Dolphin helicopter turns 25
November 19th, 2009 | Aviation Coast Guard | Posted by Susan Schept
MH-65D, the latest iteration of MH-65 helicopter platform. // Coast Guard photo
The Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter is celebrating its 25th birthday today. The service accepted the HH-65A Dolphin helicopter for service on Nov. 19, 1984.
The Dolphin has served the Coast Guard well, and they have another 18 years to go in service before they will be replaced under the Deepwater program. By the end of October, the service had moved 48 of the upgraded MH-65Cs through their third segment of upgrades. The biggest change is a new engine that provides 40 percent more power and offers greater reliability. The helicopters also have new weapon mounts. Pretty nifty birthday gifts.
The MH-65Ds began in-flight testing in March. Look for a new flight navigation system, which is common to DOD helicopters and replaces the current compass, gyro systems and GPS system.
When the $901 million upgrade is finished in 2017, the Dolphins also will have equipment that will allow them to be secured and transferred to the hangars of the new national security cutters.
Watch your step out there, sir
November 18th, 2009 | Foreign navies Life at Sea Maritime operations The Middle East | Posted by Phil Ewing
Climbing up or down a Jacob's ladder can be a tricky job, as when this Mexican sailor boarded a German warship this spring during an exercise // Coast Guard
Quick sea anecdote: One time Scoop Deck was standing in the upper vehicle stowage bay of the amphibious assault ship Makin Island, at sea in the Gulf of Mexico, waiting to climb down a Jacob’s ladder into a boat moored alongside. It was clear and sunny, but the sea was choppy enough that people were nervous about reporters not being able to get on the boat without taking a bath.
One chief boatswain’s mate counseled not to step down the ladder below the gunwale of the launch, because it would catch your leg and mangle it against the amphib’s hull. (“That’ll ruin your whole day,” he said.) But don’t step from the ladder to the launch when it’s at the peak of a wave, because as it starts to fall, he said, so will you. Scoop Deck stepped off at the peak, did a few semi-splits and cartwheels around the slippery deck, got covered with sea slime, but at least stayed aboard.
The presence of this story, hopefully, won’t make it sound too mean to point out these hilarious photographs of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had some trouble climbing from an inflatable boat to a Jacob’s ladder this week. “Trouble,” as in, he fell into some poor sailor’s lap.
Netanyahu wanted to congratulate the crew of an Israeli warship for interdicting a load of weapons bound for Hezbollah, but from the looks of it, the sailors probably congratulated him for not swimming in the Mediterranean.
Have you ever acquitted yourself less than gracefully when climbing on or off a small boat?
How many carriers do you see in this image?
November 17th, 2009 | Aviation Carriers Foreign navies Maritime operations Photos The Pacific | Posted by Phil Ewing
Japan's "helicopter destroyer" -- wink, wink -- the Hyuga, joined the carrier George Washington for excerises this month in the Pacific // MC1 John Hageman / Navy
How many carriers? Just one. In the background is the carrier George Washington; in the foreground is Japan’s “helicopter destroyer” — or “carrier destroyer,” as one Deck commenter called it — the Hyuga.
Some observers might think it’s neat that the last time Japan and the U.S. both fielded aircraft carriers, they were at war, and that it’d be cool to see what could be the first photos of modern U.S. and Japanese flattops underway together. But that’s not what this is a picture of. Because Hyuga is not a carrier.
Another new LCS mission — BMD picket?
November 17th, 2009 | Ballistic missile defense Blogs Foreign navies Science and technology Ships The Middle East | Posted by Phil Ewing
An international export version of Lockheed's littoral combat ship fired an imaginary missile in this artist's conception. The company is now saying it can augment its Aegis-edition LCSes with ballistic missile defense capability // Lockheed Martin
As Galrahn and Phib discuss the latest news about the littoral combat ship Freedom’s upcoming deployment, one of our senior shipmates at Defense News has some other interesting LCS gouge: This week at the Dubai Air Show, Lockheed Martin is pitching a “Surface Combat Ship” to the navies of the Gulf states — a variant of its Freedom-class LCS modded with Aegis radar and ballistic missile defense capability.
