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Thursday the guided missile destroyer USS Milius sailed near some islands in the South China Sea that China claims as its own. Actually three different countries claim the Paracel Islands but China currently occupies them. Here’s a map showing the locations of some of the disputed islands in the South China Sea.Disputed islands in south china sea👉🏻The Paracel Islands are claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam.👉🏻The Spratly Islands are claimed by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei and Philippines.👉🏻The Scarborough Shoal is claimed by Philippines, China and Taiwan#UPSCPrelims2023pic.twitter.com/Cv9UKS6uGT— Geography & Current Affair Page (@GeographyCrux) March 23, 2023So when the USS Milius sailed...

A U.S. judge on Wednesday said the owner of an oil tanker must pay the United States $44.6 million over its role in a 2017 collision between the tanker with a U.S. Navy destroyer in southeast Asia that killed 10 sailors and injured dozens more.

Another video only update. Summary: Ship is now pretty much completely pumped out and riding high in the water. 95% of the water has been removed, most of the crews are leaving, they're still chasing small leaks/the remaining 5% of the water. Ship has a tiny list to starboard. The last of the on-board diesel fuel and hydraulic fluids is being removed so it won't continue to pollute. The entire ship is likely going to be getting repainted and they're going to resume cleaning the mussels off the hull. They are now starting to investigate why the ship sank -...

Another video only update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRi8C1Dm6p8 Summary: Pumping is going slowly but well, the salvage crew is moving to some night operations as well as day as they are more confident in the ship's structure and condition now. Ship's list has been greatly reduced, 25-27K gallons of water have been pumped out of the bow section. Artifacts of the Sullivan family, the Juno, and other related items have been removed and placed in dry storage just in case - these items were not exposed to water and will need no restoration.

Video only update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXj81SXVVkU Summary - ship is slowly being pumped out, has rolled more upright, hatches were opened as part of opening for the day as a museum ship, the ship suddenly took on a list and the staff was ordered off the sinking ship without being allowed to close. The video also shows that they were making attempts to deal with the ongoing leaks and hull integrity issues prior to the current incident.

Within hours prior to the Xi-Biden call which is now in progress, China sent an aircraft carrier through the Taiwan Strait on Friday in what’s being seen as a message to the West. “The timing of the Shandong’s movements, being so close to the US-China President’s call, was described as provocative by the source,” Reuters described. “Around 10:30 a.m. the CV-17 appeared around 30 nautical miles to the southwest of Kinmen, and was photographed by a passenger on a civilian flight,” the source told Reuters of the pass-through which was also confirmed by Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense. Via The National...

[Catholic Caucus] Making Sense of Francis, the DestroyerPope Boniface VIII’s 1302 Bull, Unam Sanctum, sets forth one of the greatest sources of consternation for faithful Catholics today:“Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.”In ordinary times — when the pope promotes and defends Catholicism, or at least refrains from attacking it — this truth presents no problem for Catholics. For better or worse, we have a different situation today, as summarized by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò:“We have come to the point that even simple...

The disturbing series of events during the summer of 2019 resulted in an investigation that made its way to the highest echelons of the Navy. In July of 2019, a truly bizarre series of events unfolded around California’s Channel Islands. Over a number of days, groups of unidentified aircraft, which the U.S. Navy simply refers to as ‘drones’ or 'UAVs,' pursued that service's vessels, prompting a high-level investigation.

The US Navy destroyer USS Zumwalt fired a missile for the first time during a recent weapons test, the Navy announced Monday. The Zumwalt, a first-in-class stealth destroyer, test-fired an SM-2 missile from the ship's launcher last Tuesday at the Naval Air Weapons Center Weapons Division Sea Test Range in Point Mugu, California. The Zumwalt was commissioned in 2016, but it was not delivered to the Navy with a functional combat system until earlier this year. While the Zumwalt program has faced a number of significant setbacks, including cost overruns and major delays, a big issue was the ship's main...

A Chinese destroyer used a weapons-grade laser to target a US Navy P-8A surveillance aircraft flying above the Pacific last week, US Pacific Fleet said Thursday.

ARLINGTON, Va. - The Navy’s newest destroyer may fire a not-yet-to-be fielded Conventional Prompt Strike conventionally-armed missile engineered to hit anywhere on earth within an hour, service program managers said. The weapon, now being considered by Navy weapons developers for the emerging USS Zumwalt, will bring new attack options to the stealthy destroyer being prepared for combat as soon as 2021, Capt. Kevin Smith, Zumwalt-class destroyer Program Manager said Jan. 15 at the Surface Naval Association Annual Symposium. “This would be the perfect platform for Conventional Prompt Strike,” Smith said. The Conventional Prompt Strike weapons program, which emerged [in] the...

