Time to decelerate your life, become a force for good
September 30th, 2009 | Personnel The deckplates Video Washington leadership | Posted by Phil Ewing
"Oh yeah, that part, where it says your life will be accelerated? Just disregard. Instead you'll be part of a global force for good." // MCC Hugh Laughlin/ Navy
If you’re thinking of joining the Navy, be advised: When you enlist, your life will proceed at the same speed at which it’s currently traveling. But on the other hand, you will go from being a neutral recruit to a global force for good. That’s right: The Navy is pulling back “Accelerate Your Life” as its advertising slogan and rolling out a new one — “America’s Navy: A Global Force For Good” — in hopes that it will appeal to today’s generation of youngsters.
When you picked up this week’s Navy Times — you did, right? — you might have seen an example of the Navy’s new print ads on page 2, right inside the cover. And here is one of the first TV spots, hosted on the Navy’s official YouTube channel:
What do you think? Will the idea of joining a “force for good” really appeal to the kids today? If you’re one of these kids today, does the new slogan make you want to join up?
LCAC assault links
September 30th, 2009 | Ballistic missile defense Blogs Carriers Foreign navies Pirates Science and technology Ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
Just as this Landing Craft, Air Cushion, dashed across the waters off Queensland, Australia with a load of gear, so too are today's links coming straight toward you // MC2 Gabriel Weber/ Navy
Air cushion inflatin’, M1A1 Abrams main battle tank loadin’, stern ramp lowerin’, high speed wave-skimmin’ links, flying straight off the water and onto the beach to bring you these updates from across the Web:
- Break out the small arms, warm up the LRAD and tell BM1 to lower the small boat: It’s pirate season.
- The Navy’s newest model command center is as cool as both the Death Star and the starship Enterprise, according to this story.
- Some nice young men from the ballistic-missile submarine Nebraska paid a nice visit to veterans in Omaha on Monday. It won’t be long before ships like the Nebraska can send some nice young women on these sorts of trips, too.
- India may not be having much luck in actually getting its hands on the carrier it’s buying from the Russians, but Indian navy fighters did get to demonstrate some cats and traps — so to speak — on Russia’s existing carrier.
- Mike Burleson is talking about an idea that will make some readers nostalgic and others nauseated: reviving the Arsenal Ship, which he says would be the best way for the Navy to take on its new ballistic missile defense mission protecting Europe.
Limeys light ‘em up 2: Limeys light ‘em up again
September 29th, 2009 | Coast Guard Royal Navy Ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
Drug runners be ye warned: The British frigate Iron Duke brought in the biggest cocaine seizure in the Royal Navy's history this week // Royal Navy
Does anyone not enjoy seeing the Royal Navy interdict drug smugglers, seize their contraband, then shoot up their vessels and sink them? If you don’t like it, don’t watch this video of the British frigate Iron Duke’s latest coup — the biggest cocaine seizure in Royal Navy history — which includes some pretty motivational footage of a helicopter machine gun raking the drug runners’ boat.
This is only the latest big takedown by Iron Duke, which Scoop Deck readers will remember from the last time it made a big drug collar out on the water. By the way, the embedded video here includes a voiceover added by the ITN network; you can see the Royal Navy’s raw, unedited video on its website here.
No, you may not go play with the Americans
September 29th, 2009 | Foreign navies Ships The greenside | Posted by Phil Ewing
Indian, Japanese and U.S. warship trained together in May, but India's Defence Ministry forbade its navy from participating in a U.S. amphibious exercise this month in Japan // MC3 Matthew Jordan/ Navy
Here’s an odd item passed along by a Scoop Deck pal on the subcontinent: The Indian Navy was all set to participate in a U.S. amphibious exercise in Japan recently, but it backed out when it didn’t get permission from India’s Ministry of Defence. According to today’s Indian Express, a dozen Indian naval officers were all set to fly out to join the U.S. Navy and Marines for the exercise on Okinawa, then they weren’t permitted to go.
What’s even stranger is that this isn’t the first time India has backed out of training with the U.S. military at the last minute:
In one case, the US even expressed dismay as it suffered a loss of several million dollars due to the last-minute cancellation of an exercise between the US Marines and Indian Navy. The exercise, which was scheduled to take place in India weeks before the Lok Sabha elections, was called off after troops and specialized equipment had been committed by the US. Another exercise was called off after the elections took place, sending conflicting signals.
The U.S. and Indian navies usually seem to have a pretty good relationship — India’s second-largest warship, the Jalashwa, used to be the amphibious transport dock Trenton — so this is kind of strange.
And speaking of India and the Express, they provide a cautionary tale for looking at a ship really closely before you decide to buy it.
Freedom, helicopter. Helicopter, Freedom. Pleasure.
September 29th, 2009 | Photos Ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
An MH-60S Helicopter pulls away from the littoral combat ship Freedom during helicopter qualifications Sept. 28 in the Atlantic Ocean // MC2 Nathan Laird/ Navy
After years of seeing it in PowerPoint presentations and computer-animated videos and on the backs of glossy brochures, there it was at last. Almost. A helicopter almost landed on the flight deck of the Navy’s first littoral combat ship, Freedom. In fact there’s a whole bunch of interesting things about the Navy’s latest photos of the Freedom — of which more in a moment.
Gordon Brown’s SSBN situation
September 25th, 2009 | Ballistic missile defense Royal Navy Submarines The Middle East leadership | Posted by Phil Ewing
Arguments are taking place around the world over whether Britain should mothball one of its four Vanguard-class ballistic missile subs // Royal Navy
U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s support for eliminating one of the Royal Navy’s four Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarines isn’t just a British issue anymore — there are reports about it from all around the world, including here in the States. The latest one to catch our attention was this editorial in the Wall Street Journal faulting Brown and his government for scaling back Great Britain’s nuclear deterrent:
[I]t’s no accident that Britain’s nuclear era coincides with her longest period of relative peace in history. Deterrence works, though its effects can only be inferred by crises evaded and battles not fought … All this, while Iran has just upgraded Britain to Most Evil Nation status. It’s an unpleasant reality and something Mr. Brown ought to think carefully about, lest he be accused of being Barack Obama’s poodle.
