Free Republic

gCaptain has received multiple reports that the US Navy oiler USNS Big Horn ran aground yesterday and partially flooded off the coast of Oman, leaving the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group without its primary fuel source. First reported on the gCaptain forum and by maritime historian Sal Mercogliano, a leaked video and photos show damage to the ship’s rudder post and water flooding into a mechanical space. US Navy vessels don’t typically transmit AIS signals, so we don’t know the exact location of the ship but a Navy source confirms she is anchored near Oman awaiting a full damage assessment....

Ukrainian Intelligence reports that due to successful counteroffensive of Ukrainian forces on several fronts, Russian occupiers are looking for a way to escape, calling their wives and asking the Russian Ministry of Defense to get them out of Ukraine. Source: Ukrainian Chief Intelligence Directorate Quote: "The 237th Guards Airborne Assault Regiment of the Russian Federation no longer exists due to either death or injury of all soldiers. A large part of those who survived are in extremely serious condition." Details: It is noted that the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian troops forces the occupiers to ask the Red Cross for help...

"Whatever the larger goal of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s armed intervention in Syria, it has succeeded in distracting the world’s attention from his ongoing aggression in eastern Ukraine. In his half-hour speech at the United Nations earlier this month timed to reach a prime-time Russian audience, he spent only a minute on the Ukrainian conflict, focusing instead on Russia’s constructive role in the Middle East. Putin’s rhetorical redirection is not surprising. The Kremlin’s war in Ukraine is turning into a quagmire. Militarily, it is a stalemate — which, given the vast imbalance between Russian and Ukrainian capabilities, amounts to a...