Three amphibious assault vehicles (AAV-7A1) are offloaded from Military Sealift Command vessel USNS SGT William R. Button (T-AK-3012) in a maritime prepositioning force training evolution in Port Hueneme, California during Exercise Pacific Blitz 2019 (PacBlitz19). US Navy Photo
A fire broke out in the engine room of the USNS Sgt. William R. Button (T-AK-3012), leaving it stranded off the coast of Dauphin Island in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday.
Sgt. William R. Button is a Military Sealift Command ship. It was conducting routine operations at the time of the fire, MST spokesman Thomas Van Leunen told USNI News in a statement.
There were 53 people aboard the ship at the time of the fire, which left the ship stranded about 24 miles from Dauphin Island, according to Alabama’s Channel 5 News WKRG. The crew was able to use the onboard CO2 fire suppression system to extinguish the fire, according to Van Leunen’s statement. The cause of the fire is under investigation. There were no injuries.
Four tugboats brought the ship to Alabama Shipyard in Mobile, Ala. It was expected to arrive by 6 a.m. Friday, but did not make it until 12:45 p.m., according to WKRG.
Button was in Alabama for scheduled maintenance, Van Leunen said in the statement. The ship is part of the Navy’s Maritime Prepositioning Force.
General Dynamics Quincy Shipbuilding Division in Quincy, Mass., built the ship, which the Navy acquired in 1986. It entered service under MSC as MV Sgt. William R. Button and then entered the service as USNS Sgt. William R. Button in 2009, according to the Navy.
SAM LAGRONE APRIL 1, 2024 7:14 PM – UPDATED: APRIL 2, 2024 1:24 PM
U.S. Marines assigned to Alpha Company, Battalion Landing Team 1/5, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, maneuver an Amphibious Combat Vehicle into a security position during an amphibious raid mission walk-through at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, March 21, 2024. US Marine Corps Photo
The post has been updated to correct comments made by assistant commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Christopher Mahoney on the ACV deployment on USS Boxer (LHD-4).
THE PENTAGON – Amphibious warship USS Boxer (LHD-4) departed from San Diego, Calif., on Monday for a delayed deployment with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, two defense officials confirmed to USNI News. Boxer left San Diego Bay in the early afternoon with sailors manning the rails, according to photos from ship spotters. The big deck is the flagship of the three-ship Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, which includes USS Somerset (LPD-25) and USS Harpers Ferry (LSD-49).
The deployment will be the first for the Marines with their Amphibious Combat Vehicle, the successor to the retired Assault Amphibious Vehicle.
Renamed HMS Reaper (D82), the carrier operated in the Royal Navy for the duration of World War II. After arriving at Norfolk, Virginia, on 13 May 1946, Reaper was decommissioned on 20 May and returned to the United States Government. Authorized for disposal on 14 June, Winjah was struck from the Navy Registry on 8 July and sold to the Waterman Steamship Company of Mobile, Alabama, on 12 February 1947 as South Africa Star. She was scrapped in Japan in May 1967.
Just after World War II, Reaper was responsible for bringing from Cherbourg Harbour many examples of former German Luftwaffe aircraft captured by the American military’s Operation Lusty over to North America, such as the sole examples of the Arado Ar 234 jet reconnaissance bomber, and the Heinkel He 219 night fighter, that exist in American aviation museums in the 21st century. The aircraft arrived by air from Germany to Querqueville Airfield which is under a kilometer away from Cherbourg.
A NAVY-support ship was welcomed back to Portland following a successful deployment to the Gulf.
Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) ship Lyme Bay docked at Portland Port to offload equipment and stores before heading to Falmouth for planned maintenance, system upgrades and refurbishment.
At Portland to welcome the ship home was RFA Head of Service, Commodore David Eagles, who said: “It is a huge honour to welcome RFA Lyme Bay home after a very successful deployment to the Gulf. I am so very proud of all that her ship’s company has delivered in support of UK operations in the region and wish them all a safe return to their loved ones. The ship herself now heads into well-deserved maintenance and upgrade and I look forward to her re-joining the Fleet in her core amphibious role next year.”
RFA Lyme Bay is a Bay-class landing ship dock (LSDA), built to support global amphibious operations involving Royal Marines and designed to carry and offload troops and their equipment; up to 400 personnel, plus 150 trucks or 24 tanks at once. However, for this tasking RFA Lyme Bay has instead proved to be a very useful ‘mother ship’ for not just RN Minehunters operating in the Middle East, but also those of our allies and partners.
Since leaving Portland in March 2021, RFA Lyme Bay has steamed more than 26,000 miles (the equivalent of more than a circumnavigation of the world). Participating in and supporting numerous Allied exercises whilst deployed, the ship has also visited Crete, Limassol, Dubai, Bahrain, Muscat, Salalah, Aqaba and Gibraltar along the way.
RFA Lyme Bay has not only acted as command ship and hub for the UK’s Bahrain-based minehunters, but also served as a floating base for specialist dive teams and helicopters moving personnel and supplies around the region and as a ‘petrol station’ and supermarket for the mine countermeasure units.
As an LSDA, RFA Lyme Bays ability to hold enough fuel to fill up multiple ships at a time, as well as approximately 200 tonnes of provisions means that minehunters, which typically have a somewhat limited range and endurance due to their size, can remain on operations for extended periods.
