Down Under, memories of another ‘Pearl Harbor’
November 25th, 2011 | Australia Historical Liberty Navy The Pacific | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
No doubt the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor stands out as a critical turning point in our nation’s history. Next month, we mark the 70th anniversary, and the nation will join countless veterans and service members in recalling the sacrifice from that day and the amazing generation that stepped up and answered the nation’s call.
Such pivotal moments are shared by U.S. allies including the Australians, who are strengthening their ties and military relationship with the United States that goes back 60 years to World War II with an alliance that’s remained solid – and popular among U.S. sailors and Marines who get to visit the remote island continent. Most recently, President Barack Obama announced a new rotation of Marines and Air Force units to Australian military training bases that will also see more U.S. ships visiting in Darwin, in the Northern Territory, and likely other liberty ports Down Under.
At the USS Peary memorial in Darwin, Australia, President Obama and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard pay respects to the 91 sailors who perished when the city was bombed in 1942. (AP photo)
Like our Pearl Harbor, the Aussies, too, had a pivotal moment during World War II when 260 Japanese fighters and dive bombers attacked Darwin, home to several key bases and communications stations, on Feb. 19, 1942. Although the Australian military was in the thick of the larger war, this was the first attack on Australian soil. Thick dark plumes of smoke rose over the city from oil storage tanks struck in the attack as soldiers and sailors manned anti-aircraft guns. Two Royal Australian Navy shipswere crippled in the harbor as the hulls exploded. The attack killed as many as 252 troops and local civilians and left hundreds wounded. The bombing of Darwin remains a dark day in that nation’s history. Australia recently announced a new national day of observance to mark the attack.
The enemy aircraft that day also struck the USS Peary as it sat in Darwin’s harbor, off the Timor Sea, killing 91 sailors. On his recent visit, Obama laid a wreath at a memorial dedicated to the Peary, a site anchored by one of the ship’s four-inch guns recovered after the attack. The president met Tony Duke, whose late father, Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class Melvin Duke, had survived the attack, received the Purple Heart medal and later had his remains buried at the wreckage site. His son provides a poignant recollection of his father and how he learned what he went through on that fateful day.
And the winner takes home the trophy
November 11th, 2011 | Basketball Carrier Classic Navy | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
The 2011 Quicken Loans Carrier Classic trophy. (Huntington Ingalls Industries)The winner of Friday night’s Quicken Loans Carrier Classic basketball game will walk away with its first victory of the season, some bragging rights (we won at sea!) and a very unique trophy.
The 86-pound trophy – you read that right, 86 pounds – is the result of eight weeks and some hard work by a creative team of 30 workers with Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries. A group of them traveled to San Diego for the Michigan State-North Carolina game, with the trophy securely packaged for the cross-country trek.
LaMar Smith, a graphic designer with the Newport News, Va., shipbuilder, came up with the idea for the trophy. He wanted to incorporate the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson – the game’s host – into the design and have the carrier’s signature look – the ship’s tall island house, or superstructure – as the focal point. “It works well in a trophy,” Smith said. And in honor to the ship itself, the team designed the Vinson’s hull number – 70 – into the trophy.
The team fashioned the trophy with 17 pieces of quarter-inch-thick pewter and placed it atop a teak base, stained in red mahogany and finished with a lacquer coat and fashioned with a pewter cutout of the ship itself. “Pewter looks good,” noted engineering designer Paul Evans, who took 3-D scale models of Vinson’s island and sketched the patterns for the mold.
Pattern maker Lance Pruitt helped make the full-scale wooden model the team used to create the pewter trophy. Despite the trophy’s heavy weight, Pruitt said, “it actually is hollow inside.” It will require more than a pair of hands to carefully move the trophy and present it to the winning team. No predictions, however, whether the winners will haul the trophy onto their shoulders or above their heads in celebration.
A flight deck, transformed
November 11th, 2011 | Basketball Carrier Classic Carriers Navy Navy secretary Veterans Day | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
The Tar Heels of North Carolina hit the court to practice on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson on Thursday in preparations for Friday's Carrier Classic basketball game.//Gidget Fuentes
Organizers of the Quicken Loans Carrier Classic game and ESPN were thrilled Thursday that a Pacific storm might hold off any rain until well beyond the basketball game’s tip-off at 4:15 p.m. Pacific time Friday on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in San Diego. A rainy forecast had threatened to force the season opener between Michigan State and the University of North Carolina to the hangar deck below.
