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The commanding officer of the guided-missile destroyer John Finn was relieved of command Friday. Cmdr. Angela Gonzales was relieved “due to a loss of confidence in her ability to fulfill her responsibilities in leading the ship,” according to a brief Navy statement issued Saturday. As is the case with nearly every Navy CO firing, no other information was provided regarding the reasons for Gonzales being relieved of command. John Finn is assigned to U.S. 7th Fleet in Yokosuka, Japan. Cmdr. Matthew Hays has assumed interim commanding officer duties, and Gonzales has been reassigned to Naval Surface Force Pacific. US Navy...

Drag performances took place on board the USS Ronald Reagan under the command of a Navy captain whose promotion to rear admiral is currently being blocked by Republican Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville. Capt. Michael Donnelly served as commanding officer of the aircraft carrier the USS Ronald Reagan from April 2016 to September 2018. During that time period, Yeoman 2rd Class Joshua Kelley was performing as a drag queen at Morale, Welfare, and Recreation department-sanctioned events on the carrier under the drag name “Harpy Daniels.” As commander of the USS Ronald Reagan, Donnelly would have been aware of, and responsible for,...

Three people who died when a jet crashed off California’s San Clemente Island this week were taking part in a U.S. Navy training exercise, their employer confirmed Friday. The victims, Eric Tatman, Spencer Geerlings and Shane Garner worked for Georgia-based Phoenix Air, a company with clients in the private sector and government, according to its website. The three men perished when the Phoenix Air Learjet 36 went down roughly one-mile southwest of San Clemente Island, which is the southernmost of California’s Channel Islands, around 7:40 a.m. Wednesday morning, officials said. San Clemente Island is owned and managed by the Navy,...

The Navy brought on an active-duty drag queen to participate in a pilot program aimed at reaching a wider audience through popular social media platforms as the military faces severe recruiting woes.

Presidents Joe Biden and Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday will sign an agreement that includes plans to have U.S. nuclear-armed submarines dock in South Korea for the first time in more than 40 years, a conspicuous show of support to Seoul amid growing concern about nuclear threats by North Korea, according to senior Biden administration officials. The planned dock visits are a key element of what’s being dubbed the “Washington Declaration,” aimed at deterring North Korea from carrying out an attack on its neighbor.

A prominent pro-Kremlin propagandist has been unmasked as a 37-year-old Navy veteran and tropical fish seller from New Jersey. Divorcee Sarah Bils is known to her 100,000 devoted fans online as 'Donbas Devushka', or Donbas Girl. She posed as a Russian Jew from the occupied Ukrainian city of Luhansk and a geopolitics expert. -snip- She left the military in November last year with an honorable discharge but only after being demoted. Bils claims she was 'kicked out' of the Navy due to her 'leftist views.'

On a clear, sunny day in April 2014, two F/A-18s took off for an air combat training mission off the coast of Virginia. The jets, part of my Navy fighter squadron, climbed to an altitude of 12,000 and steered towards Warning Area W-72, an exclusive block of airspace ten miles east of Virginia Beach. All traffic into the training area goes through a single GPS point at a set altitude — almost like a doorway into a massive room where military jets can operate without running into other aircraft. Just at the moment the two jets crossed the threshold, one...

A US Navy admiral begged the Cuomo administration to send patients to the nearly-empty hospital ship docked on the Hudson River during the height of the pandemic — but his pleas were met with politics and paranoia, The Post has learned. With city medical facilities packed with critically ill COVID patients in the spring of 2020 — and just days after the infamous edict by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to send COVID patients to nursing homes, which critics say resulted in thousands of deaths — the Trump administration sent the USNS Comfort, a 1,000-bed ship, to relieve hospitals of patients with...

US Congressman Mike Gallagher, a Republican member of the House Armed Services Committee, delivered a stark warning to American citizens yesterday in response to a new report by the Heritage Foundation that ranked the US Navy “very weak” in terms of capacity and under immense strain to maintain readiness.

(UPI) -- A sailor accused by the Navy of setting fire to and destroying an amphibious assault ship was acquitted Friday by a military judge. Ryan Sawyer Mays, 21, was found not guilty by Capt. Derek Butler of starting the fire that destroyed the $1.2 billion USS Bonhomme Richard. "I am so grateful that this is finally over. It's been a long two years," Mays said outside the court building, flanked by his wife, parents and defense team, according to USNI News. "I've been waiting a long time." The Navy had accused Mays of starting the fire because he was...

An American contractor held hostage in Afghanistan for more than two years has been released in exchange for a convicted Taliban drug lord jailed in the United States, the White House said Monday, announcing a rare success in U.S.-Taliban talks since the militant group took power a little more than a year ago Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran who had spent more than a decade in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor, was abducted in January 2020 and is believed to have been held since then by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network. He was traded for Bashir Noorzai, a Taliban associate convicted...

