Aircraft carrier USS Truman to deploy next week to Middle East
By Caitlyn Burchett – Stars and Stripes • September 20, 2024
WASHINGTON – The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and a force of 6,5000 sailors will deploy next week on a mission that is expected to take the warship’s strike group into the Middle East, Navy officials announced Friday. The Truman and the other ships in its strike group will leave early next week from Naval Station Norfolk, Va. and Naval Station Mayport, Fla., according to U.S. Fleet Forces. The carrier strike group includes Carrier Air Wing 1 with nine aviation squadrons, the Ticonderoga-class, guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, and two Arleigh Burke-class, guided-missile destroyers, the USS Stout and the USS Jason Dunham. The strike group has spent recent months training in the western Atlantic Ocean for a rare, pre-planned deployment expected to take the ship into the hostile environment of the Red Sea. U.S. sailors and allied nations have fought almost daily for months to down drones and missiles launched by Iran-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen as tensions in the Middle East have raged on for nearly a year. The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford in October 2023 was ordered to sail to the region after a deadly attack on Israel by Hamas militants. Following the attack, Iran and proxy forces have targeted maritime merchants and shipping traffic in the Red Sea. In the past year, Defense Secretary Llyod Austin has twice ordered two carriers to the region, as well as bolstering U.S. forces with an amphibious ready group and a nuclear-powered submarine. The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower joined the Ford in the winter before the Ford returned to Norfolk. The Eisenhower completed an eight-month deployment to the region in July, being relieved by San Diego-based carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. In August, Austin ordered the extension of the Roosevelt as well as directed the USS Abraham Lincoln, also a West Coast-based carrier, to the Red Sea. The Roosevelt and the Lincoln’s time in the region overlapped by about three weeks before the Roosevelt was ordered to return home. The Lincoln and its strike group are still in the region. The Truman will transit to the Middle East with a strike force of 90 aircraft, including F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets, E-2D Hawkeye command and control aircraft, E/A18 Growler electronic warfare jets, and MH-60 Seahawk helicopters. “They know that they’re most likely going to be entering a weapon engagement zone,” Adm. Daryl Caudle, the leader of Navy Fleet Forces Command, said during a rare Miami Fleet Week appearance in May. The Fleet Week appearance was wedged into training ahead of what is expected to be an intense deployment. “I believe, personally, that puts higher stakes on why what we do [in training] is so important,” Caudle said in May. “For this group, this [deployment] is not with the mindset that they’re just going to go drill holes in the water somewhere — this is, ‘We’re going to be employed for combat.’” CAITLYN BURCHETT Caitlyn Burchett covers defense news at the Pentagon. Before joining Stars and Stripes, she was the military reporter for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va. She is based in Washington, D.C.
Read more at: https://www.stripes.com/branches/navy/2024-09-20/truman-aircraft-carrier-deploy-middle-east-15244264.html?utm_source=Stars+and+Stripes+Emails&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Stars+and+Stripes+Emails&utm_campaign=94eba747b1-Newsletter+-+Daily+Headlines&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0ab8697a7f-94eba747b1-296803338
Source – Stars and Stripes
Amphibious transport dock ship USS San Diego (LPD 22) arrives pier side at Commander Fleet Activities Sasebo as part of a scheduled home port shift to Sasebo, Sept. 19.
SASEBO, Japan (Sept. 19, 2024) USS San Diego, previously originally based out of San Diego, moves to Sasebo to join the Forward Deployed Naval Forces Japan (FDNF-J) as part of a permanent change of station. Maintaining an FDNF capability with the most advanced ships supports the United States’ commitment to the defense of Japan and the security and stability of the vital Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Darian Lord)
USCGC Polar Star Returns to Seattle
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star (WAGB 10) and crew returned to Seattle, Sunday, after 285 days away from the cutter’s home port.
Following a 138-day deployment to Antarctica supporting Operation Deep Freeze 2024, the Polar Star reported directly to Mare Island Dry Dock (MIDD) LLC. in Vallejo, California, to commence the fourth phase of a five-year Service Life Extension Project (SLEP).
The work completed at MIDD is part of the in-service vessel sustainment program with the goal of recapitalizing targeted systems, including propulsion, communication, and machinery control systems, as well as effecting significant maintenance to extend the cutter’s service life.
Polar Star’s SLEP work is completed in phases to coordinate operational commitments such as the cutter’s annual Antarctic deployment. Phase four began on April 1, 2024, targeting three systems:
- Boiler support systems were recapitalized, including the electrical control station that operates them.
- The heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system was refurbished through the overhaul of ventilation trunks, fans and heaters that supply the cutter’s berthing areas.
