Props to CG-64
July 28th, 2009 | Ships | Posted by Andrew Scutro
//U.S. Navy
The cruiser Gettysburg was named the winner of the USS Arizona Memorial Trophy for calendar years 2007 and 2008. As a member of the Enterprise Carrier Strike Group, Gettyburg excelled in combat readiness and battle efficiency.
More information on the Arizona trophy, the Arleigh Burke Fleet Trophy and the Marjorie Sterrett Award.
Just don’t drink the water
July 27th, 2009 | Navy Shore duty | Posted by Andrew Scutro
U.S. Navy
Scoop Deck has been told by friends in the Navy that duty in Italy is widely popular. The food and lifestyle is often fondly recalled. But according to this report there are unseen hazards for those posted in Naples.
Petraeus and the ‘Pirate Brigade’ (updated)
July 27th, 2009 | Photos Pirates Ships The deckplates The Middle East | Posted by Phil Ewing
U.S. CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus addresses crew members aboard the destroyer Bainbridge July 27 // MC2 Nathan Schaeffer / Navy
Nothing too extraordinary about this Navy image of Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, making a few remarks for crew members of the destroyer Bainbridge.
Or is there?
Take a close look at Petraeus’ cover — definitely not a standard Bainbridge ship’s ball cap. Instead, it’s olive with a black bill, and, what’s this? A white skull in front of a pair of crossed swords and… wha? “USS Bainbridge: Pirate Brigade.”
Scoop Deck used technology to give you this closer look:
"As we ground-pounders say, hua Pirate Brigade!" // Navy photo, enhanced by Scoop Deck
Nice.
You may remember that the Bainbridge was the ship that had the Navy’s memorable encounter with pirates back in the spring… looks like the crew hasn’t forgotten about it.
What’s the best ship’s custom ball cap you’ve ever seen?
Update: Here’s the reason why he came aboard.
Is extremism in the defense of ship names a vice?
July 27th, 2009 | Aviation Carriers Washington | Posted by Phil Ewing
Should future Ford-class carriers continue to be named for politicians? USS Bill Clinton? USS George W. Bush? USS Arnold Schwarzenegger? // Northrop Grumman
SteelJawScribe has a post that will send a chill down the spine of any Democrat who reads it: It’s about a resolution in Congress that calls for a future Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier, either CVN-79 or CVN-80, to be named the USS Barry M. Goldwater.
To be sure, in a Congress run by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) it’s not likely to get much traction — and even if it does, Congress has opined on ship names in past and not had them implemented (pdf).
But SteelJaw makes a larger case — enough, he says, with naming carriers after politicians:
The nonsense began with CVN-70 (Vinson? Nimitz – ok, Ike, yes; but Vinson???) and reached the height of historical blindness with the Truman (honestly, naming a carrier for a president who tried his hardest to kill naval aviation, oversaw the death of the United States (CVA-58) in favor of the B-36 and generally despised naval officers?)
So how about it: What should the Navy name CVN 79 or 80? Should it continue the trend of naming ships for politicians? What should the carriers — and the Navy’s other future warships — be named?
Blog Forces Command
July 27th, 2009 | Blogs Science and technology The deckplates | Posted by Phil Ewing
"Sailor, this Harry Potter fan-fic is outstanding, but next time let's give it more of a naval flavor, understood?" // Darlene Goodwin/Navy
Adm. John Harvey, the incoming commander of Fleet Forces Command, wasted little time after taking over before he brought the giant Navy command into the small but growing naval blogosphere. Fleet Forces’ blog, named the Fleet Forces Command Blog, went live on Friday with an introductory post signed by Harvey himself.
“I plan to use the USFF Blog to help increase meaningful two-way communication throughout our organization,” Harvey wrote. “What I will need from you are straight-forward comments (positive and negative) about specific topics that will help us all learn, grow and accomplish our assigned missions.”
So far that introductory post is the only one on the site, but Scoop Deck will be watching to see how the Navy uses this new-fangled social media to get its message out and, just as importantly, to respond when things go wrong.
Incidentally, Fleet Forces’ blog looks a lot like the stood-up-but-never-used official Navy blog we told you about awhile ago… right down to the Aegis-warships banner design.
Aloha
July 24th, 2009 | Photos Submarines | Posted by Phil Ewing
The bubble-headed among you are encouraged to check out the full-size version of this amazing image of the fast attack submarine Hawaii arriving at its new homeport of Naval Station Pearl Harbor this week.
