Free Republic

WASHINGTON — Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh has alleged US Navy divers laid bombs that destroyed the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea last September, drawing a denial from the Pentagon Wednesday. Hersh, who scooped journalism’s top award more than five decades ago for exposing the My Lai massacre of Vietnamese civilians by US troops in 1968, cited an unnamed source in reporting on Substack that Americans planted remotely triggered explosives that wrecked three of the four pipelines built to carry natural gas from Russia to Europe. Hersh, 85, went on to claim that the Navy...

"In December of 2021, two months before the first Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, Jake Sullivan convened a meeting of a newly formed task force—men and women from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the CIA, and the State and Treasury Departments—and asked for recommendations about how to respond to Putin’s impending invasion. It would be the first of a series of top-secret meetings, in a secure room on a top floor of the Old Executive Office Building, adjacent to the White House, that was also the home of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB). There was the usual back...

GROTON, Conn. - General Dynamics Electric Boat announced today the U.S. Navy has awarded a $5.1-billion modification of the previously awarded Columbia Integrated Product and Process Development Contract for the Columbia class of submarines, the nation’s next-generation sea-based strategic deterrent. Electric Boat is the prime contractor on the Columbia program, which will replace the aging Ohio class ballistic missile submarines. The District of Columbia (SSBN 826) and Wisconsin (SSBN 827) are presently under construction. The contract modification has a value of $5,134,324,189. Work will be performed in Groton, Connecticut; Quonset Point, Rhode Island; and Newport News, Virginia; and is expected...

Sen. Mike Lee called out Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for cutting off the pay of Navy Lt. Ridge Alkonis while he serves a three-year prison sentence in Japan. “Secretary Austin callously informed me that day that the request for the exception to policy would not be granted. I asked him why. He believed it wasn’t appropriate for the department to do that,” the Utah Republican said last week in a Senate floor speech, referring to a Nov. 29 phone call with the secretary. The Department of Defense’s decision to not extend Alkonis’ pay and benefits while he serves his sentence...

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The United States is seeking an expansion of its military presence in the Philippines under a 2014 defense pact.... ...The Philippines, a former American colony, used to host one of the largest U.S. Navy and Air Force bases outside the American mainland. The bases were shut down in the early 1990s,... ...Philippine military chief of staff Lt. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro told reporters last week that the U.S. wanted to construct military facilities in five more areas in the northern Philippines. Two of the new areas proposed by the Americans were in northern Cagayan province, Bacarro said....

US Navy forces recently seized a "massive amount" of explosive material used to fuel ballistic missiles from a fishing boat sailing from Iran to Yemen, the service said on Tuesday. The US 5th Fleet intercepted the vessel — and its four Yemeni crewmembers — crossing international waters in the Gulf of Oman on November 8, and a search of the ship led to the discovery of over 70 tons of ....

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.

Former U.S. Navy pilot Ryan Graves gave a detailed description of regular encounters that flight teams had with a black box UFO they were seeing "every day." *snip* He said that multiple pilots repeatedly witnessed a strange UFO phenomenon on their equipment, as well as with their own eyes, starting in late 2013. He said the pilots were seeing these objects by eye and also on their radar after receiving upgrades to their aircraft. The objects were always up there, every day, as they conducted training exercises. *snip* "There were two aircrafts from my squadron, and they took off in...

In other words, it’s far from fated that China’s rise will track forever upward. The United States and China may never reach the crossover point envisioned by exponents of the “Thucydides Trap”—the point beyond which Chinese power outstrips American, giving Beijing the upper hand in the Western Pacific. But Brands and Beckley argue rightly that an impending stall in China’s rise doesn’t mean the coming years will be free from U.S.-China conflict. In fact, the opposite could well be true. A China on the threshold of decline is a dangerous China—as Clausewitz might prophesy were he among the quick today.

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...

My Father was a sailor and my earliest memories are of the Navy, being on bases, seeing sailors in uniform, standing formation, marching in straight lines, counting cadence., doing the manual at arms as one, functioning like a huge living organism with one purpose..." "...When you say, “right full rudder,” the rudder better come right full or lives could be lost. You think I exaggerate? Constant bearing and decreasing range…what to do? Seconds to decide and lives are at risk. Ask the crews of the USS McCain or USS Fitzgerald, the ones who are still with us, sailors who will...

