Free Republic

Long the provenance of science fiction, laser weapons are quickly becoming the new norm. At the forefront? U.S. Navy destroyers. Coming to a Destroyer Near You It almost sounds like something from a sci-fi plot or Star Trek: A U.S. Navy destroyer is underway in the Arabian Sea, full steam ahead toward the Gulf of Oman. Meanwhile, a group of Iranian fast-attack boats approaches, disregarding calls from the destroyer to change their course. They’re armed with various anti-ship missiles and are ready to blow an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer out of the water. But before they’re able to lob their missiles...

In December, Saab announced that it delivered the second Gotland-class submarine to the Swedish Defense Material Administration (FMV) after a mid-life upgrade. Along with the lead boat of the class, the Swedish Navy operates three of the diesel-electric submarines, which were designed and built by Kockums shipyard. Designed as a multirole submarine, the Gotland-class could be used in anti-surface warfare (ASuW), anti-submarine warfare (ASW), collection of intelligence including communications intelligence (COMINT) and electronic signals intelligence (ELINT), as well as forward surveillance, special operations and mine laying – the submarines have proven to be well-suited to each. Why So Special? The...

One word can be used to sum up the United States Navy‘s Zumwalt-class destroyer: “controversial.” Designed as a new class of multi-mission stealth warships with a focus on land attacks, the sleek vessels could also take on secondary roles including surface and anti-aircraft warfare. The next-generation, multi-mission destroyers were also equipped with a state-of-the-art electric propulsion system, wave-piercing tumblehome hull, stealth design, and the latest war fighting technology and weaponry. But does the ship pack in too much new technology?

Sailors, we want to hear your voice! The Naval History and Heritage Command is hereby reviving the tradition of the New Year’s Deck Log Poetry contest. Let your poetic prowess be celebrated! The deck log is the official record maintained by all commissioned U.S. Navy vessels. While the contents of a deck log are generally fiercely regulated, the United States Navy has long held the tradition of the Midnight New Year’s Day Poem. The first entry of the New Year, written in verse, gives a brief glimpse into the minds of the sailors and shipboard life, and provides a human...

Last month the head of the U.S. Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs, Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe said that the U.S. Navy is on track to field a hypersonic missile on its submarine fleet by 2025. The weapons, which will be used as a conventional prompt strike (CPS) alternative to long-range nuclear weapons has been called a high priority for the Navy. Wolfe who spoke at the Naval Submarine League annual symposium last month, as reported by USNI News, said that challenges remain. To meet the goal, the U.S. military along with government agencies and private industry, must “take all the successes...

In the Washington beltway world of defense spending and expansion, there's always room to "spend more" no matter which administration or DoD leadership is at the helm. This trend is on display following last week's Trump firing of Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, and his replacement with Christopher C. Miller.An ambitious plan to greatly expand the number of ships in America's naval arsenal put in place by Esper will not be impacted by the latest dramatic turnover in top Pentagon leadership, as Military.com reports:Plans to build a 500-ship Navy are still intact as the Trump administration ushered in a host...

The U.S. Navy has identified the two-person crew killed Friday when a training aircraft crashed in a small town outside Mobile, Alabama. In a news release Sunday, the Navy identified the victims as Navy Lt. Rhiannon Ross, 30, from Wixom, Michigan, and 24-year-old US Coast Guard Ensign Morgan Garrett of Weddington, North Carolina. Ross was an instructor pilot, the Navy statement said, while Garrett was identified as a student aviator. “Their spirit, friendship, and devotion to their country will not be forgotten,” the Navy statement said. Ross and Garrett took off in a Navy T-6B Texan II trainer aircraft from...

The Navy could soon deploy the Dwight D. Eisenhower and Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike groups—again. The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) spent a record 206 consecutive days at sea during its last deployment. The USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) made national headlines after a quarter of the 5,000 sailors on board were infected by COVID-19, and the ship remained tied to the pier in Guam for more than a month. If both strike groups deploy again in the coming months, thousands of sailors would spend double the normal period of time at sea, on top of normal predeployment exercises, routine at-sea...

Federal agents rescued 19 people whose boat caught fire earlier in the week, leading them to swim ashore at a Navy training facility on San Clemente Island.

Defying danger, U.S. guided-missile destroyer, USS Barry (DDG 52), conducted a routine transit through the waterway separating China from Taiwan on Wednesday, a move which has aggrieved Beijing. The incident occurred at a time when Chinese President Xi Jinping has asked the naval soldiers to get ready for war. While inspecting the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy Marine Corps in Chaozhou, Xi Jinping told the soldiers to get ready for fighting under multidimensional conditions. "The Arleigh-Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG 52) conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit Oct. 14 (local time) in accordance with international law. The ship's...