LockMart and its LCS rival, General Dynamics, both have shown off concepts for Aegis-equipped export versions of their designs, but neither of the trade-show fliers just pulled from Scoop Deck’s desk drawer say anything about BMD. They do include the possibility of a Mk 41 Vertical Launch System — which the U.S. Navy’s version doesn’t have — that could carry a battery of SM-3 or SM-6 interceptors. Or, as Defense News’s Pierre Tran wrote, an Aegis BMD LCS could be the eyes for land-based missiles:
Given fears in the region of a possible missile attack from Iran, a deployment of the Surface Combat Ship in the narrow waters of the Gulf would provide early warning of a missile launch and allow early destruction in the upper atmosphere by the SM-3 missile or at lower altitude by the Patriot PAC3 or other weapon.
No word on the price tag for this souped-up “SCS,” but given the cost issues the first two LCSes have had, it could be steep. It could also have implications for the U.S. Navy’s pending mission as the BMD protector of Europe, for which commanders could want as many hulls as possible, maybe including cruisers, destroyers and BMD-LCSes.
Navy’s new missile blows something up
November 17th, 2009 | Maritime operations Science and technology SEALs Ships The Pacific | Posted by Phil Ewing
The cruiser Cape St. George fired an earlier version of the Tomahawk land attack missile in 2003. The Navy says its late-model Block IV is the best one yet // IS1 Kenneth Moll / Navy
Oh, to have been crouching in the mud with the U.S. and British special operators earlier this month when they called in a “time-critical strike” from the cruiser Princeton. It was just an exercise, according to a Navy announcement, but it still must’ve been pretty cool to see them dial in the thunder with their Precision Strike Suite – Special Operations Forces gear (known, of course, as “piss-off” in the teams) and then have that missile sky down and explode.
The thunder in question was provided by the long-awaited Block IV Tomahawk land-attack missile, which is the latest and smartest version of the classic weapon we all remember from “Red Storm Rising.”
“As the only network-enabled, land attack weapon, Tomahawk can re-target, loiter, or provide last minute weapons coverage to deployed forces from on-station naval combatants,” said its program manager, Capt. Dave Davison.
Still to come: Scoop Deck has been told that the Block IV’s improved ability to find and see targets could return anti-ship capability to the Tomahawk family, after the purpose-built ship-killing variant was withdrawn in 1995. We’re looking forward to seeing video of that test, if it happens.
A New Navy Term
November 16th, 2009 | Carriers Life at Sea Maritime operations Navy The deckplates | Posted by Andrew Tilghman
Looks like the Navy has coined a new term.
I heard it for the first time a couple of months ago when I was out on the Truman and talking to Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, the strike group’s commander. He was explaining how they would remain ready despite a six-month gap between the JTFX and an actual deployment.
Driscoll said the strike group would probably go out for another large-scale excersise.
“The Navy loves acronyms, so we’ll probably call it ‘sustain-ex’ or something like that,” Driscoll said casually.
Looks like that term Driscoll was trying out has been formalized. A few days ago, the Navy public affairs office announced that the carrier John C. Stennis is heading out for a “sustainment excersize (SUSTAINEX).”
Add that to the next edition of the Dictionary of Naval Abreviations, or DICNAVAB.
UK to sell 1 carrier to India?
November 16th, 2009 | Aviation Carriers Foreign navies Royal Navy | Posted by Phil Ewing
One of the UK's two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers could become an Indian carrier if a proposed sale goes through // Royal Navy
The shipbuilding future of the Royal Navy has grown so bleak that new stories about what could happen to it have almost lost their ability to dismay. After the Ministry of Defence raised the possibility that it could delete the ability to handle F-35B Lightning II fighters from one of its future aircraft carriers, now it’s raising the possibility of selling one ship outright — to India.
