March Madness — Navy style
April 8th, 2010 | Aviation Carriers Foreign navies Maritime operations Military Sealift Command Navy ordnance Pirates Ships Submarines The Pacific | Posted by Lance Bacon
March was a busy month for the Global Force for Good. You’ve likely heard about the commissionings, the pummeling of pirates and all the other good tidbits. Here are a few highlights that may have slipped under your radar:
The carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower launched nearly 620 combat sorties and flew more than 3,600 cumulative hours from the North Arabian Sea supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Nearly three dozen nuggets gave a collective sigh as the carrier John C. Stennis began the journey home to Bremerton, Wash., after 21 days at sea in support of fleet replacement squadron carrier qualifications. Stennis embarked five squadrons and qualified 34 new pilots who completed 641 arrested gear landings. You can read about it here.
CIWS beefed up, looking littoral
April 7th, 2010 | Maritime operations Navy ordnance Ships | Posted by Lance Bacon
With a radar-guided 20mm Gatling gun spitting out 4,500 armor-piercing tungsten rounds per minute, and a 100-percent kill distance in the realm of eight miles, what’s badder than a MK15 Phalanx Close-in Weapon System?
An upgraded MK15 Phalanx Close-in Weapon System.
Raytheon on March 31 was awarded a $204 million to beef up 32 CIWS systems. John Eagles, a spokesman for Raytheon, today told Scoop Deck that the amount jumped by $10 million because some extra upgrades were ordered – and with good reason.
The 32 existing mounts will upgrade to 1B status, which is a defense system with a remarkably strong littoral focus. In addition to getting optimized gun barrels, a side-mounted Forward Looking Infrared Radar will be added to engage everything from low and slow aircraft to high-speed surface threats. And new control stations allow operators to visually track and identify targets before engagement – a serious benefit, to say the least.
I give this decision two big thumbs up. The current emphasis on disaggregated ops requires more ships to operate independent of the strike group, and to do so in dicey littoral areas. That won’t be changing any time soon.
We talked recently with Capt. Tom Dearborn, staff operations officer for Carrier Strike Group 10. The heart of our discussion was the forthcoming deployment, in which the carrier Truman will be joined by four U.S. warships and the German destroyer Hessen. Dearborn said disaggregated ops will remain the name of the game when the strike group arrives in the 5th Fleet AOR, and that he expects maritime security operation to increase.
As such, the sooner sailors get this game-changer, the better.
The belt-and-suspenders approach
March 24th, 2010 | ordnance Photos The Pacific | Posted by Phil Ewing
MC2 Daniel Barker / Navy
The Mk38 mod 2 chain gun is designed to be operated remotely, from the safety of the bridge, but if necessary a sailor can still grab the gun and open fire. A pair of photos this week showed both sides of the job: Above, STG1 Drew Collins prepared the port-side gun on the cruiser Bunker Hill for a live-fire test, complete with the human-use handles. Below, with the handles and braces secured, the gun fired on remote — you can even see the blur of the round in mid-air.
The gray alien-face is the electro-optical/infrared site, which is what lets gunners see, track and aim at targets. You can see the Mk38 control console for the guns (in this case, aboard the destroyer Cole) here.
MC2 Daniel Barker / Navy
Traveling with CNO — Trident Training (pt 2)
March 24th, 2010 | leadership Navy nuclear weapons ordnance Submarines | Posted by Lance Bacon
Scoop Deck blogger Lance M. Bacon took a day trip with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead this week. This is the play-by-play report.
1015
We are treated to a quick review of A/C repair – a very important facet of sub life. Not only for reasons of comfort, but for the fact that the four units on a sub keep all the equipment cool.
MM1 (SS) Aaron Riedel then gives us the skinny on the “Weapons Team Trainer.” This is where you learn how to fire a torpedo the right way.
There’s more to it than plug and slug. The torpedo is loaded at a 7-degree angle so it doesn’t affect the sonar dome, which is in the front of the boat. The torpedo is launched with water and air, meaning the torpedoman must be proficient with a myriad of hydraulic and electrical components.
With about three of his 11+ years in the Navy at sea, it’s not hard to understand why Riedel is on staff. Maybe the Navy will let him sink a dummy ship one day in thanks. If so, Scoop Deck would love to get in on some of that action.
1025
Quote of the day: MTCS (SS) Nicholas Davies has been describing how a sub generates its own power, water and oxygen. The only limiting factor, he said, is food. The longest of his 19 patrols lasted 121 days.
We started off with plenty of food. Near the end, all we had was peanut butter and bread. Then we ran out of bread. Not long after that, things were getting ugly.
