A name for DDG 1002
November 20th, 2009 | Blogs Chiefs Historical Science and technology Ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
What should the third Zumwalt-class destroyer be named? // Northrop Grumman
Maybe it’s that a three-hull class of advanced ships raises the stakes. Maybe it’s that there will be so many Arleigh Burke-class destroyers that they all start to blend together. Or maybe it’s that, with 51 more littoral combat ships that will carry only names of “medium-sized town names” (for now, anyway) people are worried they’re running out of ships to name for heroes.
Whatever the reason, people have been going after the as-yet unnamed third and last Zumwalt-class destroyer, DDG 1002, with name suggestions. Not just any Navy ship — DDG 1002.
An early one was “Robert A. Heinlein,” for the science fiction author. But one Navy Times reader rejected that and instead recommended “Ernest E. Evans,” for the legendary captain of the destroyer Johnston. The latest recommendation, according to an email making the rounds on a particularly salty distribution list, is “Delbert D. Black,” for the first master chief petty officer of the Navy.
Scoop Deck was cc’d on that email, which pointed to this blog post laying out the whole case. The Navy has plenty of ships named for chiefs of naval operations, writes blogger Chris Garett, but it needs to start according the same honor to its MCPONs, starting with Black.
What do you think? Would you pick Heinlein, Evans or Black for DDG 1002, or a different name altogether?
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.
Remembrance
November 11th, 2009 | Historical The deckplates | Posted by Phil Ewing
Naval History and Heritage Command
Today is Veterans Day, or as we also like to call it, Armistice Day. We’ll be thinking today about everyone who has served and fought.
Uuurr-auughh as the Marine Corps turns 234
November 10th, 2009 | Historical Life at Sea The greenside leadership | Posted by Phil Ewing
Today is the birthday of the United States Marine Corps, marking 234 years since the Continental Congress met at the famous Tun Tavern and approved a resolution calling for two battalions of hard-chargin’ soldiers of the sea to fight from Navy ships against the British. Since then, the Marines have graciously permitted the U.S. government to organize other military services, as well.
The Marine Corps birthday brought to mind a time in Iraq this summer, when Scoop Deck was touring a forward operating post called Camp Ubaydi, in northern Anbar Province, as part of the entourage following around Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Marine Maj. Gen. Richard Tryon, the commanding general of Multinational Force-West.
Our CH-46 Sea Knights (escorted by a menacing AH-1 Cobra) had landed on an unimproved mud pad; the “chow hall” was a wooden box; and now Tryon was leading Mabus through one of the crowded barracks rooms, occupied by elements of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines. The leathernecks were standing at attention next to their racks and Mabus, ever the politician, needed a way to break the ice with them.
Another sound of freedom — or is it?
November 9th, 2009 | Blogs Historical Life at Sea | Posted by Phil Ewing
Seaman Sarah Rickett, of the USS Constitution, demonstrated how to load one of its cannons. Neighbors of the ship have complained its gun salutes are too loud // Navy
In Hampton Roads, Va., the punches and counter-punches over the noise of fighter jets from Naval Air Station Oceana eventually reached the point that people began putting stickers on their cars that read “I ♥ jet noise.” The earsplitting roar of jet engines is the “sound of freedom,” supporters said, and if you don’t like it — you can giiit out.
An even stranger Navy noise situation is in play up in Boston, where, according to the local paper, some of the finer elements of society are complaining about the regular cannon salutes and other “noise” put out by the USS Constitution. One example: “Over the summer, we have entertained several times, and we have had guests sit up in shock when the cannon goes off.”
Heavens! One scarcely dares dream of it! It simply won’t do to startle Ambassador Carstairs and Lady Uppington-Smythe as they try to enjoy their vichyssoise! And yet the Navy apparently plans to accede to none of the requests quoted by the Herald:
- A reduction in the size of the battery charge would help.
- In the morning, a reduction in the National Anthem volume would help.
- On Sat and Sun, would you be open to eliminating or delaying the morning salute to say 9am?
Just as quickly as the complaints materialized, the Constitution’s other neighbors and advocates have come to its defense. Some of them are quoted here, but two others are names that will be familiar to frequent visitors on the Deck — Boston Maggie isn’t named that because she’s from Peoria, and as a hometown girl, she’s going to bat for the Constitution. And although Mike Burleson makes his home in graceful Charleston, S.C., he too is on the side of the world’s oldest floating commissioned warship.
What do you think? Should Old Ironsides scale back or stop its cannon salutes to be a good neighbor?
San Juan and the SANDF
November 6th, 2009 | Carriers Foreign navies Historical Submarines | Posted by Andrew Scutro
Groton-based fast attack submarine San Juan arrives in South Africa for "regional security cooperation activities" and other events.//USN
In what’s becoming almost a habit, another U.S. Navy ship has stopped to visit South Africa. On Nov. 4, the fast attack submarine San Juan pulled into Simon’s Town for what 6th Fleet bills as a “first-ever, at-sea” engagement with that nation’s undersea fleet.
San Juan follows the destroyer Arleigh Burke, which arrived in Durban on July 13 for a similar visit. And last October, the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt and cruiser Monterey stopped in Cape Town, marking the first time a U.S. flattop had been to South Africa since the Franklin D. Roosevelt made a stop in 1967.
