Not-so-fair winds at farewell
January 17th, 2012 | Deployment Life at Sea Maritime operations Navy Norfolk Naval Station Photos Surface Force Atlantic | Posted by Bill McMichael
The temperature would rise to near 60 in Hampton Roads Tuesday, but winds gusting to 37 mph made it feel 45ish — and it always feels colder down at the Naval Station Norfolk waterfront, where the frigate Nicholas left around 10 a.m.
How windy was it? The line handlers had to go hatless:
Line handlers aboard the frigate Nicholas pull up the mooring lines as the ship prepared to depart Naval Station Norfolk for a regularly scheduled deployment to South America. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kayla Jo Finley
The chop also made for a tricky getaway:
A tugboat assists the frigate Nicholas as it departs Naval Station Norfolk Tuesday. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kayla Jo Finley
And off they went:
Family members watch as the frigate Nicholas heads out to sea. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kayla Jo Finley
Nicholas will be joining other U.S. and partner-nation ships in support of Navy Maritime Interception Operations, according to Naval Surface Force Atlantic.
End of an era
December 6th, 2011 | 6th Fleet Amphibious operations Amphibious Ready Group Combat support Commanding officers Flight deck certification Homecoming leadership Marine Corps Marine Expeditionary Unit Maritime operations Mine warfare Navy Norfolk Naval Station Odyssey Dawn Photos Ponce Ships The Middle East | Posted by Bill McMichael
On May 7, 1970, the Beatles released their last single: “The Long and Winding Road.”
Last week, the amphibious transport dock Ponce, launched 13 days after the song and commissioned in July 1971, completed its own long journey, coming home for the last time after four decades of service.
Sailors prepare to handle lines on Naval Station Norfolk's Pier 2 as the amphibious transport dock Ponce makes its final return to homeport. Ponce will now begin the long process that will result in the ship's decommissioning early next year. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Stevie Tate
Those years were filled with significant events. Ponce helped evacuate nearly 300 mostly U.S. and British Westerners from Lebanon during the 1976 civil war, and supported 6th Fleet air strikes on pro-Syrian militia positions in defense of U.S. Marines ashore. It supported military disaster relief in Florida following 1992′s devastating Hurricane Andrew. It took part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, serving as the flagship of a minesweeping task group that opened the key port of Umm Qasr. Most recently, Ponce, as part of the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group, supported the NATO strikes on Libya that played a key role in helping rebel forces drive Moammar Gadhafi from power.
It was during that last cruise that the ship’s commanding officer and executive officer were fired by Vice Adm. Harry Harris, then-commander of 6th Fleet — Cmdr. Etta Jones for what investigators said were abuses of power, and Lt. Cmdr. Kurt Boenisch for not standing up to Jones. Jones apologized to the crew in a statement released by her lawyer the same day Ponce returned home last week, saying that she hoped the public “will not overlook their positive story.”
Ponce spent its final operational week supporting air operations for II Marine Expeditionary Force’s air-ground task force. One sailor said he took a lot of pride in being one of the last to man the ship’s flight deck.
“This underway is the last time anyone will fly on Ponce,” Aviation Support Equipment Technician 3rd Class Morgan Butkus was quoted by Ponce’s public affairs office as saying. “How many years have people been here with stuff happening, and this is the last of it.”
Four decades on Ponce, by the numbers: It was served by more than 18,400 sailors and embarked by more than 24,500 Marines; it landed and launched aircraft more than 39,000 times; it was involved in more than 25 major operations; it was commanded by 28 different commanding officers.
The ship will be decommissioned in early 2012 and placed in long-term storage at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia.
Quartermaster 2nd Class Shixi Zhang mans a telescopic alidade on the starboard bridge wing of the amphibious transport dock ship Ponce as the ship gets underway from Naval Station Norfolk for its final scheduled underway period. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Nathanael Miller
Down and dirty
September 19th, 2011 | Carrier On-Board Delivery plane Carriers Maintenance Maritime operations Naval aviation Photos Ships Training | Posted by Bill McMichael
The carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower is underway in the Atlantic conducting carrier qualifications for naval aviators, but it’s the unglamorous and often tedious work below decks that keeps the fliers going.
Aviation Structural Mechanic 3rd Class David Zaveson and Aviation Structural Mechanic Airman Eric Bieber of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 5 conduct routine maintenance on an SH-60F Seahawk aboard the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower. // U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Tony Bloom
A zillion things can go wrong with an aircraft — especially aircraft that operate in a maritime environment and bounce onto aircraft carriers. That requires checking everything from the big stuff to internal leakage.