Sailors fight to stop a leak during the annual Kings Bay Damage Control Olympics, May 21, 2009. (photo by MC1 Kimberly Clifford)
1030
We’re doing more damage control. This time flooding is the problem – the second most dangerous thing on a sub. The chief says fire is the most dangerous, though some bubbleheads said an empty coffee pot could rank pretty high if it is late in the patrol.
The “Control Trainer” has 14 failures in a flooded space. That’s right – sailors have to fix full-velocity leaks amid rising water levels in a confined space. Sure, there are safety monitors, but if you think this is easy try kissing a broken fire hydrant some time.
Every sub in the command sends 20 people through this training each quarter. Today, the Blue Crew from the boomer Rhode Island is taking the plunge. As the water rises above the deck plate, more failures will occur to add to the chaos.
And the crazy thing is these guys actually get paid for this.
1045
MM2 (SS) Dwain Martin wins the “wow” factor of the day. He teaches submariners how to seal pipe holes in about five minutes. The strong back application is good for leaks up to 1,500 psi and will last until the sub gets back to port.
But for leaks under 250 degrees and 150 psi, he uses a soft patch – a piece of rubber held in place by a correctly wrapped length of rope.
It’s a $2 solution to keep a $7 billion sub from flooding.
After chow we’ll be back on the plane and en route to Columbia, S.C. to visit the Naval Chaplaincy School at Fort Jackson …
Traveling with CNO — Trident Training
March 24th, 2010 | leadership Navy nuclear weapons ordnance Submarines | Posted by Lance Bacon
Scoop Deck blogger Lance M. Bacon took a day trip with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead this week. This is the play-by-play report.
Sailors assigned to the guided-missile submarine Florida practice skills controlling the boat in the Ships Control Team Trainer at the Trident Training Facility in Kings Bay, Ga. (photo by MTCS (SS) Nicholas Davies)
0930
We are in the “Ships Control Trainer,” where the gold crew from the guided-missile sub Florida is being put to the test. The diving officer of the watch is giving direction to sailors manning the helm on his right, which controls minor depth changes and rudder, and the stern on his left, which controls the boat’s angle. To port, the chief of the watch is using weight and ballast to maintain depth and adjust trim.
The simulator can do a 45-degree angle and 39-degree roll, which is more than twice what the crews will normally see. Florida’s crew doesn’t get hit with such extremes, but there is no shortage of alarms sounding nonetheless. The crew remains calm throughout – and under the chief of the boat’s watchful eye.
0945
Scoop Deck has entered the “Virtual Simulator” with Wyoming’s gold crew. A lieutenant junior grade has a simulator strapped to his head, making him look like X-Men’s Cyclops on steroids.
Junior officers on the boomers and GNs don’t get a lot of time to drive the sub in the open ocean. They may be surfaced 12 hours going out, take a three-month dive, and then get 12 hours coming in. This is the solution.
This virtual reality simulator gives them the practice they need, replicating numerous ports in ever-changing weather conditions. As the navigation team feeds him info, the officer stands in a near-scale sail and does a 360-degree search for virtual contacts. From a tanker in the distance to a fast approaching sailboat, nothing gets past the team.
1000
Fire, fire, fire!
The training center has a mock-up engineering space for fire training. And we’re not talking about little camp fires – we’re talking about being fully engulfed by heat that pushes you back as your duty pushes you forward. After all, everyone on board a sub is a damage control specialist.
“Most people run from a fire. A submariner runs to the fire,” said MTCS (SS) Nicholas Davies, senior enlisted adviser for the Strategic Weapons Department. “If you run from a fire on a sub, you’ll die.”
Dealing with the ‘Hurt’
March 8th, 2010 | Navy ordnance The greenside | Posted by Lance Bacon
It’s unfortunate that “Hurt Locker” nabbed the Oscar for Best Picture.
Not because the film, from a cinematic perspective, was unworthy. Indeed, its cast and crew certainly exceeded expectations in their respective professions. And Scoop Deck is thrilled that Kathryn Bigelow broke the barrier and nabbed the first top prize for a female director (beating her ex-husband, James Cameron in the process).
What is disconcerting is that the movie is so unrealistic. Not simply unrealistic in the fact that the troops are wearing the wrong cammies. While Jeremy Renner provides a wonderful portrayal of the undisciplined maverick SSG William James, the character is tough to stomach. The idea of leaving the confines on a personal mission, endangering troops by having them split up to cover more ground, and taking off protective gear while disarming a bomb are laughable painful.
When Rambo fired a LAW out of a helicopter window without killing everyone with the 60-foot backblast — that was laughable. But the way the aforementioned actions are portrayed in this movie makes them believeable. And that is scary.