This post has been updated with a statement from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The crew of a U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer rescued 21 merchant mariners from a tanker that was allegedly attacked in the Gulf of Oman, officials told USNI News on Thursday afternoon. USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) responded to a Thursday morning distress call from the tanker M/V Kokuka Courageous, according to U.S. Central Command spokesman Army Lt. Col. Earl Brown. “U.S. Naval Forces Central Command received the calls from the M/V Front Altair and M/V Kokuka Courageous, who were operating in international waters of the Gulf of Oman,”...

Accompanied by marching music and tearing waves, a huge warship with the hull number 101 sailed into view out of heavy fog during the maritime parade on April 23 in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province to celebrate the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy's 70th anniversary. Those not lucky enough to experience this at the scene and were eagerly waiting to see it on television were disappointed when state broadcaster China Central Television was unable to provide a live feed of the parade, possibly due to the bad weather and sea conditions. But that did not stop them from enjoying...

USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) has been undergoing trials and combat systems outfitting in and around her home port of San Diego. The ship's metamorphosis into an operational combat ship is something we have been following closely. Recently, we reported on additions to her stealthy frame that would only hurt the size of radar signature. These included an exposed mast and a number of communications aerials bolted directly onto her deckhouse instead of being integrated into it seamlessly. Now, a new photo shows her fitted with twin 30mm Bushmaster cannons for the very first time. The Zumwalt class, as we know it...

Photos at link. With slick sides and sharp angles, the Michael Monsoor and its sister ship Zumwalt cut a distinct silhouette along the waters of San Diego. Unlike a nearby aircraft carrier whose radar juts into the air, the Monsoor’s composite material deckhouse is polygonal and covered with material that can absorb radar waves and increase the destroyer’s stealthiness. Its “tumblehome” hull looks like something you’d see on a ship built before World War I. Make no mistake, the Monsoor guided-missile destroyer — named after Navy SEAL Michael A. Monsoor, who grew up in Garden Grove and died in 2006...

Sahand destroyer -- which can sustain voyages lasting five months without resupply -- joined Iran's regular navy at a base in Bandar Abbas on the Gulf. The Sahand has a flight deck for helicopters, torpedo launchers, anti-aircraft and anti-ship guns, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles and electronic warfare capabilities, state television reported. "This vessel is the result of daring and creative design relying on the local technical knowledge of the Iranian Navy... and has been built with stealth capabilities," Rear-Admiral Alireza Sheikhi, head of the navy shipyards that built the destroyer, told the state news agency IRNA. Iran launched its first...

Our colleagues from East Pendulum are reporting that the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN or Chinese Navy)'s fourteenth Type 052D Destroyer (NATO reporting name Luyang III class) was launched in early July at the Jiangnan-Changxing naval shipyard near Shanghai. Satellite images have shown that this vessel has been modified: Its helicopter deck is slightly longer. The fourteenth Type 052D destroyer for the PLAN. With the much larger and more advanced Type 055 program now in full swing, some may have thought that the Type 052D program would be over. But it is clear that 052D destroyers are still considered key...

Navy DDG-51 Flight III modifications. SOURCE: GAO ARLINGTON: The Navy has crammed as much electronics as it can into its new DDG-51 Flight III destroyers now beginning construction, Rear Adm. William Galinis said this morning. That drives the service towards a new Large Surface Combatant that can comfortably accommodate the same high-powered radars, as well as future weapons such as lasers, on either a modified DDG-51 hull or an entirely new design. “It’s going to be more of an evolutionary approach as we migrate from the DDG-51 Flight IIIs to the Large Surface Combatant,” said Galinis, the Navy’s Program Executive...

China launched today two Type 055 guided-missile destroyers at a Shipyard in Dalian, Liaoning province. The two 13,000 tons vessel, which were launched simultaneously, will join the rapidly growing People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN or Chinese Navy) fleet. China launched simultaneously two Type 055 guided-missile destroyers at a Shipyard in Dalian on July, 3, 2018. The Type 055 is the latest and most potent surface combatant designed and produced in China. It can fulfill a vast array of missions such as area air defence, anti-surface warfare (ASuW), anti-submarine warfare (ASW), electronic warfare (EW), land attack, long-range patrol... In addition to...

Britain's six Type 45 destroyers, described as the backbone of the Royal Navy, spent 80 per cent of last year in dock. The ships, costing £1billion each, need a multi-million pound refit after repeatedly breaking down in the Persian Gulf. But the work is not due to start until 2020. Two of the cutting-edge warships, HMS Dauntless and HMS Defender, did not go to sea at all during 2017 – which had been hailed by officials and ministers as 'the year of the Navy'. All six warships, which entered service from 2008, were made with an engine system which cuts...