But by midday Thursday, throngs of journalists converged on the flight deck on a comfortably balmy day for pregame activities that included a press conference with team officials and organizers and the first practice by both teams on the pristine but outdoor hardwood surface. In recent days, workers assembled the basketball court and surrounded it by bleachers lined with green plastic seats. Bright lights and a pair of huge high-definition screens flanked the makeshift arena built atop the hardened steel deck that’s launched and recovered thousands of fighter jets and combat aircraft over the ship’s nearly 30-year career.
Half of Carl Vinson’s sailors off the ship and away for scheduled leave, and fewer than 800 of ship’s company got the free tickets to attend the game, said the skipper, Capt. Bruce Lindsey. “It’s been a very busy…two years,” Lindsey told a packed press conference held in a tent near the ship’s bow. “We are preparing to go on our third deployment in three years.”
But preparations for the game, and its accompanying festivities for the teams, dignitaries and fans, haven’t interfered “one iota” with the ship’s training or operations, Lindsey said. In fact, he said, it’s provided real training for some members of his crew, including those in supply.
Vinson's flight deck is the host court for the UNC-Michigan State game that will air Friday, Veterans Day, on ESPN. (MCSA Dean M. Cates/Navy)
Still, the transformation of such a formidable warship into a sports arena was something to marvel.
“It makes it look much smaller,” said Chief Aviation Boatswain’s Mate-Equipment (AW/SW) Robert Sanders, who joined other sailors in the bleachers for a break to watch the teams practice. Just off in the distance, beyond the ship’s waist, lights dotted the San Diego city skyline as dusk neared. “Honestly, if the island wasn’t here, it would seem like we’re sitting in an arena,” he said.
Sanders, a 16½ year veteran, was among the initial skeptics among the crew when they first heard that their ship would host an NCAA basketball game. “You heard about it, but you’re like, it won’t happen,” he said. Aviation Boatswain’s Mate-Equipment 3rd Class (AW) Blas Manzanares couldn’t quite picture “going from flight operations to a basketball game.”
Both sailors plan to attend the game. Sanders will bring his wife. “My wife is real excited. She’s a huge basketball fan, he said. “She just wants to be in the same realm as the president.” That’s where Manzanares hopes he will find himself. “I’m going to try to get his handshake,” he said, quite confidently.
Aviation Boatswain’s Mate-Equipment 3rd Class (AW) Josh McNeese sat with them in the bleachers and just took in the whole scenery. McNeese has a ticket and is excited for the game to begin. “This is actually going to be my first big event,” he said.
For other fans, like Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, the game marks a new forum to commemorate “a celebration of service.”
“It’s about honoring the people who have served and are serving today,” said Mabus, who visited the ship Thursday afternoon. He will be there in the crowd for the game Friday during his three-day visit to San Diego that will include the Saturday christening of the Navy’s newest resupply ship Medgar Evers, which is being built across the bay at the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard. Carl Vinson’s role as the host for a nationally-televised game honoring veterans also puts the big spotlight on the naval service. “This is America’s ‘away’ team,” said Mabus.
I wonder what this button does?!
October 6th, 2011 | 7th Fleet Diplomacy Photos Ships The Pacific | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
A Russian boy watches as another plays with the controls in the combat information center aboard the destroyer Fitzgerald during a recent visit to Vladivostok, Russia.//Navy photos by Ens. Carissa Guthrie
We couldn’t help but smile at the faces of these Russian boys, who got the chance to play sailor aboard the destroyer Fitzgerald during an outing from Parus Nadezhdy Children’s Rehabilitation Center in Vladivostok. If we only knew what they were saying…
The Yokosuka, Japan-based Fitzgerald wrapped up a four-day visit to Russia’s Pacific Fleet port city, where they joined in community projects, sporting matches with Russian sailors and visited sick children at a local hospital before returning to sea for a planned U.S.-Russian joint exercise. The Parus Nedezhdy center for orphan children is something of a regular guest when U.S. ships visit the city. It’s Russia, of course, so chess remains a popular hobby and the obvious outlet for the American sailors to match wits and brains with the local children. Looks like fun. But it’s not about winning and losing, right?
