You think we’ve got budget woes?
November 2nd, 2011 | Budget Royal Navy | Posted by Bill McMichael
The U.S. budget battle threatens to put a serious crimp in Pentagon spending. But when the dust settles somewhat, here’s guessing the Navy will likely still be able to defend the nation’s coastlines and meet most of today’s overseas commitments.
But budget cuts and the strain of the war in Libya have already left cash-strapped Great Britain unable to provide the single warship that normally stands by in case of a terrorist attack or other home front threat, as this sobering news clip from London’s Telegraph newspaper makes clear …
2,000 Tomahawks and counting
August 5th, 2011 | Combat Navy Norfolk Naval Station Photos Royal Navy Ships Submarines Tomahawk Video | Posted by Bill McMichael
The Navy today commemorated its 2,000th Tomahawk cruise missile combat launch during a ceremony at Naval Station Norfolk aboard the destroyer Barry, which took part in the March air strikes on Libyan military facilities in support of U.N. Resolution 1973 and was credited with the 2,000th launch. Check this great pic of a launch from Barry the night the milestone was reached:
The destroyer Barry launches a Tomahawk missile in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn on March 19, 2011. This was one of approximately 110 cruise missiles fired from U.S. and British ships and submarines that targeted about 20 radar and anti-aircraft sites along Libya's Mediterranean coast. // U.S. Navy photo by Interior Communications Electrician Fireman Roderick Eubanks
We don’t know if that is THE 2,000th or not, but you get the idea. Even better: Check the video.
The commemoration honored the Barry crew members for their role in the milestone launch.
Tomahawks have been around for more than 30 years and have been used in every major U.S. combat operation since the first Gulf War in 1991. It can be launched from Navy ships and submarines, as well as Air Force bombers. It’s also used by the Royal Navy.
Here’s a Tomahawk close-up:
A Tomahawk cruise missile launches from the forward missile deck aboard the destroyer Farragut during a 2009 training exercise. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Leah Stiles
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.
Farewell, Saturn
October 28th, 2010 | Aviation Carriers Maritime operations Navy ordnance Photos Royal Navy Ships Sinking | Posted by Bill McMichael
There may not have been many of you — the former supply ship Saturn’s crew of 160 never included many more than 40 sailors during its 25-year run with Military Sealift Command — but here’s a respectful nod to you and your old ride, which was sunk in the Atlantic Wednesday after the George H.W. Bush Strike Group spent two days attacking the decommissioned ship during a training/sinking exercise. Ships from Destroyer Squadron 22 and aircraft from Carrier Air Wing 8, along with Patrol Squadrons 10 and 45, took part in the tactical training exercise using surface-to-surface, air-to-surface and surface-to-air live fire, U.S. 2nd Fleet announced.
The destroyer Mitscher and the cruisers Philippine Sea and Gettysburg launched missiles, 5-inch guns, Close-In Weapons System, and 25 mm and .50-cal weapons at Saturn. In addition, aircraft and helicopters from CVW-8 launched from the carrier Bush employed bombs and air-to-surface missiles during the two-day exercise — what the fleet called “a unique opportunity to practice combat scenarios, to include tactics and procedures.” The attacks ramped up in intensity over the two-day period; it was the 5-inch rounds that finally did her in. The Navy has put a moratorium on such training sinkings after 2010 to conduct a comprehensive review of the requirements, costs, benefits and environmental impacts of the current process. Saturn, which began life as a British Royal Fleet auxiliary launched in 1966, had a great run. She’s now resting at the bottom of the Atlantic, about 250 miles off the East Coast. So, a toast to the ship and those who served!
A rough week for Her Majesty’s navy
October 22nd, 2010 | Foreign navies Royal Navy Submarines | Posted by David Larter
Tugs move in to assist the Royal Navy nuclear submarine Astute, after it ran aground in shallow water off the Isle of Skye. // AP Photo by Danny Lawson
By any measure, the Royal Navy has had a rough week.
