Free Republic

USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul recently seized more than $12 million in drugs in the Caribbean Sea, an example of how Littoral Combat Ships have found their niche with counternarcotics missions. The oft-maligned Littoral Combat Ship, or LCS, may have found its true calling: chasing down smugglers. USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul, a Freedom-variant LCS, recently stopped two suspected drug smuggling operations within 72 hours “through a combination of air and surface operations” while deployed to the Caribbean, according to the Navy. A Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment that is embarked aboard the ship and Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 50, Detachment Three helped the...

An F/A-18E fighter jet rolled off the side an aircraft carrier and sank to the bottom of the Red Sea, the Navy announced on Monday. There was one enlisted crew member aboard the jet and a second enlisted crew member inside the tractor when the incident occurred. Both personnel were able to jump out in time with only one person sustaining a minor injury, according to officials. In the extraordinary mishap, the $70 million jet was being towed out of the hanger bay of the USS Harry S. Truman when the crew lost control. "The F/A-18E was actively under tow...

HANOVER COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — A U.S. Navy officer was found guilty of killing his pregnant girlfriend in 2022 after she refused to get an abortion. On Wednesday, April 23, 27-year-old Emmanuel Coble of Hampton was found guilty in Hanover County Circuit Court on all five charges he faced in the murder of 20-year-old Raquiah King of Hampton, who was shot and killed in July 2022, according to Mackenzie Babichenko, the Hanover County Commonwealth’s Attorney. King’s death also resulted in the loss of her pregnancy, which was about 12 weeks along. On July 21, 2022, a deputy with the Hanover...

The U.S. Navy officially scrapped a Biden-era “climate action” plan for the force on Tuesday, signifying the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to refocus the military towards warfighting. “Today, I’m focusing on the warfighters first, and I’m rescinding the Biden administration’s climate action program. Our focus needs to be on lethality and our warfighters,” Navy Secretary John Phelan announced in a video message. Released in May 2022, the Climate Action 2030 program contained a series of actions and goals the Department of the Navy (DON) has taken or planned to undertake to tackle what Biden Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro characterized...

One of the most famous German warships in history, SMS Emden had a surprisingly short combat life. Only a couple months. But she was so effective and such a menace during this, that the cruiser has never been forgotten. It's a toss up between her and Graf Spee on which is the more famous German raider. In today's video, we'll be looking at Emden's wreck. From when she was run aground, to how the ship fell apart over the years. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any decent images of the current wreck site.

Both the commanding officer and command master chief of Maritime Expeditionary Security Squadron 4, based in Virginia Beach, Virginia, were fired on Friday, the Navy announced. Cmdr. Brett Robblee and Command Master Chief Felix Phillips were relieved “due to a loss of confidence in their ability to perform leadership duties,” a brief Navy news release says.

San Diego officials say Mexico is continuing to release millions of gallons per day of raw sewage into the city’s waters despite its promises to end the flow that has sickened Navy SEALs and San Diego residents. “Mexico just dumped 6 million gallons of sewage into the Tijuana River—after promising they wouldn’t,” said San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond on X. “We are at the mercy of a foreign government that continues to pollute our waters—while we get stuck with the consequences.” Desmond also said Navy SEAL training is often being shifted farther north in San Diego from Coronado, where...

And there are those who still argue Iran shouldn’t negotiate to reduce its nuclear profile. This is literally becoming a question of Iran’s existential survival.

Following last week’s deployment of the USS Gravely to the southern border, the U.S. Navy announced the departure of another Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer to support border operations. USS Spruance (DDG 111) will be patrolling the Pacific waters of the border region in the USNORTHCOM area of responsibility. “USS Spruance’s deployment as part of U.S. Northern Command’s southern border mission brings additional capability and expands the geography of unique military capabilities working with the Department of Homeland Security,” said Gen. Gregory Guillot, Commander, U.S. Northern Command. Last week the U.S. Northern Command deployed the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Gravely (DDG...

