Trump's Navy

[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/

[AdamG]

A suspicious incident occurred Friday when two armed Iranian vessels approached the USS Essex with a top U.S. general on board. Gen. Joseph Votel, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) commander, was aboard the amphibious assault ship to observe flight operations when two Iranian fast-attack boats approached – one crossing in front of the Essex and the other traveling along its side, the Associated Press reported Friday.

“I really appreciate you arranging for the Iranians to be here,” Votel said, jokingly, to crew members aboard the Essex.

The Essex was on a routine patrol mission in the southern Persian Gulf. Votel was unsurprised by the Iranians’ presence, as they noticed the Essex’s presence and questioned it over radio traffic.

https://americanmilitarynews.com/201...nder-gen-votel

[AdamG]

Fourteen sailors from the nuclear reactor department of the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan face disciplinary action in connection to LSD abuse, Navy officials confirmed this week. Two sailors are already heading to court-martial for using, possessing and distributing the hallucinogenic drug, while three are waiting to see whether they will be charged as well, according to 7th Fleet spokesman Lt. Joe Keiley.

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-...ilors-snagged/

[AdamG]

A problem with Columbia-class submarine missile tube welds is more serious than initially thought, causing the contractor responsible to set aside $27 million to cover repair work that is expected to take nearly a year.

https://news.usni.org/2018/11/07/col...caKwHEC8uP-j3E

[AdamG]

Scary fiction thread
http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...439#post212439

[AdamG]

Vice Adm. Scott A. Stearney, commander of U.S. 5th Fleet, was found dead his quarters in Bahrain on Saturday, according to a statement from Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson. “The Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Bahraini Ministry of Interior are cooperating on the investigation, but at this time no foul play is suspected,” read a statement from Richardson

https://news.usni.org/2018/12/01/bre...WWzaL1I_BQqYw4

[AdamG]

USN can't go some places with USCG icebreakers, so...

The Homeland Security funding bill that includes the $5 billion requested by President Trump for his proposed border wall would scrap a program to expand the U.S. icebreaker presence in the Arctic. The Senate version of the funding bill and an earlier version passed by the House Appropriations Committee both include $750 million for the program, but the current House version of the funding bill does not include money for the icebreaker program. Some lawmakers have blasted the funding being stripped out of the House bill, which includes the full amount requested by Trump for his border wall. The $750 million would restart the construction program and get the first new icebreaker in the Arctic operational.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4...reaker-program

[AdamG]

In November, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence announced at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation event in Papua New Guinea (PNG) that the United States would partner with the Oceania state and Australia to develop a joint naval base on PNG’s Manus Island. His remarks came amid talk of China extending its Belt and Road Initiative into the southern Pacific, including investing in and developing ports in PNG. Pence’s announcement sparked much activity among the geopolitical commentariat, who watch closely every move by Beijing in what many consider “debt-trap diplomacy.”

What has not been reported or written on as much, however, is the strategic military dimension of the Manus deal that could expand the island’s Lombrum Naval Base currently used by the PNG Defence Force.

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proce...s9VlcrkNx5CjuU

[AdamG]

The U.S. Navy’s current fleet design does not match today’s conditions, much less those expected over the next 20 years. Today’s fleet—a mix of ship types that are simply evolutionary improvements and larger versions of designs from two or more decades ago—is too small, and the ships on average are too large. It is time for the Navy to make broad, significant changes in the fleet’s design.

The rapid rise of global connectedness—and the technological progress and proliferation that it has sparked—raises new challenges for designing a fleet with the capabilities required to execute its missions across the globe. The ability to detect warships at long ranges or even globally is no longer a U.S. monopoly. Commercial space sensors are burgeoning, and their data is available in the marketplace. Many nations have sophisticated military space programs, distributed networked sensor fields, and long-range unmanned aerial vehicles that can search far from shore. Sensor capability is advancing faster than the ability to elude detection. Long-range precision-guided weapons are proliferating and can be brought to bear in numbers against what these sensor systems detect. Weapon speed is increasing while weapon signature is decreasing.

The current fleet was not designed with this threat environment, where losses likely will be significant, in mind. The fleet concentrates too much capability in too few manned hulls that are too large. Not enough are forward deployed to provide sufficient firepower to achieve warfighting success. And the fleet is too expensive per unit to be able to afford enough capacity to meet global requirements and wartime resiliency.

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proce...qDAgYmzonMQnn0

[Bill Moore]

Adam,

If this article is correct, then are just pissing money away by investing in capital ships that need to be manned by thousands of sailors. Since adversary sensor and long range targeting capabilities are increasing according to the article, would be better off cutting the capital ships by at a least a third and invest in unmanned vessels that are "relatively" much less expensive (certainly less expensive overtime considering the cost of manning ships) and easy to mass reduce to replace war time losses? The services can be incredibly innovative, but they don't have the moral courage to innovate themselves out of their current molds. The proposed change, admittedly somewhat flippant coming from a ground pounder, would be a huge change that would have significant repercussions across the force. Instead of Navy Aviators dominating the top leadership positions, we would see ADMs who commanded unmanned vessels and fleets emerge to the top. Crazy talk I know.

[AdamG]

Adam,
Crazy talk I know.

If the enemies and scenarios of the day after tomorrow aren't defined at the start, I raise an eyebrow.

[AdamG]

Washington (CNN)The terrorist behind the 2000 attack on the USS Cole is believed to have been killed in a US airstrike in Yemen on Tuesday, according to a US administration official. Jamel Ahmed Mohammed Ali Al-Badawi was an al Qaeda operative who the US believes helped orchestrate the October 12, 2000, attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors.
The official said all intelligence indicators show al-Badawi was killed in a strike in Yemen as a result of a joint US military and intelligence operation.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/04/polit...-st=1546725552

No Quarter.