Residents of several cities in the Rostov region reported a powerful explosion. Citing eyewitnesses, local publication 161.ru noted that the distance between some of the witnesses was nearly 125 miles. The sound of the explosion was heard by 161.ru readers in Rostov-on-Don, Azov, Taganrog, Novoshakhtinsk, Shakhty, Novocherkassk, Aksay, and Yeysk. According to eyewitnesses, "fences trembled in some places" after the explosion and car alarms went off in Rostov-on-Don. Near the village of Peshkovo (about 30 miles from Rostov-on-Don), witnesses noticed three or four sources of black smoke. Baza, citing eyewitness accounts, videos and photos on social media, reported that an...

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Three weeks before he faced sentencing, the Malaysian defense contractor at the center of one of the biggest bribery investigations in U.S. military history made an escape as stunning and brazen as the case itself: U-Haul trucks were seen at his home in a tony San Diego neighborhood before Leonard Glenn Francis, known as “Fat Leonard,” snipped off his ankle monitor and disappeared. Nearly a dozen U.S. law enforcement agencies were searching for Francis on Tuesday. But officials acknowledged he may already be in Mexico, and possibly on his way back to Asia. ... officers found...

I discussed the Igor Danchenko indictment here, laying out some of the more eye-raising parts of the facts and charges against Christopher Steele’s primary sub-source. Taking a closer look at the Danchenko indictment, there is a curious question presented by the FBI to Danchenko in June 2017. A question that indicates the FBI might have known more about the true sources to the Steele Dossiers sooner than they have let on. FBI Questions about Danchenko source Charles Dolan On June 15, 0217, the FBI interviewed Danchenko regarding the Dossiers (labeled “Company Reports” in the indictment). Here’s the line of questioning...

by Joshua Ford | 24NewsThe unveiling of a new Florida license plate by Governor DeSantis has liberals and leftist organizations up in arms.Liberals are constantly willfully misinterpreting traditional American and patriotic flags and symbols to try to associate them with “right wing extremism.” One such victim of this misinterpretation is the iconic Gadsden Flag.This iconic flag dates back to the time of the revolution and has been seen as a symbol of freedom, defiance in the face of oppression, and American patriotism ever since.Now, Governor Ron DeSantis has released a new Florida license plate which prominently features the Gadsden flag...

NAPLES, Italy -- On July 8, 2022, an F/A-18 Super Hornet assigned to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 1, embarked aboard USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), blew overboard due to unexpected heavy weather in the Mediterranean Sea. The carrier was conducting a replenishment-at-sea, which was safely terminated through established procedures. All personnel aboard the ship are accounted for. One Sailor received minor injuries while conducting operations during the unexpected heavy weather. The Sailor is in stable condition and expected to make a full recovery. USS Harry S. Truman and embarked aircraft remain full mission capable. Details and the cause of...

Dubai -- A US Navy warship fired a warning flare to wave off an Iranian Revolutionary Guard speedboat coming straight at it during a tense encounter in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, officials said Tuesday. The incident on Monday involving the Guard and the Navy comes as tensions remain high over stalled negotiations over Iran's tattered nuclear deal with world powers and as Tehran enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels under decreasing international oversight. Meanwhile, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said Iran now plans to enrich uranium through a second set of advanced centrifuges at its underground Fordo...

Three U.S. Navy leaders, including two serving aboard a destroyer, were ousted late last week, the latest in a recent string of removals by the service. USS Bulkeley commanding officer Cmdr. Devine Johnson and Command Master Chief Earl Sanders were relieved of their duties Friday because of “a loss of confidence in their ability to effectively function as a leadership team,” the Navy said in a Saturday statement. Capt. William Harkin, the deputy commodore of Destroyer Squadron 2, will be temporarily assigned as commanding officer of Bulkeley until a replacement is identified. Master Chief Petty Officer Christy Reed, of the...

Warships from the U.S. Navy sailing off the coast of California in 2019 were swarmed by drones from a nearby Hong Kong cargo ship on multiple occasions, the Navy has revealed. The incidents were all reported between March 30, 2019 and July 30, 2019. Seven different vessels were involved. One of the warships reported in their official memo that the Hong Kong ship was observing them, noting: 'MV Bass Strait likely using UAVs (unidentified aerial vehicles) to conduct surveillance on US Naval Forces'.

-Because their technology is already obsolete Navy will decommission its entire fleet of Freedom-class combat warships Four of the $3.2bn fleet set for scrap heap were commissioned in 2019 and 2020 Anti-submarine system 'did not work out technically', naval operations chief said Ships 'incredibly expensive and [lack] the capabilities we expected': Rep. Smith Added: 'They're not ready to do anything... When they are, they still break down' USS St Louis, launched in August 2020, will serve just three years of 25-year life Scrappings will save $391 million as US Navy plans new shipbuilding program Crews at Naval Station Mayport, Florida...