Aviation Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class (AW/SW) Orrintell Whyte checks for oil leaks on the tail gear of an HH-60H Seahawk of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 5 in Ike's hangar bay. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Albert Jones
All the work has to be tracked.
Aviation Electrician’s Mate 1st Class (AW/SW) Christopher Carbee of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 5 writes his findings in a log during a final inspection on an HH-60H in the hangar bay of the Eisenhower. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Albert Jones
Then there’s the support for the support — the ancillary work.
Aviation Support Equipment Technician Airman Katrina Everett, right, and Aviation Support Equipment Technician Airman Mark Perkins fix a leak on the hydraulic tank of a spotting dolly in Ike's hangar bay. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nathan Parde
These unsung efforts underpin what everyone is hoping for topside: safe flight operations.
Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) 1st Class (AW) Jason Winfrey directs a C-2A Greyhound, assigned to Airborne Early Warning Squadron 120, on the flight deck of the carrier Eisenhower. Ike is currently underway conducting carrier qualifications. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Albert Jones
A little love for the fleet workhorse
August 18th, 2011 | Carrier On-Board Delivery plane Carriers Class A mishaps Flight deck certification Logistics Maritime operations Naval aviation Navy Photos Sea trials | Posted by Bill McMichael
A lengthy post-availability at-sea period just ended for the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, which blitzed through sea trials, flight deck certification, carrier quals, and 3M (Maintenance Material Management) inspections following nine months of shipyard work that ended in mid-June.
During that time, Ike’s primary lifelines to shore were the reliable Carrier On-Board Delivery planes that deliver mail to ship and shore and carry personnel and spare parts back and forth. Filling the bill for Ike was Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 40 out of Naval Station Norfolk’s Chambers Field.
A VRC-40 COD aircraft performs an arrested landing aboard the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower Aug. 17. // U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nathan Parde
It goes without saying that CODs “deliver the mail.” According to VRC-40′s website, the squadron’s detachments deliver more than 3 million pounds of letters and packages every year and tally more than 1,000 arrested landings like the one pictured above.
They’re not very sexy, it’s not the most comfortable ride and it’s not much fun when you get stuck in the pattern because the flight deck is busy or fouled and you can’t even see out the window. But they’re not built for comfort. They get the job done. Personally, I love ‘em. There’s nothing routine about an arrested landing or cat shot, and CODs get you safely to ship and shore. The squadron, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last July, says it recently completed its 20th straight year free of Class A mishaps. Impressive, to say the least.
That flag
August 2nd, 2011 | Aviation Foreign navies Helicopters Historical Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Maritime operations Naval aviation Navy Pearl Harbor Photos Ships The Pacific Training World War II | Posted by Bill McMichael
I remember a 1990-ish visit to a Japanese submarine base and being dumbfounded to see the subs flying the rising sun flag off their stern masts. Dumbfounded, because being, ahem, of a certain age, I associated the flag — a red disc with red and white “beams” extending outward — with the aggressive World War II-era regime that launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in an effort to exercise total dominance over the Pacific. Its use was banned in 1945 following the surrender to the United States and its allies, but many Americans don’t realize that it was re-adopted in 1954 as the war flag and naval ensign of the Japan Ground and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, respectively.
This isn’t news to U.S. sailors stationed in Japan, now a staunch U.S. ally, or those who’ve trained with the Japanese navy — such as the Norfolk-based sailors assigned to Destroyer Squadron 26, taking part in a “PASSEX” with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Training Squadron — manned by newly commissioned Japanese surface warfare officers — through today off the U.S. East Coast.
The Japan Maritime Self Defense Force training ship KASHIMA passes the destroyer Nitze during a passing exercise. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Marie Brindovas, PASSEX Public Affairs.
PASSEX is an exercise that tests routine operational challenges and is meant, according to the Navy, to strengthen the partnership between the U.S. and Japan. Tasks include operating a Japanese helo on a U.S. ship.
Sailors assigned to the destroyer Nitze guide a Japanese SH-60 helicopter onto the flight deck. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Marie Brindovas, PASSEX Public Affairs.
Today, incidently, is a big date in post-World War II affairs. The final meeting of the “Big Three” nations — the U.S., the Soviet Union and Great Britain — concluded on a sour note. The failure to resolve expected post-war issues at the Potsdam Conference, historians say, helped set the stage for the Cold War.
