Free Republic

After suffering devastating naval losses in the Black Sea at the hands of Ukrainian asymmetric warfare, including drones and anti-ship missiles that sank its flagship Moskva, Vladimir Putin has launched an initiative to “re-vamp” the Russian Navy. However, this plan faces deep skepticism due to Russia’s struggling, sanctions-hit shipyards and the appointment of former KGB hardliner Nikolai Patrushev to lead the effort.

I need not tell fellow Freepers the story of the USS Indianapolis, we all know it.Harold Bray has lived in Benicia, California for many years (as did I). Mr. Bray routinely shared his story with high school history classes (both my sons heard his him). I met him once and spoke with him, he is a gentlemen and a hero. His birthday is coming up: June 15th. He will be 98 years old. His family and friends have asked for birthday cards and well wishes from as many people as possible. The address to send the cards is:Harold Bray PO...

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered the removal of Harvey Milk's name from a Navy replenishment ship, and the move stirred up the inevitable controversy. It was intended to, just as the original naming of the ship was meant to be a poke in the eye of opponents of DEI. The choice to name the ship after Milk was meant to send a signal that the Navy was honoring Harvey Milk for being a gay rights icon, and the choice to remove it was meant to tell people that Trump's Navy doesn't honor people for how they deploy their...

A guided-missile cruiser that was named after a Confederate Civil War victory will be renamed in honor of a former slave who stole a Confederate States Navy ship in South Carolina and delivered it to the Union, the Navy announced in a late Monday statement. USS Chancellorsville (CG-62) will be renamed after Robert Smalls, a former slave who was conscripted into Confederate service in 1862. The skilled navigator stole the steamer CSS Planter and escaped from Charleston on May 13, 1862, with his family, rescuing enslaved people and capturing military material. He turned the ship over to the U.S. Navy.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to take the rare step of renaming a ship, one that bears the name of a gay rights icon, documents and sources show. Military.com reviewed a memorandum from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy -- the official who holds the power to name Navy ships -- that showed the sea service had come up with rollout plans for the renaming of the oiler ship USNS Harvey Milk. A defense official confirmed that the Navy was making preparations to strip the ship of its name but noted that Navy Secretary John...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to take the rare step of renaming a ship, one that bears the name of a gay rights icon, documents and sources show. Military.com reviewed a memorandum from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy -- the official who holds the power to name Navy ships -- that showed the sea service had come up with rollout plans for the renaming of the oiler ship USNS Harvey Milk. A defense official confirmed that the Navy was making preparations to strip the ship of its name but noted that Navy Secretary John...

Mold painted over, wires dangling and black rusted pipes framing the ceiling were part of everyday reality for Marines, sailors and airmen living in barracks on Guam. The conditions left the Navy’s top admiral in charge of barracks across the service baffled.Photos of the Palau Hall barracks at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, and comments in an email from a senior Navy official were obtained by the Project on Government Oversight and shared with Task & Purpose.“It is baffling to discover sailors living in these conditions,” Vice Adm. Scott Gray, the head of Navy Installations Command, wrote in a May...

Zachary Young successfully sued CNN earlier this year. Zachary Young’s high-stakes defamation lawsuit against the Associated Press continues to inch along in Bay County, Florida, as the U.S. Navy veteran seeks to clear his name. Young successfully sued CNN for defamation earlier this year after saying the network smeared him by implying he illegally profited from helping people flee Afghanistan on the "black market" during the Biden administration's disastrous 2021 military withdrawal. When covering the trial in January, Associated Press media reporter David Bauder wrote that "Young’s business helped smuggle people out of Afghanistan." Young’s legal team has said that...

Active-duty sailors diagnosed or displaying symptoms of gender dysphoria must choose to leave the service by June 6 or they will be involuntarily separated, according to a policy released last week from the Navy.Under the new rules, those who voluntarily separate from the service may receive voluntary separation pay at a rate twice the amount received if they were to leave involuntarily and will likely not have to pay back bonuses or incentive pay, as long as the sailor has served at least six years.Active duty sailors have until June 6 to put in for the voluntary separation for an...

DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro notched a significant legal victory Monday after retired four-star Navy Adm. Robert Burke was found guilty of bribery charges related to a scheme to steer government contracts to his future employer. Burke, who served as the vice chief of naval operations during part of President Trump’s first term, was convicted of conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, performing acts affecting a personal financial interest and concealing material facts from the US after a five-day trial. Formerly the Navy’s second-highest-ranking officer, Burke is now the senior-most member of the US military to ever be convicted of a...

On two occasions in 2020 and 2023, all nominations for general and flag officers (GFOs) were on a blanket hold from Senate confirmation. The 2023 hold lasted approximately 10 months, not two weeks. Senior leaders within DOD, including the Secretary of Defense at the time and a group of former Secretaries of Defense who served in bipartisan administrations, expressed concerns that the nomination hold in 2023 posed a risk to national security and the well-being of military families, among other things.You asked us to review issues surrounding past holds on GFO nominations. This report describes effects on military readiness, leadership...

Mexican sailors were seen dangling from a navy training vessel's main mast moments after the ship smashed into the Brooklyn Bridge. The sailors had been standing atop the Cuauhtémoc's 150-foot masts in the lead up to the ship striking the iconic structure on Saturday as part of a traditional greeting. The massive Navy vessel, reportedly carrying nearly 300 passengers, hit the iconic New York City bridge, triggering a colossal rescue response and leaving two dead and dozens more severely injured. In multiple eyewitness videos, the towering masts are seen snapping and partially collapsing as they crash into the bridge's deck....

And the Air Force has a general for every 22 planes.. The US Navy has under 300 ships and under 300 admirals. The ratio of one admiral to one ship seems absurd but of the hundreds of admirals in the Navy, few actually command ships. Take Rick ‘Rachel’ Levine, the transgender health secretary of Pennsylvania, whose previous naval experience had been limited to cruises to the Bahamas, who was commissioned as a four-star admiral by the Biden administration making him both the first transgender four-star admiral, and the first four-star female admiral or the first four-star female impersonator. While Rick...

... His ringtone plays the opening riffs of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song.” He incurred $20,000 in roof damage from Hurricane Ian. And until recently, anyone could read his Facebook posts, which included vulgar potshots at Nancy Pelosi and her husband and a pronouncement that supporters of Joseph R. Biden Jr. suffered from a “mental affliction.” ...Among other things, he reposted an old video of Ms. Pelosi, under which the author of the original post referred to her with a vulgar sexist epithet. The original post also insinuated that Ms. Pelosi’s husband, Paul, was gay, ...By Monday, Mr. Prevost was a...

Navy Secretary John Phelan says that the "speed, range and survivability of hypersonic weapons are key to integrated deterrence" for the U.S. The Navy successfully flight tested a "conventional hypersonic missile" that was launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, according to the U.S. Defense Department on Friday. "The test marked the first launch of the Conventional Prompt Strike capability, using the Navy's cold-gas launch approach that will be used in Navy sea-based platform hypersomics," said a news reelase from the agency. Navy Secretary John Phelan said that the "speed, range and survivability of hypersonic weapons are key...

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.