- The flooding alarm system was redesigned, providing the ability to monitor machinery spaces for flooding from bow to stern.
Additional work not typically completed every dry dock included removing and installing the starboard propulsion shaft, servicing and inspecting both anchor windlasses, inspecting and repairing anchor chains and ground tackle, cleaning and inspecting all main propulsion motors and generators, installation of an isolation valve to prevent seawater intrusion into the sanitary system, and overhauling the fuel oil purifier.
Phase four of Polar Star’s SLEP took place over approximately 140 days and represented a total investment of $16.8 million. By replacing outdated and maintenance-intensive equipment, the Coast Guard will mitigate lost mission days caused by system failures and unplanned repairs. The contracted SLEP work items and recurring maintenance is taking place within a five-year, annually phased production schedule running from 2021 through 2025.
The Coast Guard is investing in a new fleet of polar security cutters (PSC) that will sustain the service’s capabilities to meet mission needs in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions. The SLEP allows Polar Star to continue providing access to the Polar regions until the PSCs are operational and assume the high latitude missions. Polar security cutters will enable the U.S. to maintain defense readiness in the Polar regions; enforce treaties and other laws needed to safeguard both industry and the environment; provide ports, waterways and coastal security; and provide logistical support – including vessel escort – to facilitate the movement of goods and personnel necessary to support scientific research, commerce, national security activities and maritime safety.
“Completing a dry dock availability is a positive milestone, and despite challenges due to being away from home port, our crew’s energy and resilience inspires me every day,” said Capt. Jeff Rasnake, Polar Star’s commanding officer. “The amount of time and effort put into Polar Star and its mission is truly remarkable. The dedication and teamwork displayed across all stakeholders exemplifies the Coast Guard’s flexibility and commitment to ensuring the continued success of Operation Deep Freeze as well as strengthened partnerships among nations invested in the Antarctic latitudes. I look forward to observing how this crew will continue to grow as a team and to discovering what we can accomplish together.”
Along with the rigorous maintenance schedule, Polar Star held a change of command ceremony on July 8, 2024, in Vallejo, where Rasnake relieved Capt. Keith Ropella as the cutter’s commanding officer. Rasnake served as the deputy director for financial management procurement services modernization and previously served as Polar Star’s executive officer. Ropella transferred to the office of cutter forces where he will oversee the management of the operational requirements for the cutter fleet and develop solutions for emerging challenges facing the afloat community.
Polar Star is the Coast Guard’s only active heavy polar icebreaker and is the United States’ only asset capable of providing year-round access to both polar regions.
Commissioned in 1976, the cutter is 399 feet, weighing 13,500 tons with a 34-foot draft. Despite reaching nearly 50 years of age, Polar Star remains the world’s most powerful non-nuclear icebreaker with the ability to produce up to 75,000 horsepower. Polar Star’s SLEP is important to the survival of the Antarctic mission and crucial to the well-being and success of Polar Star and crew during these long missions.
SURAGA BAY, Japan (Sept. 14, 2024) Forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) passes Mount Fuji during Transport Exercise (TRANSPORTEX), Sept. 14.
SURAGA BAY, Japan (Sept. 14, 2024) Forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) passes Mount Fuji during Transport Exercise (TRANSPORTEX), Sept. 14. TRANSPORTEX is a humanitarian aid and disaster relief exercise, further enhancing interoperability between the U.S. and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, enabling a combined rapid response force in the event of crisis or natural disaster. America, lead ship of the America Amphibious Ready Group, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations. U.S. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy’s largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, and routinely interacts and operates with allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo illustration by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Kenneth Melseth)
VIDEO: USS New Jersey Commissioning Ceremony
September 15, 2024 2:53 PM
The following is the Sept. 14, 2024, commissioning ceremony of the attack submarine USS New Jersey (SSN-796).
From the Navy
New Jersey is the first fast attack submarine designed for a fully integrated male and female crew and is the third U.S. Navy ship named after the state of New Jersey, the most recent being the decorated battleship BB-62 which saw action during WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. New Jersey and crew operate under Submarine Squadron (SUBRON) 8.
The submarine is 377 feet long, has a 34-foot beam and is able to dive to depths greater than 800 feet and operate at speeds in excess of 25 knots. New Jersey has a crew of nearly 135 Navy personnel.
Speakers at the commissioning ceremony included New Jersey Governor Philip Murphy, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, Jennifer Boykin, president of Newport News Shipbuilding and Larry Runkle, vice president of General Dynamics Electric Boat. Adm. William Houston, director of the Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion program, served as the senior Naval officer and Submarine Force commander Vice Adm. Robert Gaucher as the presiding officer. Sub commander Cmdr. Steve Halle also spoke. Lt. Cmdr. Andrew Hutchison, the ship’s executive officer, served as master of ceremonies.