RFA Lyme Bay’s Commanding Officer, Captain Angus Bissell RFA, said “It has been a privilege to command RFA Lyme Bay during her deployment to Op Kipion. I have an excellent ship’s company who rose to the challenges of the region, particular highlights being Lyme’s role in the development of autonomous vehicles and future mine hunting capability and latterly as part of CTF 153 a new task group under Combin
The Italian Navy’s Francesco Morosini, an offshore patrol vessel in the so-called light configuration, toured Southeast Asia in mid-2023. (Gordon Arthur/Staff)
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri announced March 28 it signed a contract to provide the Indonesian Navy with two 4,900-ton PPA ships, although the government has not yet funded the purchase.
The contract, which is worth €1.2 billion (U.S. $1.3 billion), will see two PPA multipurpose offshore patrol vessels originally destined for the Italian Navy allocated to Indonesia instead.
A Fincantieri news release stated the two 143-meter-long ships “are currently under construction and fitting at the integrated shipyard in Riva Trigoso-Muggiano.”
Defense News reported in October that Italy was in talks with Indonesia over this sale. At the time, Junior Defense Minister Matteo Perego di Cremnago said: ““It is not clear which of the vessels would go to Indonesia; that depends on when a contract is signed.”
“This contract is a milestone for the development of a strategic partnership between our group and Indonesia,” Fincantieri CEO Pierroberto Folgiero said, adding this would be the “first of many significant collaborative opportunities” with Indonesia.
Fincantieri said it is the prime contractor and will “coordinate [with] other industrial partners, including Leonardo, for the customization of the ships’ combat system and the provision of related logistic services.”
However, under Indonesia’s procurement process, the signing of this contract does not constitute a final purchase agreement. Indeed, the shipbuilder noted this contract “is subject to the necessary authorizations from the competent authorities.”
Fincantieri announced in June 2021 that it had won an Indonesian contract for six 6,600-ton FREMM-class frigates and two secondhand Maestrale-class frigates. Discussions for the ships are ongoing, but there is not yet a financed deal for the FREMMs.
The Italian Navy’s PPA vessel Francesco Morosini toured Southeast Asia last year, including stops in Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. The shipbuilder said Jakarta’s interest stemmed from this campaign.
The Indonesian Navy has ordered two PPA offshore patrol vessels from Fincantieri. The ship type features a naval cockpit on the bridge. (Gordon Arthur/Staff)
The Italian Navy has ordered seven PPA vessels in three configurations: light; light plus; and full. The light plus variant adds an anti-air warfare capability, while the full version includes an ability to prosecute anti-submarine missions, too.
The platform features a naval cockpit, situated within a diamond-shaped bridge, to reduce bridge crewing.
The service has received three PPAs, and the shipyard has launched a further three.
The final two are slated for commissioning in August 2025 and August 2026, respectively.
With the two offshore patrol vessels under construction in Italy, there will be minimal opportunities for Indonesia’s state-owned shipbuilder PT PAL to participate in the program. However, the firm is currently building two 6,540-ton Iver Huitfeldt-class frigates for the Indonesian Navy under a $720 million contract signed in May 2021. These use Babcock International’s Arrowhead 140 design.
Gordon Arthur is an Asia correspondent for Defense News. After a 20-year stint working in Hong Kong, he now resides in New Zealand. He has attended military exercises and defense exhibitions in about 20 countries around the Asia-Pacific region.
They were armed with a battery of twelve 14-inch (360 mm) guns in four three-gun turrets. Tennessee served in the Pacific Fleet for duration of her peacetime career. She spent the 1920s and 1930s participating in routine fleet training exercises, including the annual Fleet Problems, and cruises around the Americas and further abroad, such as a goodwill visit to Australia and New Zealand in 1925
Tennessee was moored in Battleship Row when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, which brought the United States into World War II. She was not seriously damaged, and after being repaired she operated off the West Coast of the US in 1942. In 1943, Tennessee and many of the older battleships were thoroughly rebuilt to prepare them for operations in the Pacific War and in June–August, she took part in the Aleutian Islands Campaign, providing gunfire support to troops fighting to retake the islands. The Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign followed from November 1943 to February 1944, including the Battles of Tarawa, Kwajalein, and Eniwetok. In March, she raided Kavieng to distract Japanese forces during the landing on Emirau, and from June through September, she fought in the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, bombarding Japanese forces during the Battles of Saipan, Guam, Tinian, and Anguar.
The Philippines campaign followed in September, during which the ship operated as part of the bombardment group at the Battle of Leyte. The Japanese launched a major naval counterattack that resulted in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, a series of four naval engagements. During the Battle of Surigao Strait, Tennessee formed part of the US line of battle that defeated a Japanese squadron; this was the last battleship engagement in history. Tennessee shelled Japanese forces during the Battle of Iwo Jima in February 1945 and the Battle of Okinawa from March to June. During the latter action, she was hit by a kamikaze but was not seriously damaged. In the final months of the war, she operated primarily in the East China Sea, and after Japan’s surrender in August, she participated in the occupation of Japan before returning to the US late in the year. In the postwar draw down of naval forces, Tennessee was placed in the reserve fleet in 1946 and retained, out of service, until 1959, when the Navy decided to discard her. The ship was sold to Bethlehem Steel in July and broken up for scrap.
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