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Buchanan (DD-484) was launched on 22 November 1941 by Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Kearny, New Jersey; sponsored by Miss Hildreth Meiere, great-granddaughter of Admiral Buchanan. The ship commissioned on 21 March 1942.
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After two winters of attacks on its energy infrastructure, Ukraine has launched a number of retaliatory strikes within Russia’s borders.
Russia has inflicted an estimated £9.5bn in damages on half of Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure.
However, between 19 and 29 January numerous Russian power stations, oil depots and factories have reportedly been attacked either by Ukrainian drones or Russian anti-Putin partisans.
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For weeks at a time, a crew of five must live on board one of the Royal Navy’s smallest ships. But what is it like for them while they’re at sea?
The Archer-class P2000 fast patrol boat has multi-purpose rooms, and cosy spaces in keeping with its size.
Watch our video above to learn from the commanding officer of HMS Ranger what it’s like to serve on one of these craft.
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Royal Navy carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) was forced to cancel its deployment at the last minute because of a problem with its propeller shaft, with sister ship HMS Prince of Wales (R09) now being mobilized to replace it.
On Sunday, the Royal Navy posted a statement on the social media channel X from Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Andrew Burns.
“Routine pre-sailing checks yesterday identified an issue with a coupling on HMS Queen Elizabeth’s starboard propeller shaft. As such, the ship will not sail on Sunday. HMS Prince of Wales will take her place on NATO duties and will set sail for Exercise Steadfast Defender as soon as possible,” reads the statement.
In August 2022, as Prince of Wales prepared to head out for a deployment to the United States, the carrier had a breakdown caused by a malfunction to its starboard propeller shaft. According to a BBC report, a Ministry of Defence spokesperson stated Queen Elizabeth’s problem was not related to the Prince of Wales incident.
Queen Elizabeth was scheduled to take part in the annual U.K.-led multinational exercise Joint Warrior which runs from Feb.24 – Mar. 3, leading a multinational eight-ship carrier strike group (CSG) before moving on to participate in Exercise Nordic Response, the maritime portion of NATO exercise Steadfast Defender, which begins on Mar. 5. The Queen Elizabeth CSG was to have been comprised of Queen Elizabeth, frigate HMS Somerset (F82) and two Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Tide-class fleet oilers, with U.S., Spanish and Danish warships rounding things out. Prince of Wales will now replace its sister ship, though it will take time given the carrier has to be fuelled, take on equipment, ammunition and stores and bring forward maintenance tasks, as well as cross-transfer equipment from Queen Elizabeth.
Prince of Wales returned from a deployment to the U.S. East Coast in December last year and was expected to work its way back to operational status by later this year before embarking on an Indo-Pacific deployment in 2025.
France and Italy, however, are both preparing CSG deployments to the Indo-Pacific this year, while Germany and the Netherlands are planning warship deployments to there as well. France has not released any timeframe or details for the deployment of carrier FS Charles De Gaulle (R91) to the Indo-Pacific beyond that it will take place this year. The carrier is in the middle of working up its air group to operational certification.
Meanwhile, Italian Navy Chief Adm. Enrico Credendino during the Paris Naval Conference on Jan. 25 said Italian Navy aircraft carrier ITS Cavour (550) will lead a multinational CSG to the Indo-Pacific in February, with ships from other nations either integrated as part of the CSG or sailing in company during its voyage. The Italian Navy carried out staff talks with U.S. Navy Seventh Fleet from Jan. 11-12 in Rome, according to a Seventh Fleet release, “to discuss shared maritime security challenges and ways to advance interoperability between the two navies.” The release did not mention Cavour’s upcoming deployment, but it is likely the discussions included joint activities with the Cavour CSG and Seventh Fleet units during the planned deployment.
During the Paris Naval Conference, Vice. Adm Giacinto Sciandra, commander, Italian Maritime Force, stated in a panel discussion that one of the Italian escort ships in the Cavour CSG would temporarily detach to travel to Hawaii to participate in the U.S. Navy-led Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) multinational exercise, normally held around July.
Germany, meanwhile, will dispatch frigate FGS Baden-Württemberg (F222) and fleet oiler FGS Frankfurt am Main (A1412), with both ships also expected to take part in RIMPAC. Germany has not yet released the planned route and schedule for the deployment, but in an online interview on the German Armed Forces webpage, German Navy Chief Vice Adm. Jan Christian Kaack stated Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore as countries that the two ships would call on.
On Jan. 31, Netherlands Minister of Defence Kajsa Ollongren announced on social media channel X that the nation will deploy frigate HNLMS Tromp (F803) to the Indo-Pacific, and that the Dutch government was considering having the frigate take part in Operation Prosperity Guardian or an EU mission aimed at protecting merchant shipping from Houthi attacks.