In the span of three days, the Brits cut their flagship carrier, the Ark Royal, reduced their fleet to its smallest size in centuries and, now, has run its nearly $5.5 billion nuclear submarine Astute into the mud near Scotland’s Isle of Skye.
Reports broke early this morning that Astute had run aground. Agence France-Presse reports:
A British nuclear submarine ran aground off a Scottish island on Oct. 22, the defense ministry said, adding that there were no immediate signs of any casualties or environmental damage.
HMS Astute – which only entered service in August and is billed as the Royal Navy’s most powerful hunter-killer submarine – got into trouble near the Isle of Skye.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said that the rudder of the 3.5-billion-pound (3.94-billion euro, $5.5 billion) submarine had become “grounded”.
“Whilst conducting a personnel transfer HMS Astute grounded her rudder in the vicinity of the Isle of Skye. She was initially unable to free herself and we are waiting for the next high tide,” the spokesman told AFP.
“No part of the Astute’s nuclear propulsion system is damaged or in danger of being damaged. We can confirm there are no injuries to personnel and there is no environmental damage.”
A YouTube video was posted this morning that shows the Astute, raised up in the water and slightly listing:
This isn’t the first time a British sub has run aground near Skye. In 2002, the HMS Trafalgar ran aground resulting in $9 million of damage.
The end of British seapower, cont’d.
October 8th, 2010 | Royal Navy | Posted by Phil Ewing
Could the entire Royal Navy shrink to a force smaller than the U.S. Navy’s ship-population of Norfolk, Va.? That’s the warning coming this week from New Austerity Britain, where the navy brass has offered to “mortgage everything” in order to save its beloved pair of Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers: The Royal Navy fleet could consist of about 25 ships, with “frigates, destroyers, submarines, minesweepers and all amphibious craft scrapped,” according to The Telegraph.
Shipbuilding expert Tim Colton writes that the fate of the Royal Navy doesn’t necessarily “pain” him per se, but that it could portend many problems for the U.S. Navy: “Where are we headed?” he wrote. “I still don’t hear any rational discussion of the problem. Listen, guys, we can have a lot of cheap ships, or a very few very expensive ships, or something in between. What we cannot have is a lot of very expensive ships. For crying out loud, let’s decide what we’re going to do and then get on with doing it, as efficiently as possible. Don’t we owe that to the taxpayers?”
Photo: The Royal Navy’s second Type 45 destroyer, Dauntless, showed off its nimble footwork during sea trials. Special note: The ship’s website identifies Dauntless as the fifth ship to bear the name, or “the sixth if you include the HMS Dauntless featured in The Pirates of the Caribbean – The Curse of the Black Pearl.” UPDATE: Coincidentally, the famous Beeb has a brand-new slideshow about Dauntless this morning.
Report: Submarines continue to exist
August 30th, 2010 | Royal Navy Submarines | Posted by Phil Ewing
Cmdr. Mark Behning, then of the ballistic missile sub Maryland, explained the principles of submarine operations. Rule 1: No water in the people tube. // Cpl. Anthony Ortiz // Marine Corps
So have you heard about how all these different countries out there have ships that can actually go under the water, not just drive, y’know, on top of it? “Submarines,” they’re called, and, apparently, the hot new thing right now is for one navy’s submarines to try to find and follow another navy’s subs. Crazy, right?
A ‘dangerously weak’ Royal Navy
August 23rd, 2010 | Royal Navy | Posted by Phil Ewing
The destroyer Liverpool and aircraft carrier Ark Royal -- and their eventual replacements -- should continue to exist, the Royal Navy says. Will Britons agree? // Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is spiraling down a whirlpool, according to an unsurprising new report making waves in the British press, and if the fleet looses any more ships and sailors (say, as the result of major, austerity-driven cuts) the United Kingdom will effectively stop being a sea power. Today’s Royal Navy is already “inadequate for the most fundamental, enduring and vital tasks,” concludes the latest study, and an even smaller, older force could make Britain irrelevant.
