Trump's Navy

[AdamG]

Reference the death of Ensign Sarah Mitchell, from a former SWO;

A painful and interesting article in a recent Naval Proceedings stated that they shut the Surface Warfare Officer School down years ago. Now the Surface Warfare Officers (SWOs) have to learn their job with OJT and with a box of DVDs. That is like learning to fly a plane as you fall to the ground. Plus, I am sure she had about 2 to 4 hours of sleep in the last 24. What could possibly go wrong!!!!!!

There is a Special place in Hell for those who set the conditions sending out our people improperly trained.

Meanwhile, "priorities" -

The United States Navy is giving female service members more choices with the shape and look of their hair. The Navy has approved changes to let servicewomen wear a ponytail or have other hairstyles. The new rules – announced during a Facebook Live event – went into effect on Wednesday. The Navy has long barred females from letting their hair down, including tying long hair in a ponytail. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson said the changes aim to make the Navy a more “inclusive team.”

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/...n/4480179.html

[AdamG]

The U.S. Navy says that it has likely hit the limit of what it can do with the Flight III Arleigh Burke destroyer design and isn’t sure if the hullform will be a useful starting place in any way as it begins developing a follow-on class of ships. This could have ramifications for the final shape and construction of the service’s future Large Surface Combatant, a prospective design packed with energy-hungry advanced radars and other electronics, directed energy weapons, and railguns, which could eventually replace both its older DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and its Ticonderoga-class cruisers.

On July 11, 2018, U.S. Navy Rear Admiral William Galinis, head of the service’s Program Executive Office Ships, offered these and other new details about the project at a Navy League-hosted breakfast. The Large Surface Combatant, or LSC, is part of a broader fleet transformation effort that also includes the Navy’s future frigate, also known as FFG(X), and unmanned surface vessels.

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone...ome-destroyers

Tangential and interesting piece by Craig Hooper

Asia is in the midst of a naval renaissance. But this renaissance has failed to lead to widespread adoption of Japanese and South Korean warship designs in the West. Why?

Not that there haven’t been opportunities for hybridization. But the American FFG(X) program is full of European designs, the Australian Navy has rebuilt their Navy using European designs. Even the Tide-class AEGIR replenishment ships are–despite being built at the master South Korean merchant-ship builder Daewoo–based on a BMT design that is, well, British. Japanese and South Korean designs simply aren’t there.

http://nextnavy.com/is-the-west-igno...-architecture/

[AdamG]

WASHINGTON — U.S. Navy sailors seized more than 1,000 AK-47s from a small, disabled boat in the Gulf of Aden this week after boarding the vessel to determine its nation of origin, service officials said Thursday.

Sailors aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham on Monday observed unmarked packages being transferred onto a skiff from a small, masted sailing vessel, known as a "dhow." U.S. sailors boarded the craft Tuesday to investigate, according to Navy officials. The skiff was sailing in international waters near Yemen without flying a country’s flag and determined to be “stateless,” the officials said.

https://www.stripes.com/news/middle-...yemen-1.545177

[AdamG]

Interesting commentary on the USS Fitzgerald incident, from back in June.

http://theothermccain.com/2018/06/17...ank-navy-ship/

[AdamG]

General Dynamics Corp.’s GD business unit, Bath Iron Works (BIW), recently secured a multi-year contract for manufacturing four DDG 51 class ships. Work related to the deal is scheduled to be completed by June 2028.

Details of the Deal

Valued at $3.9 billion, the contract was awarded by the Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C. Per the terms of the deal, Bath Iron may also provide engineering change proposals, design budgeting requirements and post-delivery availabilities. On execution of these options, the cumulative value of the contract will reach $4 billion.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gener...151003764.html

[AdamG]

Thanks, Trudeau.

Canada installs Chinese underwater monitoring devices next to US nuclear submarine base
Ocean Network Canada confirms addition of hi-tech sensors built by Chinese scientists to its marine observatories in Pacific Ocean
US state department has ‘nothing to say’ on matter

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/soci...evices-next-us

[AdamG]

Navy carrier aviation is back in the Arctic Circle for the first time in nearly 30 years, the latest sign that the Pentagon is looking to flex its muscles during an era of great power competition.

The Harry S. Truman entered the Norwegian Sea on Friday, the first flattop to do so since September 1991, according to a U.S. 6th Fleet press release.

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-...arctic-haunts/

[AdamG]

Russia says it will block any attempt by Ukraine to host military drills in the Sea of Azov, a strategic waterway where Kiev could soon be operating two newly acquired American warships. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said a bilateral treaty with Ukraine prohibits military drills in the area around Azov without a green light from Moscow.

https://americanmilitarynews.com/201...o-ship-drills/