No doubt the way these strong characters make the story believeable is a key reason why the movie won the Oscar. Unfortunately, the Oscar win will likely give the film some de-facto credibility within a society that seems willing to believe everything it sees. This, in turn, will lead people to believe the film to be an authentic and accurate portrayal not only of military operations, but the military mindset.
It is neither.
As the old saying goes, it’s just a movie. Scoop Deck hopes people will keep it in that category.
Bravo Zulu to EOD
March 3rd, 2010 | Maritime operations Navy ordnance | Posted by Lance Bacon
Reporting from the fourth annual Naval Expeditionary Forces Symposium and Expo …
Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Stebbins, executive officer of EOD Mobile Unit 6, is giving the EOD scoop. He is a mustang with a wealth of knowledge in gunnery, parachute ops and all things that go boom.
And he brings a remarkable and commendable report of EOD operations in operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom for 2009. These sailors and officers:
- Conducted 6,125 combat missions
- Conducted 916 direct-action missions with Special Operations Forces
- Neutralized 1,306 improvised explosive devices
- Removed 336,000 pounds of explosives from the battlefield
- Were awarded six Purple Hearts and 81 Bronze Stars
Bravo Zulu to all EOD sailors and officers!
New chain gun to help frigate do its job
March 3rd, 2010 | ordnance Science and technology Ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
The frigate Ingraham is the first of its class to get a new Mk 38 mod 2 chain gun, the Navy says // MC1 Richard Doolin / Navy
Out of either politeness or cognitive dissonance, the Navy has continued to refer to its frigates as “FFGs,” even after all the ships in the class lost their Mk 13 missile launchers — the famous “one-armed bandit” — along with the SM-1 surface to air missiles that earned them the “G” for “guided missile.”
That doesn’t mean the ships are sailing around unarmed, however: They retain their 76mm deck gun, Phalanx Close-In Weapons System and, starting now, the new version of the Navy’s 25mm chain gun. The frigate Ingraham (former motto: “Do Your Job!!!”) is the first fig to get the popular Mk 38 mod 2 remotely operated chain gun making its way into the surface fleet these days. Appropriate that this ship is the first frigate to get one — it had a close encounter not too long ago where it could have used it.
The weapon is the same as the mod 0 and mod 1 chain guns already guarding many surface ships, but sailors can aim and fire it from a console within the safety of the bridge or the combat information center. Fortunately, the electro-optical sensor ball can move on its own to look around the ship, so a warship doesn’t have to scare the daylights out of passing boats by turning its guns on them.
H/T: Phib
See NLOS in action … kind of
February 24th, 2010 | ordnance Video | Posted by Phil Ewing
Navy
Speaking of the littoral combat ship’s Non Line Of Sight missile… have you ever wondered what it would look like if a U.S. warship used a surface-to-surface missile to kill two guys on a Jet-Ski? Thanks to this promotional computer-animated video from the Archive of Excellence, you need wonder no more.
Could LCS lose its missile?
February 23rd, 2010 | ordnance Science and technology | Posted by Phil Ewing
The missile that the Freedom can carry in the multi-use top-deck spaces, now occupied by its 30mm guns, is in trouble, according to reports this week // Lt. Ed Early / Navy
Even though the Navy is very proud that the littoral combat ship Freedom is underway right now in the Caribbean patrolling for smugglers, there are many parts of the LCS concept still in the works. The wham-o-dyne, helicopter-mounted, super-gun that will blow up mines, for example, is still under development, as are the Non Line Of Sight “precision attack missiles,” which are planned to give LCS ships a quick, extended ability to hit surface targets.
However, as reported by our colleague Kate Brannen, all is not well in NLOS land. Not only are the missiles doing poorly in live-fire tests, but as Brannen writes in the print edition of this week’s Defense News (on newsstands now!) they are proving to be much more expensive than planned. NLOS, which the Navy is developing with the Army, will cost $466,000 per round in 2011, according to Army budget documents.
“This is what happens when you try to buy too much under [low-rate initial production] when the production line is not mature,” one congressional source told Brannen.
Elements within the Army are recommending the service’s top decision-makers back off NLOS, one of the survivors of the monster known as Future Combat Systems. What would that mean for the Navy? LCS planners are relying on NLOS as a way to defend against swarms of incoming small boats, which could mass and attack faster than the Freedom could handle with its 57mm main gun and twin 30-mm point-defense guns.
Stay tuned for more on the effect an Army NLOS scale-back would have on the Navy and LCS.
Update: We dug through the Scoop Deck Archive and came up with this classic computer-animated video of NLOS in action aboard an LCS.