Fire Controlman 3rd Class Alexander Poehner and Sonar Technician 1st Class Joseph Whalen face off Russian boys in a chess tournament Oct. 3 on the Fitzgerald's mess decks.
The warm relationship with Chile
September 2nd, 2011 | 3rd Fleet Diplomacy Submarines Training | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
The quiet diesel-electric submarine Carrera slid through San Diego Bay on Sept. 1 for the start of a three-month deployment to the United States, where the Chilean boat will train with 3rd Fleet’s ships, subs and aircraft.
Carrera’s presence in a U.S. port – it calls the submarine piers at Point Loma Naval Base its short-term home – marks the fourth time the Chilean Navy is sending one of its small, stealthy subs to play with the U.S. fleet. The goal of the Diesel Electric Submarine Initiative, of course, is for the U.S. Navy and its foreign seagoing allies to train and operate together, namely with the mission of hunting down those quiet subs that get into the hands of rogue states or terrorist organizations. The stealthiness of the quiet diesels posts quite the challenge for sonar techs, aerial sub hunters and tacticians, and their growing proliferation in the Pacific region continues to worry naval commanders and is seen as a growing threat to U.S. national security and that of its allies.
Last year, Thomson, a Type 209 boat in Chile’s fleet, trained off Southern California and in November headed back to their homeport of Talcahuano with good memories and a few smiles from some victories in the cat-and-mouse game at sea with U.S. sailors – including the crew of fast-attack submarine Asheville.
Chilean submarine Thomson at the pier at Point Loma Naval Base in San Diego in November 2010. This fall, a sister sub, Scorpene-class Carrera, will train with 3rd Fleet in San Diego./Photo by Gidget Fuentes
Thomson’s presence here in San Diego last year came months after a devastating 8.8-magnitude earthquake and tsunami struck Chile. Mother Nature’s fury devastated many communities, including homes of crew members assigned to the sub. But even as their military helped in recovery efforts in the ensuing months, the Chilean navy kept to its commitment and deployed the sub and its crew to San Diego.
U.S.-Chile naval relations go as deep as the diesel-electrics. This week, the Chilean training ship Esmeralda, a masted sailing ship, is visiting Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, following visits to San Diego, San Francisco and Vancouver, Canada, where protesters complained about the ship’s seedier past as an alleged torture chamber dating back two generations to the days of dictator Augusto Pinochet. No such greeting expected in Hawaii, though.
New oldest Frogman – and that’s no bull
August 26th, 2011 | Admirals Historical Navy SEALs | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
Navy SEAL and Adm. Eric T. Olson salutes the flag during his Aug. 22 retirement ceremony at Naval Base Coronado, Calif.//Navy MC2 Chad J. McNeeley
The Aug. 22 retirement of Adm. Eric T. Olson marked the end of the Navy SEAL officer’s 38-year naval career – and the passing of the title of longest-serving SEAL.
Olson, a 1973 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, became a SEAL officer in 1974, an achievement that led to a storied career and command at nearly every level, from SEAL team to Naval Special Warfare Command and ultimately to his most-recent job as head of U.S. Special Operations Command, the Tampa, Fla.-based headquarters for the military’s joint special operations forces. For nearly two years, Olson also held the title of “Bull Frog,” the moniker and honor given by the UDT/SEAL Association to the SEAL who has served the longest time on continuous active duty in naval special warfare. Olson, the first Navy SEAL to reach the four-star rank, also is the first SEAL to lead the nation’s commando forces. But he’s not the last. Earlier this month, he handed over SOCOM’s reins to another experienced SEAL, Adm. William H. McRaven.
Adm. William "Bill" McRaven./DoD photo
In fact, McRaven, also a former commander of Naval Special Warfare Command and most recently commander of the Joint Special Operations Command, also follows Olson in holding the title of Bull Frog – and he gets to share it with another Navy SEAL. That is Cmdr. Brian Sebenaler, who serves as Naval Special Warfare Command’s training and readiness officer and, like McRaven, graduated with Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL’s Class 95.
Both men will share the title as the 15th Bull Frog. The names of the officers, who combined have served 70 years as SEALs, are engraved in the Bull Frog trophy, which will be kept at the association’s new UDT-SEAL Heritage Center in Norfolk, Va.