For those too young to remember, this was an unprovoked attack - the mess deck was driven upwards by the force of the blast and crushed many of the 17 casualties as they were sitting down to a meal.

https://www.911memorial.org/uss-cole-bombing

https://gcaptain.com/cole-ddg-tribute-crew-lost-years/

[AdamG]

The U.S. Navy, without fanfare or notice, tested a new weapon last summer that could revolutionize surface warfare. The hyper velocity projectile (HVP) is a Mach 3 shell fired from existing guns on cruisers and destroyers. A guided projectile, HVP can drop high explosives on enemies on the ground up to three times as far as conventional ship gun ammo with a high rate of precision. It can also intercept incoming anti-ship missiles, providing an economical alternative to increasingly expensive anti-missile interceptors.

According to USNI News, the guided missile destroyer USS Dewey fired 20 new HVP projectiles during the 2018 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises. Although the test was unclassified it was not reported at the time by the U.S. Navy. It was the first known use of HVPs at sea by a warship.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/mil...shells-rimpac/

[AdamG]

Bonus - OSINT via Social Media.*

The USS Fort McHenry is the first U.S. ship to enter the Black Sea since a naval standoff between Russian and Ukrainian forces near the annexed Crimea Peninsula in November. Romanian and U.S. officials say the dock-landing ship arrived at the port of Constanta on January 7 and will remain there until January 10. It will then hold joint sea maneuvers with a Romanian frigate in territorial and international waters. It wasn't immediately clear how many U.S. military personnel were involved.

https://www.rferl.org/a/us-warship-r.../29696810.html

Ex-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst earlier called weak the Western response to Russia's November 25 attack on Ukrainian naval boats, suggesting this would give Putin a green light for further escalation. The diplomat suggested that the U.S. provide Ukraine with a number of specific weapons to bolster its coastline defenses against Russian aggression.

A warship of Russia's Northern fleet entered the Black Sea on Wednesday, January 9. The vessel in question is the Severomorsk (619) anti-submarine Udaloy-class destroyer, according to Andriy Klymenko, an expert with the Ukraine-based Maidan of Foreign Affairs Foundation. "For the first time since the start of Crimea occupation, a warship of the Russian Northern fleet – not just a landing ship of another fleet but the one that is part of the Russian navy's main strike force – has entered the Black Sea waters," * the expert wrote on Facebook, also posting the relevant photos of the destroyer.

https://www.unian.info/politics/1040...sea-photo.html

[AdamG]

Analysis of an accident

The Fitzgerald had been steaming on a secret mission to the South China Sea when it was smashed by a cargo ship more than three times its size.The 30,000-ton MV ACX Crystal gouged an opening bigger than a semitruck in the starboard side of the destroyer. The force of the collision was so great that it sent the 8,261-ton warship spinning on a 360-degree rotation through the Pacific.

https://features.propublica.org/navy...crash-crystal/

[davidbfpo]

AdamG,

A friend forwarded the link to this accident and it is a grim reading in places. It appears that those who ordered the ship to sea will avoid any repercussions.

A RN ship, the Antarctic patrol ship, HMS Endurance had an accident and the Officer in Charge (not the Captain who was on Xmas leave) has written two articles on their experience (a third has yet to appear). There was a National Geographic documentary on their patrol, but has yet to be found (which he explains in Part Two).

Part One:https://wavellroom.com/2018/12/16/ma...hms-endurance/

Part Two:https://wavellroom.com/2019/01/05/ma...-2-priorities/

[AdamG]

Carrier Strike Group 4 Is Jamming GPS Across U.S. Southeast Coast

GPS has become increasingly important to our lives. Not only do Waze, Uber, and many other applications heavily rely on global positioning system. Our cellular networks rely on GPS clocks, banking systems, financial markets, and power grids all depend on GPS for precise time synchronization. In the finance sector, GPS-derived timing allows for ATM, credit cards transactions to be timestamped. Computer network synchronization, digital TV and radio, as well as IoT (Internet of Things) applications also rely on GPS-clock and geo-location services.

In an operational environment jamming GPS signals represents both a threat and an important capability. In addition to serving an important purpose in navigation on land, sea and in the air, GPS also provides targeting capability for precision weapons along with many other tactical and strategic purposes.

For this reason, the U.S. military frequently trains to deny or degrade GPS signals on a large-scale.

https://theaviationist.com/2019/02/0...outheast-coast

[AdamG]

CAPITOL HILL – The Navy is short about 6,200 sailors to meet its at-sea requirements for its current force, and that gap could grow as the service adds new ships to the fleet, the head of U.S. Fleet Forces Command told a House panel on Tuesday.

Those sailors will, in part, be used to plus-up crew numbers on each surface ship after the Navy had previously gone to a lower “optimal manning” crew size to save personnel costs, Adm. Chris Grady told a combined hearing before the House Armed Services readiness and seapower and projection forces subcommittees.

https://news.usni.org/2019/02/26/fle...g-requirements

[AdamG]

The top American officer in Europe wants two more destroyers stationed in his area of responsibility and a “better pace” of carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups moving through the region, he said during a Tuesday hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti said the two destroyers would supplement the four already forward stationed in Rota, Spain. The increased presence of large warships would send a message to allies and to Moscow that NATO is able to deter and counter “an evolving and modernizing Russian fleet.”

https://news.usni.org/2019/03/05/euc...o-deter-russia