The military contractor known as “Fat Leonard,” the mastermind behind the worst public corruption scandal in U.S. Navy history who was three weeks away from being sentenced in the case, is on the run. Leonard Glenn Francis, who has been under house arrest, cut off his GPS monitoring ankle bracelet and absconded from his San Diego home sometime Sunday morning, said Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Omar Castillo. Pretrial Services, the federal agency monitoring Francis, was alerted to an anomaly with Francis’ bracelet, and Francis’ defense team went to check on him, knowing he has a history of health issues. An...

USS Jimmy Carter, A History – There are currently nine aircraft carriers named for former presidents of the United States, while a tenth is now under construction. However, President Jimmy Carter isn’t included in the list of former commanders-in-chief to be so honored – rather Carter has the distinction of being recognized for his service as a United States Navy submariner with a Seawolf-class nuclear-powered, fast attack submarine (SSN) named for him. Carter was the only submarine-qualified sailor to go on to become the nation’s chief executive. He was the nuclear engineer officer on the Pre-Commissioning Unit Seawolf (SSN 575)...

China said it was conducting military exercises Saturday off its coast opposite Taiwan after warning Speaker Nancy Pelosi of the U.S. House of Representatives to scrap possible plans to visit the island democracy, which Beijing claims as part of its territory. The ruling Communist Party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army, was conducting “live-fire exercises” near the Pingtan islands off Fujian province from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., the official Xinhua News Agency said. The Maritime Safety Administration warned ships to avoid the area. Such exercises usually involve artillery. The one-sentence announcement gave no indication whether Saturday’s exercise also might...

Facing a growing threat from China, the Navy envisions drone ships keeping an electronic eye on enemy forces across the vast Pacific Ocean, extending the reach of firepower, and keeping sailors out of harm's way. The Navy is speeding development of those robotic ships as an affordable way to keep pace with China's growing fleet while vowing not to repeat costly shipbuilding blunders from recent years. The four largest drone ships are being used together this summer during a multination naval exercise in the Pacific Ocean. Other smaller waterborne drones are already being deployed by the Navy’s 5th Fleet in...

he National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 authorizes taxpayer funds for the U.S. Department of Defense to research and develop plant-based proteins for members of the military. The congressional legislation, H.R. 7900, establishes a “Pilot Program on Research and Development of Plant-based Protein for the Navy.” The bill stipulates that by March 1st, 2023, the Secretary of the Navy “shall establish and carry out a pilot program to offer plant-based protein options at forward operating bases for consumption by members of the Navy.” Plant-based protein options are defined as “edible vegan or vegetarian meat alternative products made using...

The Navy commander of a joint military base in Hawaii where thousands were poisoned by water contaminated during a massive fuel leak was recently awarded the Legion of Merit upon retirement. Capt. Erik Spitzer, formerly the commander of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, was relieved of command on June 14 by Capt. Mark Sohaney, according to photos released by the Navy. Spitzer was criticized in the midst of the water crisis for providing conflicting guidance that residents’ water was safe in the days after the fuel leak. But during the change of command ceremony, Spitzer was awarded the Legion of Merit...

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...

The Navy is canceling early separation programs and encouraging delayed separation as it aims to retain more sailors, especially in sea billets. The Navy announced the cancellation of enlisted early out programs, as well as waivers for new time-in-grade requirement, in NAVADMIN 142/22, released on June 22. Under the policy, service commitments, which include enlistment contracts and permanent changes of station, will be fulfilled. Anyone who has trouble completing their service requirements should work with their chain of command and/or detailers to figure out alternatives. Those seeking commissions are still encouraged to do so, with those requests considered on a...

The Navy has issued letters of censure to three Marine and two Navy officers in connection with the sinking of an amphibious assault vehicle off the Southern California coast in 2020 that killed eight Marines and a sailor. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, in a statement Monday, faulted the officers for "inadequate leadership and execution of their oversight duties." Censure letters are put in service members' personnel files and are often career-ending for military officers, usually preventing them from further promotion or other progress. A Marine Corps investigation found that inadequate training, shabby maintenance and poor judgment by leaders led...