According to the association, the nickname hails back to the old days of UDT swimmers, who were nicknamed “frogmen.” The team boss was known as the Bull Frog, a moniker adopted by Rear Adm. Richard “Dick” Lyon, the original and first Bull Frog. But it wasn’t until 2007 when the Navy “officially” recognized the title with an official instruction signed off by another veteran SEAL, now-Vice Adm. Joseph Kernan, who headed the Coronado command at the time.
“Know Your AOR” edition: Spratlys
July 22nd, 2011 | China Diplomacy Geography Navy The Pacific The Philippines | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
You may have caught it in passing on a news ticker or blog, but have no clue what or where on Earth are the Spratly islands. But you hear they are contested islands some defense experts think potentially could spark the start of a regional war.
The archipelago is comprised of small atolls, reefs, islets and outcroppings in the South China Sea, west of the Philippines and spread across a large area but claimed by the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Taiwan and Malaysia. The islands, which range in size from small to tiny, are in a prime fishing region and sit atop what’s believed to be vast reserves of oil and natural gas. It’s no surprise numerous disputes flare up between nations that stake claim on the islands and nearby waters, a well-trafficked route for commercial ships and military vessels.
“The worry, among others that I have, is that the ongoing incidents could spark a miscalculation, and an outbreak that no one anticipated,” Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen told reporters in Beijing during his China visit earlier this month. The Spratlys were among the hot topics at a regional security conference in Bali just this week.
But that political and diplomatic hubbub is pretty much lost on residents of the remote tropical islands. Their biggest worry? Boredom. So says this Associated Press report from a recent – and controversial – July 20 visit by some Filipino lawmakers to Pagasa, one of the islands: “The only sounds are the waves slapping the shore and the wind whistling in the ears. At high noon, fighting off sleep is a struggle.”
Nonexistent crime tests the Filipino police officers on the island, which covers just 91 acres. “One big problem really is how to kill time,” said one town mayor. “After fishing, walking around, playing billiards and cards, what else can one do next?”
Something to think about during those long days at sea.
A unit by any other name …
May 17th, 2011 | Entertainment Navy SEALs | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
The trouble with secret military units – the type the U.S. government refuses to acknowledge even exist, like, say, Delta Force or Area 51 – is this: Just how is the public, including the news media, supposed to identify them accurately if there is no official logo or name? Without it, chances are good that some might get it wrong.
That’s apparently what happened when German television station N24 aired a report May 5 on the May 1 killing of Osama bin Laden by Navy SEALs. The station used what it believed was an official logo of the classified secret unit known as Naval Special Warfare Development Group or SEAL Team 6.
The problem? The logo, which features an eagle holding a trident similar to that depicted in the Navy SEAL Trident warfare pin worn by SEALs and on team patches, represented fighters living in a different century and universe. The logo used apparently was created by a “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” fan to represent the Maquis, a band of 24th century rebel fighters.
One clue that the logo was wrong might have been the Klingon skull and eyepatch. Another hint that screamed out to Scoopdeck is the phrase “SEALS TEAM VI.” Real SEAL teams are referred to as “SEAL Team (fit number here).”
A day after the German news report aired, a blogger on the Star Trek fan site, http://trekmovie.com, reported on the error, and poked some fun with it. The international blogosphere had a field day with the mix-up, too. “Maquis Special Forces took down Bin Laden?” one site asked, dryly. “Osama Bin Laden was killed by Star Trek rebels,” proclaimed a headline. “Star Trek terrorists killed bin Laden,” said another. The Fox News channel picked up the story several days later.
A military surplus shop owner holds up a SEAL Team 6 patch.//The Associated Press/
While Naval Special Warfare Command, U.S. Special Operations Command and Joint Special Operations Command don’t acknowledge the existence of a unit called SEAL Team 6, and has no publicly-available official unit logo, a SEAL Team 6 patch can be bought online at various online sellers and local military surplus stores. Just assume, of course, that it’s legit. Die-hard collectors might want to scoot out to the surplus store and grab those patches while you can.