HMS Iron Duke welcome the public onboard to showcase the warships’ inner workings
Alex Candlin – 14th September 2024 at 2:50pm
The crew of HMS Iron Duke welcomed residents of Jersey aboard to show them how a Royal Navy warship operates.
The 4,900-tonne Type 23 Duke Class frigate docked on the Channel Island where she opened her doors to the public, brought local Sea Cadets onboard and held a reception for visitors.
“We have a brilliant affiliation with Jersey and are looking forward to a host of activities: Ship open to visitors, STEM visits, meeting Sea cadets and hosting a reception,” said HMS Iron Duke on social media.
- Royal Navy and RAF track Russian vessels and bombers close to UK
- ‘The Iron Age resumes’: HMS Iron Duke returns to sea for first time since 2019
- Drone-killer HMS Diamond tweaked tactics to down waves of Houthi attacks
“It’s great to have HMS Iron Duke in Jersey to strengthen her close ties to the community and showcases her commitment to maritime security,” said the Ports of Jersey.
She recently sailed down the River Elbe to Hamburg and held a similar Open Ship Day for the German public.
Earlier this month HMS Iron Duke and HMS Tyne were deployed to monitor four Russian Navy vessels as they sailed through the Channel and the North Sea.
The Fate of the ‘Most Famous Ship that Didn’t Sink’ Unclear, Plans for SS United States Stalled
John Grady – September 6, 2024 5:32 PM – Updated: September 7, 2024 12:43 AM
SS United States on May 23, 2023. USNI News Photo
The world’s fastest ocean liner’s days are numbered at the Philadelphia pier where it has been berthed for decades. Whether the nonprofit that owns SS United States can find a new location for the liner, launched with great fanfare in June 1951 into Virginia’s James River, by Sept. 12 is an open question.
Even the option of sinking the 900-foot-long liner – larger than Titanic – to turn it into the world’s largest fishing and diving reef off the Florida Gulf coast, is now in limbo. The Oskaloosa County Board of Commissioners delayed a vote on its budget Tuesday that would have met the court-set deadline for the ship to leave or pay Penn Warehousing’s higher rental fees, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
The county would pay $9 million to buy, move and then sink the liner to become the reef off Fort Walton Beach-Destin, Fla. The ship no longer has a working propulsion system. Much of the expense would be put toward environmental cleaning to make the hull safe for the reef project.
United States, which was built to double as a high-speed troop transport, has not sailed the Atlantic since the late 1960s after jet travel sent the luxury passenger liner market into steep decline.
The newspaper quoted Nick Tomecek, Okaloosa County’s public information officer, saying the county is working with the SS United States Conservancy, and “until a deal is finalized it would be inappropriate to make any additional comment.”
The other option would be to sell SS United States for scrap.
Efforts by USNI News for further comments from the conservancy were unsuccessful.
The ship’s length makes finding another temporary berthing site difficult. Sites at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Maryland and Virginia already have been ruled out as not large enough.
The conservancy’s goal of converting the ship into a museum and hotel is also on hold.
“There are multiple discussions underway and many unresolved matters that make the outcome and timing uncertain at this point,” read a conservancy statement on Instagram last week.
The Florida-based Get the Coast online news site reported the conservancy is committed “to developing a land-based museum in conjunction with the artificial reef, which would serve to continue the iconic vessel’s legacy and provide non-divers the opportunity to learn about ‘America’s Flagship’ and its rich history.”
The county will provide up to $1 million for museum-related costs, including property purchase, construction or renovation of an existing building or property for the museum and its exhibits. The report added details of the museum project and terms of an agreement are to be separately developed and negotiated within 12 months of the ship’s purchase.
The county identified three locations for the reef site between 25 and 30 miles off the coast.
In 2016, the conservancy received 600 important artifacts of artwork, furniture, fittings and documents from the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News and Colonial Williamsburg for its collection and a future museum.
SS United States was christened on June 23, 1951, on a sweltering early summer day by Lucille Connally, wife of Texas Sen. Tom Connally. The traditional champagne bottle breaking took place at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. ”as more than 20,000 persons, waving small American flags, sent up a mighty cheer.” An additional 20,000-plus were gathered along the massive dry dock where the liner was built.
The Daily Press reported that shipyard officials said the crowd’s size was held down by the near 100-degree temperature and television broadcasting of the christening.