The U.S. Navy has been building ties with the South Africans steadily in recent years. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead met naval leadership there in April.
For most of the second half of the 20th century South Africa was an international pariah because of its segregation policy known as “apartheid,” which was repealed in 1991. Check out the South African military here.
Gator swims up, swallows submarine
November 5th, 2009 | Historical Maritime operations Science and technology Ships Submarines | Posted by Phil Ewing
The dock landing ship Carter Hall could be the first amphibious ship to transport a nuclear submarine in its well deck // MCSN Derek Poole / Navy
Have you ever looked down at the well deck of an amphibious ship and thought, wouldn’t it be cool if we tried to put the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile down there, or a Fleetwood Pace Arrow, or a giant mobile Tim Hortons? Admittedly, this is kind of silly — those things would obviously all fit at the same time, with plenty of room for actual green gear.
The dock landing ship Carter Hall actually is getting ready to try out carrying some crazy cargo in its well deck: This week this ship arrived at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, with the mission of gulping down the decommissioned research submarine NR-1, which is riding on a support barge. Carter Hall will transport the legendary sub to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington, where its reactor will be dismantled. Wrote Foster’s Daily Democrat:
The barge and NR-1 will be guided into the well deck of Carter Hall utilizing a combination of tugs and the ship’s capstan system — a rotating machine that is used to lift or pull heavy objects with the assistance of lines or cables.
After that, it’ll be a long, slow trip around the continent. After that — maybe NR-1 will become a museum ship.
America’s first supercarrier museum ship?
October 29th, 2009 | Aviation Carriers Historical | Posted by Phil Ewing
The decommissioned carrier Ranger, seen here at sea in its glory days, could become a museum ship in Portland, Ore. // Naval History and Heritage Command
World War II carrier museums are all well and good, but for five decades naval aviation has been about the supercarrier — the big, angled deck, steam catapult-equipped monsters whose era began with the commissioning of the Forrestal in 1955. (Earlier flattops were retrofitted with steam cats. ) But even though many of those big ships are out of the fleet, your Cub Scout pack can’t do a sleep-over on one. Yet.
However, Portland, Ore.-area scouts and other propeller-heads can take heart about the news Thursday that the USS Ranger Foundation cleared the first of four hurdles with Naval Sea Systems Command to bring the decommissioned carrier Ranger to a berth on the Willamette River. It’s no small undertaking: The group still must raise money, find a suitable spot, tow the ship from Bremerton, Wash., and get it safe and set up to accept visitors and exhibits.
Getting and running a museum ship is really tough. Navy Times has reported on case after case — such as with the carrier John F. Kennedy — in which organizations’ vision far exceeded their ability to raise money or make the necessary deals. Still, if you have a waterfront somewhere you’d like to spruce it up with some haze-gray decoration, here’s NavSea’s list of ships available to become museums, including the famous Sea Shadow, the cruiser Ticonderoga (pdf) and even another supercarrier, the Saratoga. (pdf)
With the Ranger news peg, this Vietnam-era image of the Ranger and Task Force 77 is too good not to display:
Naval History and Heritage Command
The world wonders
October 26th, 2009 | Blogs Historical Life at Sea Maritime operations Ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
The Japanese battleship Yamato burned after being struck by U.S. Navy aircraft during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, which ended 65 years ago today // Naval History and Heritage Command
Monday marks the 65th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Leyte Gulf — the largest sea battle in history and one of Scoop Deck’s all-time favorites — and it wouldn’t do for the date to pass without taking note.
The Battle of Leyte Gulf includes some of the finest — and worst — moments in naval history, including the last surface engagement between battleships; the spectacular heroism of the destroyers Johnston and Samuel B. Roberts; and Adm. William Halsey’s fateful decision to send his carriers after a Japanese feint.
Suitably, the Web is awash in good links about the battle and its participants, including Eagle1’s account of the battle, Maggie’s links and SteelJaw’s history lesson. And the Wiki on this particular topic is pleasantly bright and comprehensive.
Heavy lift helo links
October 21st, 2009 | Historical Maritime operations Royal Navy Ships The Middle East | Posted by Phil Ewing
A Marine CH-53E Super Stallion from HMH 464, the "Condors," flew over the Gulf of Aden, much as today's links fly new information to you // Tech. Sgt. Jeremy T. Lock/ Air Force
Big, loud, heavy, smelly, hydraulic fluid drippin’, cargo carryin’, mine sled dredgin’ links, getting ready to touch down on the flight deck and unload these updates:
- The crew of the cruiser Anzio — which you met a few weeks ago here on the Deck — made life unpleasant for some drug smugglers in the Gulf of Aden this week.
- As if South Carolina’s Patriots Point museum didn’t already have enough problems, Naval Sea Systems Command has passed the word: Either fix up the carrier Yorktown, which is in bad shape, or get ready to sink it.
- Today is the 212th anniversary of the launch of the frigate Constitution, or Old Ironsides, as we call it, which has made Maggie very excited, because she gets to take it out for a spin.
- Speaking of launches, the Royal Navy’s fifth Type 45 destroyer, or the Daring-class, as we call it, was set to launch today in the River Clyde in Scotland.
- Speaking of launches, the U.S. Navy and the Royal Navy, check out this piece about the birth of the Continental Navy from Naval History and Heritage Command.