Ollogren also posted a link to a letter to the Netherlands House of Representatives Standing Committee on Defence that detailed the frigate’s planned deployment, with an early March departure and a mid-September return. “The voyage will take it via the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean, the North Pacific Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean. As usual, the frigate will operate in accordance with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS),” stated the letter. The letter also stated Tromp will participate in RIMPAC during its deployment, and that joint activities and engagements with other countries during the voyage are still being coordinated. The frigate will make port calls as well, according to the letter.
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These are the approximate positions of the U.S. Navy’s deployed carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups throughout the world as of Feb. 5, 2024, based on Navy and public data. In cases where a CSG or ARG is conducting disaggregated operations, the chart reflects the location of the capital ship.
USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) is in port in Yokosuka. The carrier is set to depart for the East Coast later this year. USS George Washington (CVN-73) will replace Reagan in Japan.
Carriers USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) and USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) drilled with Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopter destroyer JS Ise (DDH-182) in the Philippine Sea in a multi-day event that concluded Thursday.
Both carriers are using older C-2A Greyhounds as a temporary carrier-onboard delivery vehicle while the CMV-22B fleet is grounded following the November crash of an Air Force MV-22B off the coast of Japan.
Carrier
USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), homeported at San Diego, Calif.
Carrier Air Wing 2
Cruiser
USS Princeton (CG-59), homeported at Naval Station San Diego, Calif.
Destroyer Squadron 1
Destroyer Squadron 1 is based in San Diego and is embarked on Carl Vinson.
Carrier
USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), homeported at San Diego, Calif.
Carrier Air Wing 11
Cruiser
USS Lake Erie (CG-70), homeported at Naval Station San Diego, Calif.
Destroyer Squadron 23
Destroyer Squadron 23 is based in San Diego and is embarked on Theodore Roosevelt.
The Japan-based USS America (LHA-6) is operating in the Philippine Sea.
USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10) is at McMurdo Station in Antarctica supporting Operation Deep Freeze.
Hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) completed a port visit to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Sunday en route to its homeport of San Diego, Calif.
The Bataan Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) is in port at Naval Station Souda Bay in the Eastern Mediterranean after completing exercise “Odyssey Encore” off the coast Volos, Greece, on Jan. 17.
Embarked units include Amphibious Squadron 8, 26th MEU (SOC), Fleet Surgical Team 8, Tactical Air Control Squadron 21, Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 26, Assault Craft Unit 2, Assault Craft Unit 4 and Beach Master Unit 2. The 26th MEU (SOC), based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., includes Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 6th Marines; Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 162 (Reinforced) and Combat Logistics Battalion 22.
Among the many missions Marines are trained in is evacuating civilians from conflict zones. USNI News visited the unit in April during a noncombatant evacuation drill in North Carolina.
On Thursday, U.S. Central Command forces engaged and shot down one UAV over the Gulf of Aden. There were no injuries or damage reported.
On Wednesday, Houthi militants fired one anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward the Gulf of Aden. The missile was successfully shot down by USS Carney (DDG-64). At 9:10 p.m., Carney engaged and shot down three Iranian UAVs in its vicinity. There were no injuries or damage reported.
The U.S.-led a series of strikes over the last week on targets in Yemen as part of the multi-national response to Houthi attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea.
U.S. and U.K. forces struck 36 sites in Yemen with a combination of Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles from destroyers and U.S. Navy and Royal Air Force fighters, reported USNI News.
Almost two dozen F/A18-E/F Super Hornets flying from USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) flew in the strikes with the TLAMS launched from USS Carney (DDG-64) and USS Gravely (DDG-107).
“These precision strikes are intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities that the Houthis use to threaten global trade, and the lives of innocent mariners, and are in response to a series of illegal, dangerous, and destabilizing Houthi actions since previous coalition strikes on January 11 and 22, 2024, including the January 27 attack which struck and set ablaze the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker M/V Marlin Luanda,” reads the statement.
“[The targets] included multiple underground storage facilities, command and control, missile systems, UAV storage and operations sites, radars, and helicopters.”
Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand aided in the strikes, according to a Pentagon statement.
On Sunday, Central Command struck a Houthi land attack cruise missile around 5:30 a.m. Approximately five hours later, it struck four anti-ship cruise missiles.
Ahead of the joint strikes, U.S. Central Command forces destroyed six Houthi anti-ship cruise missiles that were prepared to launch at targets, CENTCOM said.
On Thursday, CENTCOM destroyed an explosive-laden unmanned surface vehicle in the Red Sea.
“Approximately two hours later, two anti-ship ballistic missile were launched from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen likely towards the M/V Koi in the Red Sea. The missiles impacted in the water without hitting the ship,” according to the Command.
Earlier on Thursday, U.S. Central Command forces conducted strikes against a Houthi UAV ground control station and 10 Houthi one-way UAVs.
