Sleepless in Somalia
March 16th, 2011 | Navy Pirates | Posted by David Larter
Capt. Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama during a piracy hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington in 2009. // AP
“Joe Versus the Volcano” star Tom Hanks is rumored to have been cast as Capt. Richard Phillips — who achieved 15 minutes of fame when his merchant ship, the Maersk Alabama, was hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden in 2009 — in the screen adaptation of Phillip’s book “A Captain’s Duty.”
Put 15 minutes back on the clock.
Tom Hanks // AP
The film is being produced by the same team who brought us the Oscar-winning film The Social Network last summer, according to the A.V. Club. This will be Hanks’ second time playing a captain — Capt. Jim Lovell in “Apollo 13″ — and his second time playing a bearded man facing misadventures on the ocean.
It was just a matter of time. It’s not often we get a high seas adventure quite like the Maersk Alabama saga. It had it all: pirates, kidnapping, bounty, warships and SEALs. The only thing it didn’t have was a buxom female lead, a deficiency I’m sure the movie will correct.
The story told by Phillips came under some scrutiny after crew members came forward and painted a picture of a man who was reckless in pirate infested waters and who was partly to blame for the ship’s taking. Read the rest of this entry »
What’s in a name?
March 2nd, 2011 | Carriers | Posted by David Larter
Former Vice President Dick Cheney at the naming ceremony for CVN 78, Gerald R. Ford. CVN 79 has yet to be named. // AP photo
The Navy held its “first cut” ceremony for the yet-to-be-named CVN 79 last week. Naming a carrier is a big deal and there are plenty of politics involved. Ultimately Navy Secretary Ray Mabus will make the call but he should have the benefit of input from Scoop Deck readers. Leave your suggestions in the comment section. Here are a few to get you started:
1. USS James Greer — Adm. James Greer retired from an illustrious Navy career to head the Central Intelligence Agency. He served as a mentor to CIA SuperSpy-turned-President Jack Ryan and was instrumental in the successful resolution of the the Soviet submarine Red October’s famous defection to the United States. Greer died in office during the 1989 Colombian drug intervention crisis that sent a team of U.S. Army Special Forces into the jungles to fight an unauthorized war against the Medellín drug cartels. (Greer not to be confused with Rear Adm. James Greer, the Civil War officer.)
2. USS Thomas J. Whitmore — President Whitmore displayed exceptional leadership during the 1996 alien invasion of the world. Whitmore, who lost his wife in the struggle, rallied the world and launched a successful July 4 aerial counterattack against the alien invaders, coordinated via Morse code from Area 51, Nev. He also delivered the single most inspirational presidential speech of all time, shown in the documentary Independence Day.
3. USS Your Name Here — Because everyone is special.
4. USS Navy Times — I mean, there’s always a chance.
Cubs and BCGs
January 21st, 2011 | Navy Training | Posted by David Larter
Chicago Cubs Pitcher Andrew Cashner speaks with recruits rocking the BCGs at Great Lakes. // MC2 Thomas Miller
The recruits at Great Lakes had a visit last week from the Cubs. The picture above shows Cubs’ top-prospect reliever Andrew Cashner talking to future sailors on Jan. 13.
Things change at Great Lakes from year to year: stress cards or no stress cards, boots or tennis shoes, utilities or NWUs. But the one thing that remains constant is the coke bottle, Jerry Lewis-esque eye wear the recruits call “BCGs” or “birth control glasses.”
Cheer up, guys. It’s only eight weeks.
Ship in the spotlight: The Black (DD-666)
January 18th, 2011 | Historical Navy Photos | Posted by David Larter
It appears sailors aren’t that superstitious since the Navy let this hull number slide.
The Navy has been around for a while, and there have been a lot of ships in its service with fascinating histories. So it would seem appropriate to highlight a ship and its story from time to time on Scoop Deck.
To start it off: The destroyer Black
In service: 1943-1946 and 1951-1969
Class: Fletcher
Built: Kearny, New Jersey
Dimensions: 376 feet long, 39-foot beam and displaced 2,934 tons
History:
Named for Lt. Cmdr. Hugh Black, killed in action in 1942, the ship served in the Pacific during World War II. She saw action at Leyte and Okinawa, and participated in two bombardments of the Japanese mainland. On the day Japan surrendered, Aug. 15, 1945, the Black was present during 0ne of the last kamikaze attacks.
It was taken out of commission in 1946, but the Cold War prompted her return to the fleet. In 1951, she served in the Korean War.
The Vietnam War brought Black to the coastal waters of Vietnam where she provided gunfire support for the troops ashore. Black was taken out of service 1971.
Anyone in Scoop Deck-land have any memories of USS Black?
The big, bad Iranian surface fleet
January 17th, 2011 | Foreign navies Iran Navy | Posted by David Larter
The Iranian warship Jamaran fires a missile, reported to be a Noor, a long-range anti-ship missile manufactured by Iran and based on the Chinese C-802, in a March exercise in the southern waters of Iran. // AP Image
Iranian media reported Friday the country was getting ready to invest in new Jamaran-type frigates. The Iranian Navy launched the first of its Mowj-class frigates in February of last year. It was the first domestically produced surface combatant of its kind and a second is well along in production at Bandar Abbas, according to Jane’s.
The ship is fairly well outfitted: 1,500 ton displacement with six Mk 32 torpedoes and launchers for four C-802 anti-ship and SM-1 anti-air missiles.
