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?
Another new LCS mission — BMD picket?
November 17th, 2009 | Ballistic missile defense Blogs Foreign navies Science and technology Ships The Middle East | Posted by Phil Ewing
An international export version of Lockheed's littoral combat ship fired an imaginary missile in this artist's conception. The company is now saying it can augment its Aegis-edition LCSes with ballistic missile defense capability // Lockheed Martin
As Galrahn and Phib discuss the latest news about the littoral combat ship Freedom’s upcoming deployment, one of our senior shipmates at Defense News has some other interesting LCS gouge: This week at the Dubai Air Show, Lockheed Martin is pitching a “Surface Combat Ship” to the navies of the Gulf states — a variant of its Freedom-class LCS modded with Aegis radar and ballistic missile defense capability.
LockMart and its LCS rival, General Dynamics, both have shown off concepts for Aegis-equipped export versions of their designs, but neither of the trade-show fliers just pulled from Scoop Deck’s desk drawer say anything about BMD. They do include the possibility of a Mk 41 Vertical Launch System — which the U.S. Navy’s version doesn’t have — that could carry a battery of SM-3 or SM-6 interceptors. Or, as Defense News’s Pierre Tran wrote, an Aegis BMD LCS could be the eyes for land-based missiles:
Given fears in the region of a possible missile attack from Iran, a deployment of the Surface Combat Ship in the narrow waters of the Gulf would provide early warning of a missile launch and allow early destruction in the upper atmosphere by the SM-3 missile or at lower altitude by the Patriot PAC3 or other weapon.
No word on the price tag for this souped-up “SCS,” but given the cost issues the first two LCSes have had, it could be steep. It could also have implications for the U.S. Navy’s pending mission as the BMD protector of Europe, for which commanders could want as many hulls as possible, maybe including cruisers, destroyers and BMD-LCSes.
Navy’s new missile blows something up
November 17th, 2009 | Maritime operations SEALs Science and technology Ships The Pacific | Posted by Phil Ewing
The cruiser Cape St. George fired an earlier version of the Tomahawk land attack missile in 2003. The Navy says its late-model Block IV is the best one yet // IS1 Kenneth Moll / Navy
Oh, to have been crouching in the mud with the U.S. and British special operators earlier this month when they called in a “time-critical strike” from the cruiser Princeton. It was just an exercise, according to a Navy announcement, but it still must’ve been pretty cool to see them dial in the thunder with their Precision Strike Suite – Special Operations Forces gear (known, of course, as “piss-off” in the teams) and then have that missile sky down and explode.
The thunder in question was provided by the long-awaited Block IV Tomahawk land-attack missile, which is the latest and smartest version of the classic weapon we all remember from “Red Storm Rising.”
“As the only network-enabled, land attack weapon, Tomahawk can re-target, loiter, or provide last minute weapons coverage to deployed forces from on-station naval combatants,” said its program manager, Capt. Dave Davison.
Still to come: Scoop Deck has been told that the Block IV’s improved ability to find and see targets could return anti-ship capability to the Tomahawk family, after the purpose-built ship-killing variant was withdrawn in 1995. We’re looking forward to seeing video of that test, if it happens.
Port visit links
November 13th, 2009 | Ballistic missile defense Carriers Maritime operations Royal Navy Science and technology Ships Submarines | Posted by Phil Ewing
Sailors aboard the carrier Nimitz mustered to get ready to man the rails for a port visit in Japan, much as today's links are mustering to provide you with news and updates // MCSA Robert Winn / Navy
Restricted maneuvering doctrine settin’, ATM cash-withdrawin’, rail mannin’ links, eager to tie up, race down the brow and get into the bars town as quickly as possible:
- After a triumphant visit and commissioning in its namesake city, the amphibious transport dock New York, like so many other newcomers to the Big Apple, is taking refuge in New Jersey.
- The Royal Navy’s newest attack submarine, the Astute, is on its way to the Royal Navy’s famed submarine base in Faslane, Scotland.