U.S. forces identified the UAV ground control station and one-way attack UAVs in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined that they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the U.S. Navy ships in the region. U.S. Forces subsequently struck and destroyed the UAV ground control station and 10 one-way attack UAVs in self-defense.
On Wednesday, USCENTCOM forces struck and destroyed a Houthi surface-to-air missile prepared to launch. U.S. forces identified the missile in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined that it presented an imminent threat to U.S. aircraft.
On Tuesday, Iranian-backed Houthi militants fired one anti-ship cruise missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward the Red Sea. The missile was successfully shot down by USS Gravely (DDG 107). There were no injuries or damage reported.
As of Monday, the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group was operating in the Red Sea.
Ike deployed on Oct. 14, while several of the carrier’s escorts left on Oct. 13. The carrier transited the Strait of Gibraltar on Oct. 28 and transited the Suez Canal on Nov. 4.
The U.N. Security Council on Jan. 10 approved a resolution calling on Yemen’s Houthi rebel group to “cease its brazen” attacks in the Red Sea.
Announced on Dec. 18, Operation Prosperity Guardian is a multinational push to ensure freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden under the structure of the existing Combined Task Force 153.
Carrier
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69), homeported at Norfolk, Va.
Carrier Air Wing 3
Cruiser
USS Philippine Sea (CG-58), homeported at Naval Station Norfolk, Va.
Destroyer Squadron 22
Destroyer Squadron 22 is based in Norfolk, Va., and is embarked on Eisenhower.
U.S. Coast Guard Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutters (FRCs) are forward-deployed to the region under Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA). PATFORSWA deploys Coast Guard personnel and ships with U.S. and regional naval forces throughout the Middle East. Initially deployed in 2003 to support Operation Iraqi Freedom, PATFORSWA is now a permanent presence based out of the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) was seen heading inbound to San Diego, Calif., on Feb. 2, according to ship spotters.
USS Boxer (LHD-4) is in port in San Diego, Calif., as of Jan. 18, according to ship spotters. Boxer, USS Harpers Ferry (LSD-49) and USS Sommerset (LPD-25) are set to deploy later this spring with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Chris Mahoney told USNI News last week. The Boxer ARG will be the first to deploy with the Amphibious Combat Vehicle.
In addition to these major formations, not shown are others serving in submarines, individual surface ships, aircraft squadrons, SEALs, Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Forces, Seabees, EOD Mobile Units and more serving throughout the globe.
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HMS Victory is undergoing a massive restoration and conservation programme costing around £45m.
Lord Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar is being stripped right back and having all the rotten wood removed.
Forces News was given exclusive access to the ship, preserved for all to enjoy at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth, to see the progress that’s being made.
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HMS Richmond has taken over from HMS Diamond to protect shipping in the Red Sea from attacks by Houthi rebels.
Richmond, a Type 23 frigate, replaces the Type 45 air defence destroyer, which was deployed under Operation Prosperity Guardian, an international task force to protect merchant shipping in the region.
During this time, HMS Diamond successfully destroyed nine rebel drones using her Sea Viper missile system.
“I am confident that HMS Richmond will carry on her impressive work,” said Defence Secretary Grant Shapps.
He added: “The UK is committed to protecting freedom of navigation.
“I visited HMS Diamond in January and thanked the ship’s company for their incredible work defending freedom of navigation, saving innocent lives and ensuring merchant shipping is protected from the illegal Houthi attacks.”
HMS Richmond, which left Plymouth in January, is capable of protecting shipping across a 500-square-mile stretch of ocean.
Her weapons and assets will enable her to search vast areas of the sea while on patrol, intercept hostile threats on the water and defend herself and merchant ships if necessary, using her Martlet anti-ship missiles.
Houthi rebels have been responsible for attacking and harassing numerous merchant ships in the Red Sea.
During her deployment to the Red Sea, HMS Diamond came under fire from the Iranian-backed rebels on three occasions.
HMS Diamond’s Commander Peter Evans said: “The situation in the region is fraught, and ships in the force are firing on a daily basis – we hand over the baton with our best wishes to the fantastic team in Richmond who we know will do a great job.
“Having deployed at just five days’ notice we’re used to quickly switching aim, and now our focus is on a short maintenance and ammunition resupply period before we get back to our mission in the Red Sea.”
HMS Diamond will now undergo a period of maintenance. She was recently provided with fuel by the USNS Kanawha.
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One of the most enduring nautical legends is that of the ghost ship, a ship without a crew found sailing the world’s oceans. While legends speak of ships that are cursed, haunted, or have crews that were victims of foul play, a new generation of ghost ships are intentionally unmanned. The U.S. Navy wants an entire fleet of these autonomous ghost ships, sailing into harm’s way—so real human sailors don’t have to. Here’s everything you need to know about them.