But let’s not get carried away here, this is a trinket of a ship relative to the 9,700-ton CG 47s. Which brings up an interesting question as to why Iran is spending money on these surface combatants that would seem to be little more than a nuisance to American warships. It would seem the safe money would be in diesel-electric boats.
Something to keep an eye on. Should the Navy be concerned with an expanding Iranian surface fleet?
It’s wallpaper refresh time: UNREP edition
January 11th, 2011 | Navy Photos | Posted by David Larter
Well it’s that time again: time to change the wallpaper on your desktop. Last time the theme was carrier aviation. But for this winter update, a little surface warfare seems about right. And nothing says surface warfare quite like underway replenishment.
That’s right, messengers, sailors hauling lines, two ships sailing side-by-side in a complex ship maneuvering exercise and bridge-to-bridge coordination: surface warfare. This is the testing ground where junior officers get their conning officers PQS signed off and young blue shirts earn their stripes on line handlers (and that’s no picnic if you’ve never done it).
It also happens to be photogenic. Check these out and click on the image to download the high-res version.
A not-quite arms race, cont.
January 11th, 2011 | Aviation China Navy | Posted by David Larter
The new J-20 stealth fighter, which experts say is comprable to the F-22, shown here in a test flight. // Sina.com
Navy Times sister publication Defense News is reporting that the Chinese have tested their new J-20 stealth fighter, coinciding with Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ visit with the Chinese president.
The New York Times reported that the test took place just hours before the visit and that Gates asked President Hu Jintao about the timing. Hu said the test had nothing to do with Gates. The Times article infers there may be some disconnect between the Chinese government and the test, implying that perhaps Hu had not authorized the test.
Mr. Gates said he directly asked Mr. Hu why it was conducted during a three-day trip that is meant to smooth over rocky relations between the United States military and China’s increasingly assertive armed forces.
Mr. Hu replied, Mr. Gates said, that it “had absolutely nothing to do with my visit.” Asked if Mr. Gates truly believed that, Mr. Gates said yes, but acknowledged he had questions about whether the Chinese military was acting independently of the political leadership. “I’ve had concerns about this over time,” Mr. Gates said.
A senior American defense official traveling with Mr. Gates said the secretary and his aides were surprised that Mr. Hu appeared to be unaware of the test flight when Mr. Gates raised it with him.
Still, it’s not an arms race.
The Chinese military acting independently of its political leadership would be cause for a degree of alarm in the 7th Fleet, although testing a fighter jet is hardly a reason to set General Quarters. Still, it’s something to keep an eye on.
A not-quite arms race with China
January 10th, 2011 | Aviation China Navy Video | Posted by David Larter
The F-35C Lightning II joint strike fighter won't be the only new stealth fighter flying soon. The Chinese J-20 is getting close to operational. // Lockheed Martin
Apparently China’s super death ray carrier-sinking missile is still on Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ radar as he travels to China this week. Gates told The Telegraph that he had been concerned about the development of anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles since he took the job in 2006, and remained so. The trip was designed to ease tensions between the two powers, but so far it seems to have highlighted the jitters China’s recent military advancements have given the U.S.
The AP reports:
China has made strides in building a new stealth fighter jet, and Washington is also concerned about a new ballistic missile that could theoretically explode a U.S. aircraft carrier nearly 2,000 miles out to sea. China has also apparently beaten U.S. estimates to develop that weapon.
Gates told reporters traveling with him to Asia on Sunday that China had the potential to “put some of our capabilities at risk.”
“We have to pay attention to them. We have to respond appropriately with our own programs,” Gates said.
Hmm, responding to Chinese programs with programs. It couldn’t be another arms race, could it?
At their news conference Monday, Gates and [Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie] denied their governments are entering an arms race. Liang, dressed in his military uniform, animatedly defended China’s growing capabilities, calling them “entirely appropriate and consistent with China’s rise as an economic and political power.”
Well, that’s settled.
In regards to China’s J-20, Gates said that U.S. intel had dropped the ball on just how far along the Chinese were with the project.
“I think that what we’ve seen is that they may be somewhat further ahead in the development of that aircraft than our intelligence had earlier predicted,” Gates said.
This after cell phone video of the aircraft hit the Internet last week. Observe:
Midnight poetry to ring in 2011
December 30th, 2010 | Life at Sea Navy | Posted by David Larter
As the clock turns midnight on Jan. 1, quartermasters on the bridges of Navy warships will scribble a new day entry in the deck log entry under a red-filtered desk lamp.
It’s an old Navy tradition to write the New Years new day entry in verse and, while it may not always be Shakespeare, it is at least creative. Below is the Jan. 1, 2004, new day entry for the destroyer Cole, which was on its first deployment after the 2001 attacks that killed 17 of its sailors, as posted on the Naval History and Heritage Command’s website:
Bushtastic holiday spectacular
December 30th, 2010 | Carriers Navy | Posted by David Larter
This year the carrier George H.W. Bush took top honors among the big-deck ships at Naval Station Norfolk in the base’s annual holiday lights contest.
Tasteful? Eyesore? It’s all in the eye of the beholder; you be the judge. If you have pictures of your ship’s holiday lights, send them along to dlarter_at_navytimes.com with captions and credits.
Here are a few more of the Bush for you. Read the rest of this entry »