The study’s authors, retired Vice Adm. Sir Jeremy Blackham and professor Gwyn Prins, go so far as to argue that without a strong Royal Navy, “goods on supermarket shelves that shoppers take for granted might disappear,” as The Telegraph put it, presumably because there won’t be enough ships under the White Ensign to protect the U.K.’s imports of Hershey Kisses or goji berries. That might be a bit of a stretch, but it does remind Britons that their island is almost completely dependent on maritime trade, and if you want those big container ships to keep rolling in, it’s useful to have your own warships to protect them.
The Royal Navy isn’t just enjoying a nice spot of tea during all this: It has formed a “presentation team” that now tours the U.K., giving a multimedia brief about why Britons need their navy. Here we come to the essential difference between American and British attitudes about the military — even as we start to venture down our own budgetary tunnel of doom here in the States, can you imagine the U.S. Navy ever needing to sell Americans on why it should exist?
The Royal Navy’s fighter jets
August 18th, 2010 | Aviation Royal Navy | Posted by Phil Ewing
Here’s what Royal Navy fixed wing aviation looked like back in the good old days. Special note: The Fairey Gannet will blow you away when it spreads its wings at 2:25.
Navies all over the world have it tough these days, and here’s how bad things have gotten for the Royal Navy: According to The Register, top U.K. defence officials could be considering adding catapults and arresting wires to the Royal Navy’s forthcoming Queen Elizabeth-class carriers, so the ships could handle F/A-18 Super Hornets (or some European jet) instead of the F-35B Lightning IIs for which they were originally designed. This would make the ships more expensive and complicated upfront, but save British taxpayers the expense and uncertainty of the F-35.
(Gosh, do you think Boeing would be willing to cut the Ministry of Defence a deal on some Super Hornets?)
Registarian Lewis Page also observes that this might have another upshot for the Royal Navy — cats and traps could enable the ships to carry E-2 Hawkeyes, giving the fleet an airborne early warning capability it hasn’t had in decades. The problem? Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales will be powered by gas turbines, just like today’s Invincible class, so they won’t have natural steam for traditional catapults. This means the Royal Navy would need to try for an electromagnetic catapult, the same kind the U.S. Navy is relying on for its next carrier — but making it work could be just as stressful as waiting on the F-35s.
Welcome home links
August 5th, 2010 | Historical Pirates Royal Navy Ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
MC2 Gina Wollman / Navy
The destroyer Farragut pulled in to Naval Station Mayport, Fla. this week after a high-profile deployment that included fighting pirates, awesome high-speed runs, and even a time-traveling visit from its namesake. So today’s links are for DDG 99 baby, as Ice Cube might have said.
- Remember the mystery of what damaged the oil tanker M Star? Eagle1 reports that Al Qaeda has taken responsibility, but he has his doubts…
- A week after the world learned about the steering-system problems aboard the amphibious transport dock Green Bay, the Navy seems to be showing it has them licked: Green Bay is among the ships participating in Seattle’s SeaFair. Y’know what other ship is in town for that? None other than the recently rehabilitated cruiser Port Royal.
- Review roulette is not unique to the U.S. defense establishment: The Royal Navy is waiting on a U.K. defence review that could portend even more cutbacks to the fleet.
- We all knew that the littoral combat ship Freedom (with its hot-rod handling and full CODAG power) guzzles fuel like Kool-Aid, and blogger Craig Hooper has a sequence of photos showing just how often the ship needs to gas up. But c’mon, one commenter said: Cruisers and destroyers refuel all the time, too.
- Did you know that ONR researchers are hunting for a cure for blindness?
- Speaking of Rear Adm. David G. Farragut, today is the anniversary of his victory in the Battle of Mobile Bay, best remembered for the timeless order that still rings in the ears of the surface Navy. What was it, again? “Disregard the hazards to our vessel; maintain present course; all engines ahead full.” Or something like that.