The U.S. Navy is in a shipbuilding crisis. The service has repeatedly tried—and failed—to meaningfully increase the size of its battle force, to relieve the burden of deployment on existing ships, and act as a counter to the explosive growth of China’s navy. In 2016, the battle force numbered 275 ships. In 2017, the Trump Administration made a 355-ship Navy a national policy, yet now, seven years later, the fleet has only increased by 17 hulls, for a total of 292 ships.
A static shipbuilding budget, recruitment issues, shipyard capacity, and management problems have all contributed to the failure, but the bottom line is that it isn’t going to get better any time soon. As a result, the service is betting heavily on unmanned ships, which are smaller, cheaper, don’t require any crew at all, are easy to build, and easy for the bureaucracy to say “yes” to. The service is so bullish about the future of unmanned ships that it envisions a fleet of 373 manned ships by 2045, with an additional 150 unmanned ships.
To get insights on the ghost fleet of the future, let’s look at the ghost fleet of today.
The first unmanned ship in the Navy’s inventory was the Sea Hunter, which first entered service in 2016, starting life as a DARPA program before moving to the Office of Naval Research. A trimaran design, she is equipped with outriggers on both sides for improved stability on the high seas. Sea Hunter is 132 feet long and displaces 145 tons fully loaded. It has a top speed of 27 knots, and is designed to operate alone, on the high seas, for up to 9,000 nautical miles, while traveling autonomously. In 2019, Sea Hunter sailed from San Diego to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and back while completely unmanned.
Sea Hunter was originally procured for the service’s Anti-Submarine Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel program, an effort to test unmanned submarines as a platform for tracking (and presumably engaging) enemy submarines. Anti-submarine warfare is notoriously slow and painstaking in nature, requiring long hours of patrolling, collecting and analyzing data. An unmanned submarine hunter, using artificial intelligence to interpret sensor data, can be used to detect and track a submarine, then engage it with an anti-submarine weapon like the Mk. 46 lightweight homing torpedo.
In 2021, the Navy took possession of Sea Hawk, a sister ship to Sea Hunter. Sea Hawk is an improved version of her older sister, including “more than 300 lessons” learned from the Sea Hunter program. Together, the two ships represent a subclass of Unmanned Surface Vessels, called Medium Unmanned Surface Vessels (MUSVs), which “are 45 feet to 190 feet long, with displacements of roughly 500 tons, which would make them the size of patrol craft,” per a Congressional Research Service report.
The next pair of unmanned warships are the Ranger and Mariner, and the two ships are largely identical. Each is 193 feet long, displaces 673 tons, and can sail along at a brisk 37 knots. Unlike the other two ships, Ranger and Mariner both have long, flat bays that take up the rear two-thirds of the ship, allowing them to carry a variety of payloads, especially containerized payloads using the footprint of standard ISO shipping containers.
Both ships are equipped with “virtualized” versions of the Aegis Combat System, a computer that links ship radar, sonar, electronic combat, and weapon systems into one centralized system. Early Aegis Combat Systems, built in the 1970s and 1980s, used computers as big as a room to function. Thanks to Moore’s Law (which predicts that the number of transistors in a silicone computer chip will double every two years as the technology advances) the computers necessary to run Aegis have been shrunk down to a package as small as a large suitcase. Aegis also allows the two ships to control other unmanned shipsIn 2021, Ranger became the first unmanned ship to launch a missile, an SM-6 anti-air, anti-surface missile that had embarked in the payload bay. If an unmanned ship’s Aegis Combat System can pull data from nearby ships, it can then launch its own missiles at enemy targets. This does not mean that the ship can open fire autonomously—merely that Aegis can coordinate the ship’s combat systems via Aegis; a man or woman in the loop would still need to give permission to fire. In other words, the combination of Aegis and payload capability can make the two unmanned boats into mini destroyers.
On January 15, shipbuilder Austal launched the unmanned ship Vanguard, which resembles Ranger and Mariner. But unlike the others, which were converted from commercial vessels, Vanguard was purpose-built as an unmanned ship. Ranger, Mariner, and Vanguard are all considered Large Unmanned Surface Vessels (LUSVs), being “200 feet to 300 feet in length and having full load displacements of 1,000 tons to 2,000 tons, which would make them the size of a corvette.”
The U.S. Navy’s Ghost Fleet is focusing on two of the service’s weaknesses: anti-submarine warfare and missile capacity. MUSVs of the future will form one aspect of the service’s sub-chasing capability, perhaps even escorting convoys making dangerous crossings in submarine-infested waters, while LUSVs will augment the firepower of destroyers by providing additional missiles, ready to fire. Ghost ships will never replace crewed ships, but there is room for the two to work together to fight the sea battles of tomorrow.
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