China’s latest volley of missile launches into the world’s most hotly contested body of water served as a warning to two key U.S. targets: aircraft carriers and regional bases. The missiles launched into the South China Sea on Wednesday included the DF-21D and DF-26B, the South China Morning Post reported, citing a person close to the People’s Liberation Army. Those weapons are central to China’s strategy of deterring any military action off its eastern coast by threatening to destroy the major sources of U.S. power projection in the region.

In June of 1775, citizens acting as merchant mariners captured the British schooner HMS Margaretta around Machias, Massachusetts (present-day Maine). That same month, General George Washington, with the help of merchant ship owner Colonel John Glover of Marblehead, Massachusetts, chartered and outfitted several ships to interrupt the British supplies. The marker at the base of John Glover's statue in Boston states: "John Glover of Marblehead - A Soldier of the Revolution. He commanded a regiment of one thousand men raised in that town known as the marine regiment, and enlisted to serve throughout the war. He joined the camp at...

The U.S. Navy SEALs are investigating after video surfaced from a fundraiser last year in Florida that showed a K-9 demonstration using a “Colin Kaepernick stand-in.” The video — which was posted last January, but went viral this weekend — shows what appear to be Navy SEAL dogs attacking a man wearing a Colin Kaepernick jersey during a demonstration. A second video shows the dogs taking the man in the Kaepernick jersey down. Finally, after the dogs are pulled off, the man in the jerseys said, “Oh man, I will stand.” Laughter ensued from the crowd, clearly taking his statement...

The US Navy mocked Iran for being 'experts' at building a target ship in an Instagram post that showed a bogus American aircraft carrier with a bullseye on it. The Navy proclaimed in a meme, 'IRAN BUILDS TARGET SHIP', revealing an overhead view of the fake vessel sitting at a port, unprotected and vulnerable with a bullseye, and adds across the bottom of the image, 'THEY'RE EXPERTS AT THAT'. The post comes after Iran built the replica of a Nimitz-class carrier and had its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard fire a missile at it in the strategic Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday...

The Navy's top officer says that the fires that burned for four days on the Wasp class amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard last week left 11 of its 14 decks damaged and its island effectively gutted. Meanwhile, there has been a rash of other fire incidents aboard other U.S. Navy ships undergoing work in recent days. A shipyard in Virginia where Navy ships are repaired has resumed normal operations after halting work following a thankfully much less severe fire on Bonhomme Richard's sister ship, USS Kearsarge. Another fire broke out on the future USS John F. Kennedy, a Ford...

Chinese officials slammed the U.S. on Tuesday over continued territorial disputes in the South China Sea after the U.S. issued a formal statement declaring most of China's claims in the region to be illegitimate. A statement posted on the website of China's embassy in Washington, D.C., accused the U.S. of "flexing muscles" over a situation in which it was not directly involved. “The United States is not a country directly involved in the disputes. However, it has kept interfering in the issue,” read the statement. “Under the pretext of preserving stability, it is flexing muscles, stirring up tension and inciting...

Two men are dead after a double shooting near Saint Louis University Monday night. Officers from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department responded to North Grand Boulevard and Lindell Boulevard around 8:15 p.m. Saint Louis University Public Safety was also on the scene. Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens and his friend, a former St. Louis fire captain, rendered aid to the two victims, ages 20 and 21, police sources first told KSDK's Christine Byers. Police said the 20-year-old died at the scene and the 21-year-old died later in the night. Greitens, who is a former Navy Seal, and former fire...

Two American aircraft carriers were conducting exercises in the disputed South China Sea on Saturday, the U.S. navy said, as China also carried out military drills. Both countries have accused each other of stoking tensions in the strategic waterway, at a time of strained relations between the two nations over a number of issues including, coronavirus and Hong Kong. The USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan were carrying out operations and exercises in the South China Sea "to support a free and open Indo-Pacific," the navy said in a statement. It did not say exactly where the exercises were being...

This Independence Day, read the unexpected history of the songs that have led our nation's soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen into battle. Armies have used music to rally troops in battle since biblical days. During the American War for Independence, boys too young and men too old to fight often played the fife and drum for the Continental Army, using music to signal commands as well as to boost soldiers’ morale.A particular tune might direct troops to cease fire, or to reload their rifles. While music rarely has such a practical use on the battlefield today, each branch of the...

Making access to sacraments more difficultThe U.S. Navy is prohibiting service members from leaving base to go to church. In an information dispatch last week, "indoor religious services" are on a list of off-base places and gatherings that Navy members are prohibited from attending — alongside "parades," "night clubs" and "casinos." But the dispatch goes even further, and says service members, their families, military contractors and others should avoid using "drive-in spiritual services." For Catholics, this would include things like a parking lot Mass or a drive-thru confession line — measures seen around the country in response to the coronavirus...