The financial penalties of not building one of the two Queen Elizabeth-class flattops are more prohibitive than going through with it, the UK’s Guardian newspaper reports, so selling one to India could presumably defray the economic impact of going ahead with two ships. It isn’t clear yet how that deal would affect India’s tortured attempts to buy the ex-Soviet aircraft carrier Gorshkov, or whether the upshot of it all means that the Indians could have two new carriers — a used Russian one and British one fresh off the showroom floor — when the smoke cleared in the next decade.
Other implications: Would India buy one of the CVFs as-is, meaning designed to accommodate the short-takeoff, vertical-landing F-35B, even though it isn’t a member of the Joint Strike Fighter club? Or would it ask for changes so the ship could handle a different jet, such as the Su-33? That’d be interesting.
Meantime, the UK could be left with one new carrier, half its original order of fighter jets, and, in a major crisis, could need support from the U.S. Navy more than ever.
He flew low over Cuba, then visited 39 years later
November 13th, 2009 | Aviation Historical nuclear weapons | Posted by Andrew Scutro
Some of us here at Scoop Deck prefer to take our news from paper. The deliberate design of words and images on pages you can turn allows a reader to find news or information he or she might have otherwise missed by pointing and clicking.
Take obituaries. They often make good reads not because someone is dead, but because the deceased enjoyed a rewarding life, a life worth sharing with strangers. It’s for that reason that we’d like to point out the obituary of one Capt. William B. Ecker.
It turns out this Omaha-native who went to University of Maryland became a naval aviator with a no kidding role in world history. Read his story to the end. He’s got a great take on one of the world’s most famous communists.
Watch the Coast Guard take down drug smugglers
November 13th, 2009 | Coast Guard Maritime operations Ships Video | Posted by Phil Ewing
It’s been a long, cold, rainy week here at the Center of Excellence, so what better way to wrap things up than by taking a mental vacation to the warm, exotic eastern Pacific? And, since we’re transporting ourselves there anyway, why not imagine some kind of motivational at-sea operations during the trip? No need to tax your brain — check out this video from the Coast Guard.
The national security cutter Bertholf interdicted four high speed vessels suspected of transporting cocaine — or maybe those guys are just dumping fish food overboard — using its MH-65C Dolphin helicopter and its small boats. Of particular delight here on the Deck were the shots of the Bertholf itself, which, as you’ll see at about 1:36, is throwing out an enormous heat plume as it runs its diesels and gas turbine at full CODAG power. Cool.
H/T: Coast Guard Capt. Bruce Baffer, who showed this movie Thursday in a presentation at a Surface Navy Association event outside Washington.
Port visit links
November 13th, 2009 | Ballistic missile defense Carriers Maritime operations Royal Navy Science and technology Ships Submarines | Posted by Phil Ewing
Sailors aboard the carrier Nimitz mustered to get ready to man the rails for a port visit in Japan, much as today's links are mustering to provide you with news and updates // MCSA Robert Winn / Navy
Restricted maneuvering doctrine settin’, ATM cash-withdrawin’, rail mannin’ links, eager to tie up, race down the brow and get into the bars town as quickly as possible:
- After a triumphant visit and commissioning in its namesake city, the amphibious transport dock New York, like so many other newcomers to the Big Apple, is taking refuge in New Jersey.
- The Royal Navy’s newest attack submarine, the Astute, is on its way to the Royal Navy’s famed submarine base in Faslane, Scotland.
- The littoral combat ship Freedom is making a visit to Naval Station Mayport, Fla., the local newspaper reported, nervously pointing out that LCS will “replace” the frigates homeported there.
- Have you heard about this amazing discovery of these World War II Japanese submarines off Hawaii?
- The Missile Defense Agency has announced the next six ships that will be upgraded with ballistic missile defense capability, and, as expected, they’re all East Coast destroyers.
- Remember that movie in which the decommissioned carrier John F. Kennedy inexplicably crushes the White House in a tidal wave? It comes out today.