Is VCNO like an XO but with stars?
July 24th, 2009 | Navy Officers Washington | Posted by Andrew Scutro
Adm. John Harvey Jr. (right) takes command of U.S. Fleet Forces from Adm. Jonathan Greenert (left), with CNO Adm. Gary Roughead on hand.//U.S. Navy
Today, Adm. Jonathan Greenert turned over command of U.S. Fleet Forces to Adm. John Harvey Jr. aboard the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman on the Norfolk waterfront. Harvey comes from the Pentagon where he ran the Navy staff and Greenert goes to the Pentagon to become the Vice Chief of Naval Operations.
Fleet Forces is the mother of all type commands. Headquartered in an old hospital on its own compound in Norfolk it has the mission to “man, train and equip” the fleet. There’s little that doesn’t pass through CFFC.
But what does a Vice CNO do? Is it like being the CNO’s executive officer? His bureaucratic hit man? According to its section in U.S. Code, Title 10, Chapter 505, the No.2 takes on duties assigned by CNO and steps in during an absence of the CNO. They traditionally keep a low profile. A flow chart of the OpNav staff here at Deck headquarters shows a horizontal line running from his box to the JAG, Chief of Information, Inspector General, Office of Legislative Affairs, Naval Safety Center, NCIS and INSURV. Of course there’s also a vertical line running down to a dizzying maze of directors, heads, deputies and advisors.
Two recent CNOs, Adms. Mike Mullen and Jay Johnson had been Vice CNOs.
Sometimes you can’t resist
July 24th, 2009 | Foreign navies Ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
The crew of the cruiser Anzio fires the ship's aft 5-inch gun -- because they meant to -- July 4 // MC2 Mathew Diendorf/Navy
Only sailors know the agony of what it’s like to eat, sleep, live and work within steps of giant weapons that make amazing bangs and terrific splashes — but which they almost never get to use. And it’s not just sailors on a U.S. Navy cruiser eyeing that aft 5-inch gun — “c’mon, it’s on the back of the ship… nobody’ll notice if we open ‘er up” — it’s an international issue, too.
Case in point: This story about a Russian warship that accidentally fired a rocket into a residential neighborhood in a town on the Pacific coast. No one was hurt, according to the story, although based on Scoop Deck’s childhood experience with Fourth of July mishaps, it’s likely the neighborhood was none too pleased about the bang and the mess. And yes, to answer the question you just asked yourself, this does sound really familiar — in May, another Russian ship accidentally shelled its own coastline with live rounds. No one was hurt in that incident, either, but “there was some structural damage to several farm buildings,” a Russian news agency reported.
And probably a lot of Russian sailors trying hard to suppress some grins.
Maybe the chief ate all five vectors
July 23rd, 2009 | Chow Morale Personnel | Posted by Andrew Scutro
//U.S. Navy
It used to be that you couldn’t swing a dead cat and not hit a Five Vector Model. But it’s been a few years without a single dead cat/5vM mishap. Once everywhere, now vapor. Once always in arm’s reach, now gone on a midnight train to Georgia.
Above please find one of the last confirmed sightings of a 5vM, appearing in the form of a festive and frosted cake aboard the amphibious assault ship Essex on the occasion of the Navy’s 231st birthday.
Two questions about the 5vM (not the cake).
1. Where did it go?
2. We know what it was. Do you?
New(?) report of delays for the F-35
July 23rd, 2009 | Aviation Carriers Navy Washington | Posted by Andrew Tilghman
Capitol Hill is buzzing about this report today from Congressional Quarterly:
The Pentagon’s Joint Estimating Team, established to independently oversee the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, determined that the plane won’t be able to move out of the development phase and into full production until 2016, rather than in 2014 as the program office has said.
But we’re not so sure this is really all that new.
We’ve heard about the Joint Estimating Team’s critical assessments before, in this GAO report from May. That report notes a two-year gap in completion dates cited by the Joint Estimating Team and the JSF program office. [see pdf page 12 of 51]
And if you read the CQ piece closely, the CQ reporter doesn’t actually have a hard copy of any new report.
Nevertheless, they’re all talking about it over on the Hill. One Congressional staffer tells the Scoop Deck this afternoon:
“We’ve been asking a lot of questions in the last few hours. At this point, we haven’t gotten any answers or info from DoD. …If we get anything hard, I’ll definitely share it.”