SS United States was built for the dual purpose of fast, safe, luxurious ocean travel across the Atlantic and for the fast transport of U.S. troops across any ocean. The commercial contractor was U.S. Lines and the original contract with Newport News was let in 1949 for more than $67 million. Design work at Gibbs & Cox on the “super liner” started three years earlier in partnership with the federal government.
“The U.S. Government worked in conjunction with the United States Lines to develop a ‘super ship’ to be part Cold War weapon and part luxury ocean liner. The top-secret Pentagon project produced the fastest, safest and most advanced vessel ever constructed,” reads a 2022 post from Norfolk Naval Shipyard.
“The ship could be quickly converted into a troop carrier able to transport 15,000 military service members for 10,000 miles without refueling, and do it faster than any other ship before or since. Due to its hidden military objective, the construction of the ship was shrouded in secrecy.”
The ship delivered in 1,215 days.
As The Daily Press editorialized the day the liner was christened:
“The unsinkable ship never has been built, but the United States has later and improved safety precautions built into her hull. She was designed to withstand some degree of enemy attack if the time should come when she must be a military transport.”
The editorial writers missed its wartime importance. The liner was capable of sustaining 35 knots for 12 days without refueling. Better yet, it would need only 48 hours to be converted to military service. It could carry 18,000 troops.
In contrast, the British troop transport and ocean liner Queen Mary carried 15,000 troops per crossing to Europe in World War II.
William Francis Gibbs, educated as a lawyer at Harvard and Columbia, designed SS United States. By the early 1950s, he was already world famous for his ship designs, and he and his brother’s firm are credited with providing three-quarters of the designs for the nation’s World War II ships.
If a new berthing site is not found, SS United States may no longer be able to claim the title “Most Famous Ship that Didn’t Sink.”
HMS Glasgow meets HMS Cardiff as Type 26 frigates moor alongside each other for first time
9th September 2024 at 1:10pm
Two of the Royal Navy’s Type 26 City-class frigates have been pictured together in the water for the first time, with one of them having been fitted with a new 5-inch gun.
HMS Glasgow, the lead ship in the Type 26 class, has had the gun fitted to her forecastle, with HMS Cardiff pictured alongside at BAE Systems’ Scotstoun Yard.
The next-generation frigates are designed to be primarily submarine hunters, replacing the Type 23s.
- HMS Cardiff: Construction of Royal Navy’s new Type 26 frigate gathering pace
- Delayed Type 26 frigate programme can claw back lost time, minister says
- Work starts on gigantic hall where two Type 26 frigates can be built side by side
They are also expected to carry out other roles, with adaptable mission bays to allow the eight City-class ships to operate drones, mine-hunting systems or raiding kit for Royal Marines commandos.
This new gun is likely to be a mainstay of the fleet for half a century or more, with all the ships set to be fitted with the capability.
So what are the benefits of this new class of frigate?
One of them is the gun.
Officially called the Mk45 Mod 4A Medium Calibre Gun, it is the latest variant of a US Navy gun that has been fitted to over 280 warships – including Nato allies and vessels from Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
It replaces the existing Mk8 4.5in gun, which has been in service since the early 1970s and has been used in the Falklands, two Gulf wars and the Libyan Civil War.
The latest gun is fully automated, safer, reliable, accurate and interoperable with the UK’s closest Nato allies.
It is also able to eliminate threats as varied as enemy positions ashore or aerial drones.
Despite being fitted to HMS Glasgow, the gun is still missing its barrel.
But once it is operational, shells weighing up to 31.5kg leave the muzzle at speeds between 823 and 1,051 metres per second – or up to three times the speed of sound – depending on the ammunition used.
It can also be used against aerial threats, including drones and fast-moving inshore attack craft, with it being much cheaper than firing a missile.
However, what makes the gun really stand out is the automatic handling system.
Sailors will no longer need to form a chain to supply the gun with fresh shells during a shoot, with the automatic system instead pulling shells from its “deep” magazine to constantly refill the 20-round “ready to use” magazine.
According to the Royal Navy, the result is a first-class gun that is easier to maintain, operates seamlessly working with allies and is highly reliable – with other navies reporting an availability of 99.6 per cent.
Neil Stevenson, Type 26 Weapons Group Leader at Defence Equipment and Support, said the installation marked a “major milestone for the Type 26 MOD weapons team”.
“The Mk 45 Mod 4 is a proven, effective weapon that incorporates the latest technologies for today’s multi-mission warships,” he said.
“Throughout the entire team has been supported by US Department of Defence and the Royal Navy, ensuring that this system is at the forefront of gunnery technology and adaptability, that meets the needs of the Royal Navy, now and in the future.”
