DARPA wants to boost the Independence-class LCS drone capability to host a 27-foot wingspan Predator-like UAV. Previously it could only launch and receive a modest tactical drone like the ScanEagle. The new TERN program calls for a drone that can be...

For the entire 8 day duration of Operation Pillar of Defense, there was one major geopolitical player who had been largely quiet and certainly absent from the scene: the same player whose unflinching position over the Syria conflict has so far prevented any intervention in the civil war torn country: Russia. The same Russia which has a military base in the Syrian port city of Tarsus, and thus in its own eyes, a very substantial "national interest" role to play in the middle east, one that is certainly opposing that of the US and the pro-NATO forces, a tension that...

Three U.S. Navy amphibious warships are returning to the eastern Mediterranean to remain on standby in the event they are needed to assist Americans leaving Israel in the coming days, according to two U.S. officials. The officials stressed an evacuation remains an extremely remote possibility and the Obama administration is not currently planning for one. Americans who wish to leave the region now are able to do so using commercial airlines. But the decision to send the ships even if the event is such a remote contingency underscores the growing concern about where the Israel-Gaza conflict could be headed. "This...

Iran, the day before Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks at the United Nations, claimed Tuesday it successfully fired four missiles at a mock sea target representing warships. The timing of the missile tests is part of Iran’s propaganda campaign to instill fear among Israel and American leaders, who have warned that the “military option” is on the table if Tehran does not stop its unsupervised nuclear development and enrichment of uranium that can be used to manufacture a nuclear warhead aimed at Israel. The Ahmadinejad regime has claimed successful military tests at a dizzying rate, but several analysts have said...

The attack that killed four Americans at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, apparently began as a spontaneous protest against an anti-Islam film before turning violent, Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Sunday. Rice, appearing in NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said she was citing preliminary information and that the FBI was investigating the Tuesday night attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three others. A wave of protests and violence has swept across the Middle East and elsewhere in the Muslim world over an obscure, amateurish movie called "Innocence of Muslims" that depicts...

<p>Russia has announced it is readying two warships to sail to Syria to protect Russian citizens, in a sign that it is taking precautions against a worsening of the security situation there.</p> <p>A spokesman for Russia’s Black Sea fleet, Vyacheslav Trukhachev, told Russia’s Interfax news agency the mission would be undertaken “in case of necessity”. His comments appeared designed to clarify speculation that warships had already set sail for Syria. Interfax had earlier quoted an anonymous official as saying that was the case on Monday morning.</p>

BEIRUT -- Russia is preparing to dispatch a pair of warships carrying a contingent of Black Sea Fleet marines to its logistics base in the Syrian port of Tartus, the Russian Interfax news agency reported Monday, in what appeared to be another sign of the deteriorating security situation in the strife-ridden nation. The report quoted an unidentified Russian naval source saying the amphibious ships Nikolay Filchenkov and Tsezar Kunikov, accompanied by the rescue tug SB-15, were “preparing for a non-routine departure” for Tartus, Russia’s only Mediterranean base.

Iranian warships have entered the Mediterranean Sea for the second time in two years, this time after having docked at the Saudi port of Jedda. The official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted Iranian navy commander Admiral Habibollah Sayari in reporting Saturday's movement of the ships through the Suez Canal on Saturday. The destroyer Shahid Qandi and the Kharg supply ship were docked in Jedda two days ago, the AFP news agency reported. The last time Iranian warships entered the Mediterranean was in February 2011, when the Kharg supply ship and the Alvand frigate passed through the canal and headed...

Now the New World Order will ramp up problems for our Elections. Prepare for more wars and rumors of wars. Sound familiar? Vote Republican and stop the World from the planned Chaos of the Left!

Russian warships are due to arrive at Syrian territorial waters, a Syrian news agency said on Thursday, indicating that the move represented a clear message to the West that Moscow would resist any foreign intervention in the country's civil unrest.

Increasingly assertive Turkey is setting the scene for clashes in the eastern Mediterranean. Since Thursday, Sept. 29, Turkish warships have been harassing Israeli merchant vessels in waters off Cyprus, DEBKAfile's military sources report. They come close enough to establish wireless communication and caution the Israeli vessels they are in contravention of international law and ordering them to change course. The Israeli crews mostly ignore these "orders", treating them as Ankara's latest bid to assert Turkish naval mastery of the Eastern Mediterranean. But the situation is getting explosive enough to spark a major incident. Over the weekend, Israeli Air Force planes...

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has dispatched 3 warships to the Eastern Mediterranean to 'defend against Israeli vessels' and ensure 'freedom of navigation' for his country’s ships, Today's Zaman reported. The move, only the latest in Erdogan's bellicose rhetorical assault on Israel, comes on the same day he called Israel's boarding of the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara in 2010 "grounds for war" adding only Turkey's "greatness and patience" had averted conflict. During the boarding action 9 Turkish nationals who participated in a mob that attempted to lynch the commandos were killed when non-lethal weapons the boarding party was equipped with...

Turkish warships will escort any Turkish aid vessels to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said in remarks broadcast on Al Jazeera television on Thursday. Erdogan also said that Turkey had taken steps to stop Israel from unilaterally exploiting natural resources from the eastern Mediterranean, according to Al Jazeera's Arabic translation of excerpts of the interview, which was conducted in Turkish.

Military sources tell AP Defense Ministry dispatched to warships to Red Sea border with Egypt following intelligence indicating viable terror threat The Israeli military said Monday that it has sent two additional warships to the Red Sea border with Egypt following warnings that militants are planning another attack on southern Israel from Egyptian soil. Monday saw IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen Benny Gantz order the deployment across the entire southern sector, and especially in the area near the Israel-Egypt border, increased, following intelligence indicating a viable terror threat in the area. The southern sector, and especially the area adjacent to...

A purchase of French-built Mistral class amphibious assault ships by Russia poses a threat to U.S. security and is aimed against Washington's allies, the chairwoman of the U.S. House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee has said. "It is deeply troubling that France, a NATO ally, has decided to ignore the clear danger of selling advanced warships to Russia even as Moscow is taking an increasingly hostile approach toward the U.S., its neighbors, and Europe itself," Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement. The deal has alarmed Russia's neighbors, especially Georgia, whose relations with Russia remain very tense since the August 2008...

Israel was keeping an eye Tuesday on two Iranian Navy warships that crossed the Suez Canal for the first time in over 30 years in a belligerent move that Israel claims is an attempt by the Islamic Republic to project its power throughout the Middle East. The two ships - the Khark which has 250 crew members and can carry three helicopters and the Alvand which is armed with torpedoes and anti-ship missiles – entered the Suez Canal early Tuesday morning and arrived in the Mediterranean Sea by the evening.Israeli defense officials said that the ships did not pose a