A Vietnam War veteran in Michigan has reportedly received his military honors more than 50 years after he left the U.S. Navy. The awards arrived after a struggle to make records publicly available. Vietnam veteran Karl Smith, who graduated from Muskegon High School in Michigan and enlisted in the Navy when he was 17 years old while still in school, received his service medals Wednesday, according to a report by WZZM 13. Smith, who was deployed to Vietnam and served in the Navy from 1969 to 1973, received five awards: the Navy “E” Ribbon, the National Defense Service Medal, the...

amid reports suggesting these carriers, namely USS Carl Vinson, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, and USS Abraham Lincoln, might be heading towards Iran. This movement is part of broader strategic military positioning in the region, possibly in response to heightened tensions involving Iran and its allies, like the Houthis in Yemen. No official statement has confirmed Iran as the specific target, but the deployment signals an increase in military readiness.

Despite having been handed a few big steaming kettles of FO by the Trump administration and the U.S. military in recent days, Yemen's Houthi rebels still seem to think they are in the FA stage. In the latest laughable claim, a Houthi spokesman, one Yahya Sarea, bragged about a Houthi attack on an American ship - not just any ship, mind you, but the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman. Needless to say, the attack fizzled.US warships shot down around a dozen drones fired by Yemen's Houthi terrorists 'well before' they could pose a threat, a senior defence official revealed...

Elon Musk just revealed that the government handed the Navy $12 billion to build new submarines—and not a single submarine was built. When investigators asked where the money went, Navy officials shrugged and said they had no idea. “There’s a case where I think Senator Collins was telling me about how she gave the Navy $12 billion for more submarines, got no extra submarines, and then held a hearing to say where the $12 billion go. “And they were like, we don’t know. That was it. I mean, basically, stuff is so crazy. Only the federal government could get away...

Normal Americans have noticed many of the inestimable benefits of the Harris/Biden DEI years. To be fair, Barack Obama gave Biden’s handlers a real leg up on DEI, but the handlers really ran with it. Among the most noticeable of those "benefits" has been a dramatic increase not only of US Navy ships that look like third world rust buckets, but an equally dramatic apparent increase in those rust buckets running into other ships and geographic features. It's unusually difficult to find current data on ship collisions. There’s quite a bit of information on the 2017 collisions of the destroyers...

President Trump nominated former Virginia Republican Senate candidate Hung Cao – an outspoken proponent of toughening up the standards for military service – to serve as the under secretary of the Navy on Thursday. “Hung is the embodiment of the American Dream,” Trump said of his pick to serve as the second-highest ranking Navy official.

A U.S. naval base in Sicily, Italy, was placed on lockdown on Wednesday due to an "ongoing situation" at an entry control point, officials said.

The captain of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that slammed into a ship near Egypt last week was yanked from the position “due to a loss of confidence in his ability,” the US Navy said Thursday. Capt. Dave Snowden was “relieved” of his job at the helm of the USS Harry S. Truman and temporarily reassigned following the wild Feb. 12 crash in the Mediterranean Sea, according to the military branch. “The U.S. Navy holds commanding officers to the highest standard and takes action to hold them accountable when those standards are not met,” the Navy said in a statement.

The loss of the Skipjack-class nuclear attack submarine USS Scorpion (SSN-589) remains to many an unresolved mystery more than 56 years after it sank, with all hands, on 22 May 1968. But a closer look at the event suggests a different description: that it is one of the more closely guarded secrets of the Cold War.This is a focused review of the critical 18-day period immediately following the sinking, and eight key events that occurred during that span. It includes the sinking itself; the Scorpion’s failure to reach Norfolk as scheduled on Monday 27 May; the formal declaration of “Event...

The USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier collided with a merchant ship off the coast of Egypt, officials said. The US Navy said the carrier collided with the Besiktas-M ship at 11:46 p.m. Wednesday while operating near Port Said, in the Mediterranean Sea.

The EA-18G Growler is the "first line of defense in hostile environments" with several sensors and weapons to combat threats, according to the U.S. NavyA military fighter jet with two service members on board crashed into the San Diego Bay near Shelter Island Wednesday, according to San Diego Fire-Rescue. Rescue crews responded around 10:15 a.m. to reports that a military plane with two service members on board crashed into the water, the SDFD said. The U.S. Navy confirmed the plane involved was a U.S. Navy EA-18 Growler — a variant of the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet — assigned to Electronic...