iCommandant disappears…
May 28th, 2010 | Blogs Coast Guard | Posted by Susan Schept
The new Coast Guard blog.//Coast Guard
If you didn’t notice as you were busily preparing for the long Memorial Day weekend, the Coast Guard website underwent a makeover after Adm. Robert Papp became the commandant May 25.
Papp immediately set about making changes, including upending the social media blogs. There will be no more iCommandant blog or commandant’s Facebook page — both pioneered by Papp’s predecessor Adm. Thad Allen. The All Hands blog also will disappear in favor of one centralized Coast Guard Compass blog.
So what happens to all those hats?
May 28th, 2010 | Naval Academy | Posted by Phil Ewing
Does gravity affect the hundreds of hats tossed into the air at the end of a Naval Academy commencement? // Philip Ewing / Staff
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — We’ve all seen many iterations of the Naval Academy’s iconic celebratory hat toss, in which the newly commissioned officers mark their arrival in the fleet by all throwing their hats in the air. Except they aren’t their hats, in the strictest sense… they’re hats specifically acquired for the purpose of celebratory throwing operations.
Still, what happens to them? Do they ever come down from there, or are they forever frozen in the millions of photographs of the event?
Some humor found during oil spill
May 28th, 2010 | Navy | Posted by Susan Schept
Coast Guard Commandant Robert Papp speaks with reporters after his May 25 change of command ceremony. //AP Photo/Cliff Owen
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico — now considered the largest in U.S. history — is hardly a laughing matter; however, some have been able to find a little humor this week.
Here are a couple of quips:
At Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen’s change of command ceremony on May 25, his replacement, Adm. Robert Papp, said that the transition has been a little like a hurried relay race.
“I’m a little worried that there might be a little oil on that baton,” Papp said.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar testified before the House Natural Resources Committee hearing on May 26. //AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
In the House Committee on Natural Resources Oversight Hearing on May 26, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar testified that his department responded quickly after the oil rig explosion:
“The following day, I dispatched [Deputy Secretary] David Hayes, without a change of clothes and not even a change of underwear, to the Gulf of Mexico because I knew that this was an issue which required the kind of urgency and focus that we have been giving it since April 20th.”
Committee Chairman Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., responded:
“Thank you, Mr. Secretary. That was perhaps too much information.”
Advanced Gun System hits milestone
May 28th, 2010 | Maritime operations Navy ordnance Science and technology Ships | Posted by Lance Bacon
- An artist’s rendition of the the AGS at work.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead in an interview with Navy Times last month voiced his commitment to providing Marines precision littoral fire support.
We’re looking at rounds that give us extended range and are compatible with 5-inch guns. Precision is going to be key. In today’s world, if you are developing a fire solution, it must be able to give you almost pinpoint accuracy, to within a couple of meters. GPS technology offers that. Of course, there is a huge G-force, so [the round] will have to be able to withstand a pretty significant speed of launch and flight.”
As that science is worked out, Devil Dawgs can give an emphatic “Ooh-Rah” to the Advanced Gun System. The 155mm system, which is part of the DDG 1000 program, can tattoo targets from 70 miles using Lockheed Martin’s 230-pound Long Range Land Attack Projectile. The program hit a milestone this week as BAE delivered the first AGS automated magazine. A mammoth of a magazine, this thing can organize and process 38 pallets weighing three tons each and fire up to 10 rounds per minute, according to this release. The world’s largest fully automated magazine, this two-story magazine is 45 x 30 and weighs 160 metric tons.
That’s enough firepower to make any Marine smile.
Whoooooooooooooooosh!
May 28th, 2010 | Naval Academy | Posted by Phil Ewing
Philip Ewing / Staff
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A heavy overcast above Navy-Marine Corps Stadium meant the Blue Angels weren’t as much blue on Friday as they were loud, fast black cutouts against the sky.
Almost as if the people down there are their own kids
May 28th, 2010 | Naval Academy | Posted by Phil Ewing
As midshipmen and the audience waited for the speeches to begin, name-shouting operations were in effect. // Chris Maddaloni / Staff
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Quick correction: The Marine Super Stallion we saw fly over was apparently not carrying Vice President Joe Biden, after all — he buzzed the stadium shortly ago in a more traditional VH-3 Sea King. We’ve kind of dropped into a lull waiting for him and the kickoff of the speeches and what-not, so the stadium now is doing the traditional shouts and calls-and-responses and other standard graduation ceremony time-filling.
Ah! I see by the stadium Jumbo-Tron (brought to you by America’s corporate defense giants) that Biden’s motorcade is making its way here. The show should start soon, it appears.
Patriotic pic of the week
May 28th, 2010 | Liberty Navy Photos Ships | Posted by Lance Bacon
Photo by Peter Morgan
The amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima kicked off New York City’s 23rd Annual Fleet Week as it made its way down the Hudson River and past the Statue of Liberty on Wednesday. Fort Hamilton’s four-gun battery fired an 11-gun salute to honor the participating ships. Sailors and Marines manning the rails then saluted as they passed the site of the World Trade Center.
The midshipmen file in
May 28th, 2010 | Naval Academy | Posted by Phil Ewing
First-class midshipmen -- soon to be ensigns and second lieutenants -- filed onto the field at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium. // Philip Ewing / Staff
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — After “Victory at Sea” and “Pomp and Circumstance,” the Brigade of Midshipmen has filed into the stadium — still no rain, but still no sun. A Marine CH-53 helicopter flew over a moment ago, and we presume it carried Vice President Joe Biden, who is set to deliver the commencement address. Now the band has picked up again at the faculty members are filing in, resplendent in their — let’s be honest here — ridiculous “academic regalia.” But let’s be honest about something else, too: When you’re in a stadium full of officers and midshipmen in crisp dress whites, everybody else looks like a slob.
The big day
May 28th, 2010 | Naval Academy | Posted by Phil Ewing
Naval Academy midshipmen stood ready to escort visitors into Navy-Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis. // Philip Ewing /Staff
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The crowds are trickling in to a soggy Navy-Marine Corps Stadium and the rain is holding off — so far. In just a few hours, the Naval Academy will commission a new corps of young ensigns and second lieutenants into the naval services; in the audience today are future admirals, generals, politicians — and maybe even presidents. Check back here on the Deck for more updates about the commencement as the day goes on.
Notice to mariners: Beware these New York women
May 27th, 2010 | Life at Sea | Posted by Phil Ewing
New York City women apparently become criminally insane in the presence of too many sailors and Marines. These Rockettes tried to restrain themselves during Fleet Week 2006. // Navy
Sailors and Marines participating in Fleet Week, take heed — you’re not in sleepy Norfolk anymore. You’re in New York now, where tiny dogs get better medical care than most of the people of West Virginia; where men roll up both pant legs to pedal their single-speed bicycles; and where the simple fact of your presence transforms the city’s female population from smart, striving, 21st century professionals into demented, sex-mad predators.
That is the lesson you’ll take away from this post on the well-known New York blog Gawker, which advises women how to “nab” one of you during your visit. Check it out so you know what signs to be on the alert for — and be on your guard!