And that editorial was written before the world learned Friday that Iran has a second nuclear processing facility.
Here’s another thing to think about — what does Brown’s decision mean for the SSBN(X) program?
The U.S. and Royal Navies have said they want to share a common missile compartment for their next generation of ballistic-missile submarines. Will mothballing one Vanguard mean that work has to speed up? Or could it place Britain on the road to eliminating its deterrent mission altogether — as much of the population wants — and mean the U.S. will end up shouldering the whole load for SSBN(X)?
Big gun: Boom
September 24th, 2009 | Photos Science and technology Ships Video | Posted by Phil Ewing
An experimental version of the destroyer Zumwalt's Advanced Gun System fired a test round Sept. 16 at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah // Ken Tillges/ Navy
Remember DDG 1000? With all this talk about ballistic missile defense and littoral combat ships these days, it can be easy to lose sight of the Navy’s planned three-ship Zumwalt class, now quietly under construction (on time, on cost) up at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine.
Here’s a reminder: A prototype of the Zumwalt’s 155mm Advanced Gun System fired a test round out in Utah last week, according to a Navy photograph posted Thursday. Apparently technicians were experimenting with a new coating to lengthen the life of the gun’s barrel.
Here’s another reminder. This movie about the AGS is an oldie but a goodie — and it’s “more than a simple animation. It is a real time engineering-level model:”
The Navy’s naked hangar
September 24th, 2009 | Aviation Historical | Posted by Phil Ewing
The Navy's airship aircraft carrier Macon sat docked in Hangar One at Moffett Field, Calif., back during the airship years. Preservationists are worried that Hangar One could be stripped of its toxic outer skin and left only as a metal frame // NASA-Ames
Today the Navy’s carriers and big-deck amphibs are the fleet’s only aviation motherships, but they didn’t always have a monopoly: Back in the 1930s, the fleet included aircraft-carrying airships — enormous blimps with small air wings they could launch and recover in mid-air.
That’s all gone now, but there are still some remnants from those days, like the enormous hangar built for the airship Macon at Moffett Field near Mountain View, Calif. Hangar One is one of the largest unsupported structures in the country, so big that fog forms inside it, and it has a devoted following among aviation and history types.
But all is not well in hangar land: Hangar One’s skin contains now-outlawed toxic materials, which the Navy, as its last operator, is obliged to clean up. Neither the Navy nor its current operator, NASA, want to pay to remove and replace the existing skin, and they’ve been in a dispute over the cleanup for years. Things are moving, though: The Navy issued a contract Wednesday to strip Hangar One’s toxic skin, but without making arrangements for installing a new, non-toxic skin. If nobody can figure out how to get Hangar One back in shape, it could end up as a giant metal skeleton.
Achieve full military cleanliness with WASHEX 09
September 23rd, 2009 | Life at Sea Morale The deckplates Video Washington | Posted by Phil Ewing
Proper cleanliness is important, according to the Navy, from the barrel of a 5-inch gun to your own hands. A new video demonstrates how to wash them the Navy way // Navy
Navy work is dirty work. Whether you’re elbow-deep in a gas turbine or handling delicate china teacups at a black-tie embassy reception in Jakarta, it’s gonna get messy out there. That, presumably, is what spurred the creation of this video demonstrating how you should wash your hands — the Navy way. ‘Cause you’ve been doin’ it wrong, shipmate!
According to the Navy video, you should spend enough time working in the soap lather to hum “Anchors Aweigh,” and then treat every surface in the restroom like a mysophobiac: Don’t touch the faucet after you’ve rinsed! You’ll get germs! Get a paper towel, dry your hands, and then use the towel to turn off the water. Then, use the towel to open and close the door to the head. When you have exited, you are authorized to dispose of the towel.
The only problem with this technique is letting the water run during the time it takes you to obtain a paper towel, conduct hand-drying operations, and then secure the flow of water from the tap. Leaving the tap on uses at least 3 gallons of water per minute — imagine the amount of water that would be wasted if everyone in the Pentagon washed their hands this way.
And aboard a ship? That could mean everybody’s favorite words underway: Water hours.
Northern Fleet dreadnoughts
September 23rd, 2009 | Foreign navies Science and technology Ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
Three Russian Kirov-class cruisers could return to service if officials go ahead with modernization plans // Department of Defense
Remember when the Russian cruiser Peter the Great — or Pyotr Velikiy, as we call it here on the Deck — paid a visit last year to Venezuela as part of the Russian Navy’s international re-emergence tour? Sightings like that could become more common out on the water if Russia’s defense ministry goes ahead with an idea to refurbish Pyotr Velikiy’s three Kirov-class siblings, which have been serving as seagull nests for the past several years.
Russia’s Deputy Minister of Defense Vladimir Popovkin says he wants the Russian Navy to field at least three Kirovs, “for the purpose of long-distance sailings,” reports the Barents Observer. It’s a tall order. The ships are old and they’ve been mothballed for a long time, and the Russian shipbuilding industry is in such straits these days that Russian defense officials want to buy amphibious ships from France rather than try to build their own.
Another thing that could complicate matters is the Kirovs’ singular machinery arrangements: The ships have both nuclear reactors and a separate, independent oil-fired steam plant — each with its own turbines — in what has got to be one of the most interesting engineering spaces in the world.
One hopes they wouldn’t get too interesting.