Good works in Jax
July 29th, 2011 | Carriers CNATRA Community relations Maritime operations Naval aviation Norfolk Naval Shipyard Photos Sea trials Ships | Posted by Bill McMichael
More than 40 sailors from the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower spent the morning of July 26 sprucing up a resource center for the homeless in Jacksonville Beach, Fla., during a three-day port call in Mayport that began July 25.
Interior Communications Electrician Fireman Donovan Cooper picks weeds from the property of Mission House during a community relations project in Jacksonville Beach, Fla. // U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nathan Parde
The center, called Mission House, offers food and counseling services to the homeless in the Jacksonville area.
Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Glen Everette picks weeds in front of Mission House. // U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nathan Parde
Ike’s port call came in the midst of an underway period in the Atlantic following a nine-month maintenance availability at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. While at sea, the carrier successfully completed sea trials and has continued with additional training.
Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Jeremy Prestigiacomo shovels weeds at Mission House. // U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nathan Parde
Hopefully, these hard-working sailors received some well-deserved time off the rest of the day. After its three-day break, Ike got underway and continued air operations, helping CNATRA prepare naval aviators for future carrier-based operations.
A T-45C Goshawk training aircraft assigned to the Chief of Naval Air Training performs a touch-and-go aboard Ike July 28. // U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Rob Rupp
Ike’s return is on track
July 14th, 2011 | Aviation Carriers Flight deck certification Maintenance Maritime operations Navy Photos Safety Shipyard Unmanned carrier landing | Posted by Bill McMichael
The carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower is enjoying a noteworthy and productive post-availability period at sea.
On July 2, Ike, operating off the Atlantic coast, was the scene of the first fully hands-free carrier landing as an F/A-18D modified to emulate the in-development X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System aircraft touched down under control of an onboard computer network linked to the plane. The aircraft was manned in case something went wrong, but the pilot kept his hands off the controls, the Navy told my colleague Joshua Stewart. See his story in the July 18 Navy Times.
Four days later, the carrier and Air Wing 7 completed flight deck certification, just a week after taking the flattop’s first arrested landing since its 2010 deployment to the Arabian Sea in support of the war in Afghanistan — only three weeks after Ike left Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va., after completing a nine-month planned incremental availability.
On July 7 in Washington, D.C., the carrier was given the Secretary of the Navy’s Safety Excellence Award for large deck combatants.
Meanwhile, the carrier — enjoying a no-fly day Thursday, according to AIRLANT — continues operations in the Atlantic, qualifying new fliers from Fleet Replacement Squadron fliers.
An F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to the “Gladiators” of Strike Fighter Squadron 106 performs an arrested landing July 13 aboard the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower. // U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nathan Parde.
It’s a real FRUKUS
June 21st, 2011 | Counter-piracy Foreign navies Maritime interdiction Maritime operations Navy Officers Photos Royal Navy Ships Training | Posted by Bill McMichael
No, we haven’t lost our sense of decorum here at Scoop Deck. FRUKUS 2011 is an invitational naval exercise now underway off the Virginia coast involving ships from Russia, France, the U.K. and the U.S. Navy. “FRUKUS” is an acronym for all four nations — we’re guessing it rhymes with RUCKUS, which means a commotion — but it’s a bit more controlled than that denotes. It’s a two-week interoperability exercise … but let’s get to the pictures of the ships, shall we?
‘Ere’s the British ship, a destroyer …
HMS Dauntless, a participant in FRUKUS 2011, arrives at Naval Station Norfolk, Va. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Kristina Young.
FS Ventose, a participant in FRUKUS 2011, arrives at Naval Station Norfolk, Va. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Kristina Young.
U.S. Navy Sailors from the destroyer James E. Williams receive the lines from their counterparts aboard the Russian ship Admiral Chabanenko as it prepares to dock pierside at Naval Station Norfolk. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Darren Moore.
The French entrant, a frigate …
And the Russian vessel, a destroyer:
The exercise aims to improve maritime security through “open dialogue and increased training between the participating navies,” according to the Navy. There are two phases: ashore and at-sea. While ashore this week — the ships arrived June 20 — sailors are training on damage control, firefighting and ship handling. Next week at sea, under the command and control of a shore-based multinational combined task group staff, the ships will train on maritime domain awareness, and anti-piracy and maritime interdiction operations.
At the same time, senior officers from each nation will meet during the at-sea phase, presumably to get to know each other a bit better.