And hurry. Just two days after bin Laden’s demise, The Walt Disney Co. asked the federal government to let it trademark the name, SEAL Team 6, according to MediaBistro. Disney Enterprises, Inc., a Burbank, Calif.-based entertainment company submitted three applications on May 3, asking to trademark the unit’s name for three purposes:
1. Clothing, footwear and headwear.
2. Entertainment and education services.
3. Toys, games and playthings; gymnastic and sporting articles (except clothing); hand-held units for playing electronic games other than those adapted for use with an external display screen or monitor; Christmas stockings; Christmas tree ornaments and decorations; snow globes.
Snow globes. Imagine Mickey Mouse with an M4A1 and .45 cal pistol. Really. Well, perhaps a modern-day Captain Hook. According to Media Bistro:
“For all we know Disney has been working on an animated feature about a team of anthropomorphic seals in search of adventure, but given the timing of the application that seems…unlikely.”
It’s not clear yet whether Disney Nation will succeed where others haven’t. A check of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office online search page found that in 2002 and 2004, NovaLogic, Inc., of Calabasas, Calif., tried to trademark SEAL Team 6 for computer and video game purposes and for games and action figures, but it dropped the request in 2006. But, then again, if the government doesn’t say that a unit by that name exists, would it object to a trademark request by Disney, or anyone else? And, if so, would that open the floodgates to others who also want to capture – and capitalize on – the namesakes and historic achievements of military units who selflessly serve their nation, even those that officially do not exist?
For these patients, it’s never too late
May 6th, 2011 | Medical Navy Research | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
A handful of Navy medical personnel got to witness a bit of history when several 550-year-old patients came through the door last month for some lab work.
A 550-year old Peruvian mummy waits to enter an advanced CT scanner at Naval Medical Center San Diego last month. Five mummies arrived from a San Diego museum for the lab work to help archeologists learn about their medical history.//Navy/MC3 Samantha A. Lewis
That’s right – 550 years old, plus or minus a few years.
The patients were Peruvian mummies, one adult and four young children, according to the Navy. Their April 27 arrival at Naval Medical Center San Diego for some tissue and bone scans came courtesy of a joint project with the San Diego Museum of Man, which hopes to learn more about what sorts of ailments and health issues these Peruvians faced when they lived all those centuries ago.
Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Manuel Cortez prepares a 550-year old Peruvian mummy for a CT scan at Naval Medical Center San Diego last month.//Navy/MC3 Samantha A. Lewis
“Differentiation of mummified tissues is of vital importance in the study of paleopathology and the evolution of human diseases,” Cmdr. Ronald J. Boucher, who chairs the center’s radiology department, said in a news release. “This scanner allowed for nondestructive discrimination of the dry and brittle soft tissue and bones.”
The mummies, who were recovered by anthropologist Ales Hrdlicka in 1915, were placed, one by one, in the Computerized Axial Tomography, or CT, machine for the scanning process. The project provided some real hands-on training for the medical center’s advanced lab equipment called a Flash Dual Source 128 CT scanner, which takes much more detailed images of bones and tissues than older, single-source scanners. In fact, the medical center has the only dual-source scanner in San Diego County, according to the Navy. No doubt it’s become a well-utilized machine for patients far, far younger in age than these Peruvians. Of course, it is probably best not to wait too long for that doctor’s visit.
Yes, we can
March 18th, 2011 | leadership Navy | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
In a crowd of more than 1,300, Hospitalman Briana Bartholomew answered a challenge from Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (SS/SW) Rick West and knocked out several pushups on the stage at the Sea Service Leadership Association Women’s Symposium before she gave a loud “hooyah.”
“OK, now I’m ready for some questions,” West told the group of mostly female service members March 16.
The MCPON earlier highlighted the advancements that military women have made since he joined the Navy in 1981 and joined the submarine force. “We have come a long, long way,” he said, noting that female sailors swept the coveted Sailor of the Year awards last year, a first. He’s eager to see the arrival of women in the submarine community, adding, “it’s about damn time.” But enlisted sailors may have to wait a bit longer. “We are trying to get this phased in,” he said. “I just don’t know when or where.”
Women in the Navy today number about 63,000 and are slowly making process into the senior ranks, with 60 female command master chiefs and senior enlisted women representing 10 percent of the MCPON’s leadership mess. But, West said, “we still have a lot of work to do.”