Free Republic

A full half of the U.S. Navy's largest surface warships are set to retire in three years, with nothing available to take their place. Eleven Ticonderoga-class cruisers, each with more than a hundred vertical missile silos, are scheduled to retire starting in 2020. The retirement of these ships will leave a bog hole in the Navy arsenal. The U.S. Navy's Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers were introduced in the 1980s. Weighing nearly 10,000 tons and measuring 567 feet long, the ships were designed primarily for the air defense roles. Equipped with the Aegis Combat System, the Ticonderogas were designed to protect...

ABOARD THE BUNKER HILL — Less than an hour after a recent dawn rolled west into the Pacific Ocean, Capt. Joe Cahill sat in his starboard chair, a lined face pointed toward a line of warships wheeling north around San Clemente Island. In the lead, the destroyers Halsey and Higgins cut through the waves in a tight turn toward land, trailed by the looming flattop Theodore Roosevelt and the destroyer Sampson in its wake. And in the far rear, like a bear protecting her cubs, was the San Diego-based Bunker Hill, the 10,000-ton cruiser that orchestrates the air defenses for...

During the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space 2017 exposition held recently near Washington D.C., Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) was showcasing its "Future Surface Combatant" based on a LPD-17 / San Antonio-class hull form. HII's LPD-Based Future Surface Combatant Concept Could Replace Ticonderoga-class CruisersHII's Future Surface Combatant at Sea Air Space 2017. According to an HII representative, the scale model is representative of what a future surface combatant could look like based on future fleet architecture studies by the US Navy and various think tanks. "It is increasingly clear that they are going to need a combatant with a very large radar to...

TICONDEROGA, N.Y. — Capt. James T. Kirk writhes in pain, having been tortured at the hands of his Klingon captors, as his shocked and saddened crew members speed away toward unknown parts of the universe, presuming Kirk is dead after his mysterious disappearance. From Our Advertisers The action might have once unfolded at Desilu Studios in Hollywood, where the original “Star Trek” series was filmed, but it happened in a former dollar store on the main street of this upstate town, best known for its 18th century stone fort where a part of the Revolutionary War was contested over 200...

In April of 1775, one of America’s most promising young officers had an idea. A Connecticut merchant who joined up as soon as shots were fired at Lexington and Concord, Arnold was a sharp idea man and a fine strategist, and he approached General Washington with a proposal to lead a mission to Fort Ticonderoga, up at Lake Champlain, to take it from the British. Oh, it was a decent enough prize on its own, sure, but its major value, said Arnold, was the opportunity to acquire all the artillery sitting in the fort. They moved forward and accomplished the...

The Navy cruiser USS Port Royal is back in Pearl Harbor shipyard for more than $20 million in repairs — on top of the $40 million spent to fix damage from a 2009 grounding and an $18 million refurbishment immediately before the warship ran aground. The latest yard period, which began in September and is expected to end in late February, is to address cracks discovered in the aluminum alloy superstructures on all 22 of the Navy's Ticonderoga-class cruisers, officials said. The ships were commissioned between 1986 and 1994.

For those who may never have served in an elite unit, laughing and singing in the face of death, boasting about wanting to fight and welcoming the sting of battle, might seem like the behavior of disturbed, socially disconnected people. Nothing could be further from the truth.

TICONDEROGA — Ten illegal aliens from Mexico and Guatemala were taken into custody in the parking lot of the Ticonderoga Wal-Mart SuperCenter Tuesday night. Another three men ran from police on foot and remain at large. Ticonderoga Town Police were called to the store just after 7:30 p.m. when someone reported a vehicle being operated recklessly in the parking lot. Police Chief Jeffrey Cooke said police saw the suspected car with four occupants and attempted to pull it over. “They stopped the car in the back of Wal-Mart. There were men standing all around. They’re doing renovation at the store.”...

TUCSON, Ariz., May 6, 2005 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has been awarded a $162.7 million contract for production of the Evolved SeaSparrow Missile (ESSM) for the U.S. Navy and nine other allied nations. An international cooperative upgrade of the RIM-7 NATO SeaSparrow Missile, ESSM provides self-defense battlespace and firepower against high-speed, highly maneuverable anti-ship missiles. The contract calls for production of 251 missiles, associated spares and shipping containers for Australia, Canada, Germany, Norway and the U.S. by October 2007. Forty-five percent of the work will be done by Raytheon and 55 percent by Raytheon's international partners. ESSM is...