Home for Dad’s day
June 18th, 2011 | Ballistic missile defense Homecoming Libya Maritime operations Navy Norfolk Naval Station Personnel Photos Ships SURFLANT The Med Tomahawk | Posted by Bill McMichael
The destroyer Stout came home to Norfolk Saturday following a Med cruise in support of theater security operations and ballistic missile deterrence …
Tugboats move the destroyer Stout into its berth pierside at Naval Station Norfolk after returning from a six-month deployment to the Med. // U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (SW) Lolita Lewis
… and just in time for Father’s Day:
Fire Controlman 2nd Class (SW) Gary Richard greets his family and meets his newly adopted daughter for the first time after returning home from a six-month deployment onboard the destroyer Stout. // U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (SW) Lolita Lewis
Stout took part in the coalition strikes on Libyan forces that began in mid-March. Stout was the first ship on station and fired multiple salvos of Tomahawk cruise missiles at Libyan air defenses, surface-to-air sites and communications nodes, along with the destroyers Stout and Barry, the attack submarines Providence and Scranton and the guided missile submarine Florida, according to the Navy.
The crew also had to deal with the March 1 firings of its commanding officer and command master chief., and a junior officer, six chiefs and one petty officer were also kicked off the ship. The disciplines centered around what 6th Fleet called a “pervasive pattern of unprofessional behavior” among members of the ship’s crew related to misbehavior in Mediterranean liberty ports.
Daly: Amphibious forces are more relevant than ever
April 1st, 2011 | Admirals Amphibious operations Amphibious Ready Group Gator Navy Historical Korean War Marine Corps Marine Expeditionary Unit Maritime operations Ships The Med The Middle East | Posted by Bill McMichael
The deputy commander of Fleet Forces Command used his keynote speech at the decommissioning of the amphibious assault ship Nassau in Norfolk March 31 to stump for continued support for the “Gator Navy” and the capability to launch U.S. Marines onto contested shore, arguing that such a capability reduces the need for U.S. bases on foreign shores.
Vice Adm. Peter Daly pointed to the Essex Amphibious Ready Group and the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit providing humanitarian assistance and disaster response following the earthquake and tsunami that ravaged northern Japan; the Boxer ARG and 13th MEU being accelerated into the Persian Gulf to provide what he called “essential capacity” for potential non-combatant evacuation operations and to provide the fleet with a theater reserve force; the Bataan ARG and 22nd MEU’s short-notice (120 days early) deployment to the Mediterranean to relieve the Kearsarge ARG and 26th MEU; and the Kearsarge ARG and 26th MEU’s central role in the NATO air strike campaign against Libyan forces — in particular, their rapid movement out of the 5th Fleet area of operations, where they were relieved by Boxer and the 13th MEU, to the Med, where they have provided combat sorties and air space control.
“We are witnessing a living clinic for why we need amphibious power for our Navy,” Daly said.
More than a few military analysts have questioned whether the U.S. should maintain an amphibious capability — made famous during World War II’s Pacific theater island-hopping campaign — noting that the last significant amphibious combat landings took place at Inchon during the Korean war and that weapons such as long-range missiles make large-scale amphibious assaults obsolete. Proponents argue that the ability to launch smaller-level assaults on unimproved beachfronts continues to be an important capability. The threat alone can also be an advantage, they say, pointing to the famous Persian Gulf War feint in which a large amphibious force poised off the coast of Kuwait diverted thousands of Iraqi forces from the main battlefields.
During a Dec. 2 “DoDLive” bloggers roundtable, Brig. Gen. Christopher Owens, deputy commanding general, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, also pointed out that assault operations are but one of a wide range of possibilities on the amphibious palette and argued for keeping such a capability, while further refining concepts to “keep it relevant.”
Daly would agree.
“People often ask, `Well, maybe we don’t have to do this anymore’,” Daly said. “Maybe we don’t have to provide the bandwidth, the training and the time, and the effort and the money to do [them]. But when they were needed, they were there.”
Daly acknowledged that the capability to conduct amphibious assaults has been somewhat diluted. “The demands of land conflicts over the last decade have forced something of a separation between our Navy amphibious forces and the Marines they are designed to carry into combat,” Daly said. “Only by training together, sailing together, fighting together, can we ensure that amphibious warfare remains a premier national capability — so the country is not dependent on overseas bases, and able to conduct forcible entry without a buildup, and without a permission slip.”