- The littoral combat ship Freedom is making a visit to Naval Station Mayport, Fla., the local newspaper reported, nervously pointing out that LCS will “replace” the frigates homeported there.
- Have you heard about this amazing discovery of these World War II Japanese submarines off Hawaii?
- The Missile Defense Agency has announced the next six ships that will be upgraded with ballistic missile defense capability, and, as expected, they’re all East Coast destroyers.
- Remember that movie in which the decommissioned carrier John F. Kennedy inexplicably crushes the White House in a tidal wave? It comes out today.
Astronaut pleads, headline writers harumph
November 11th, 2009 | Aviation Blogs NASA Science and technology | Posted by Phil Ewing
After a scandal that was out of this world, the Lisa Nowak story has returned to Earth, much as the space shuttle Discovery landed in December // NASA
Reporters, editors, bloggers and late-night comedians are losing an icon this week — the most infamous astronaut of all time, Capt. Lisa Nowak, closed out the story that has brought NASA its most public attention since the moonshot.
Nowak pleaded guilty to assaulting a fellow astronaut, Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman, in a crime for the ages: Nowak drove more than 1,000 miles, from Houston to Orlando — geared up with a steel mallet, a wig, a BB gun, a knife, latex gloves, rubber tubing, garbage bags and pepper spray — and attacked Shipman as she tried to get into her car in a parking lot.
The motive? Nowak was apparently jealous that Shipman stol’d her man, Cmdr. Bill Oefelein, who was at the center of the astronaut love triangle. Other sensational elements? The infamous diapers. The e-mails. Just when you thought there were no other ridiculous ways for the story to go, there they were.
That’s all over now. But The Register isn’t wasting the last chance for this sort of thing — its headline today was “Astronaut love-dustup mace space ace Nowak cops plea,” with the sub-hed: “Anger management classes for wiggy carpark catfight.”
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.
Vectors. Found, and lost.
October 27th, 2009 | Personnel Science and technology Submarines | Posted by Andrew Scutro
Some things are just motivating, like the last few words of the Star Spangled Banner, sacks of cash, hot steak sandwiches and of course, the Five Vector Model. The Scoop Deck staff is on an eternal search for reliable sightings of the Five Vector Model and yes, we found another one, pictured above. It was in Groton. Here is one example we keep in the archive, a sighting from the Navy’s Birthday in 2006, somewhere in the Pacific. If you see a 5VM, in any form, please send in a photo. Probably the most prized example would be a “5VM” vanity license plate. Or a tattoo. That would be sweet.
Fun Fact for the kids: note the difference in vector type and amount between the above example from Groton and the one from the Essex in 2006.
Help Team Navy sink the online competition
October 27th, 2009 | Blogs Science and technology | Posted by Phil Ewing
Team Navy bloggers need your help to raise the most money in this year's Project Valour-IT campaign // Navy
The big guns in the Navy blogosphere don’t always agree — Bring back the battleships? Chinese carrier threat? Anything about LCS? — but starting this week they’re steaming line astern in a dread task force with a common objective: Raise money for a great cause and defeat the blogger teams representing the lesser other services.
Galrahn, Maggie, ol’ Phib and Steeljaw are just some of the boldface names on Team Navy taking part in this year’s Project Valour-IT fund drive, which goes toward buying voice-controlled laptops and other needed gear for our fighting men and women who are recovering from injuries they’ve received in action. Here’s the full blog roster for Team Navy, and if you kick them a few bucks you’ll help push the Navy fund-raising bar past the other teams’.
As of Tuesday morning, the Marine Corps team was in the lead — and that’s not acceptable, shipmate!
New ovens take the work out of chow at sea
October 27th, 2009 | Carriers Chow Life at Sea Science and technology The deckplates | Posted by Phil Ewing
In the future, CS3 Jermaine Thompson, of the carrier Enterprise, could need to only push a button and his oven would know exactly how long to bake this bread // Navy
The Navy operates some of the most advanced equipment on the planet, what with all the fighter jets and nuclear reactors and Aegis radars and such, but less so in the galley, where culinary specialists depend as much on their own skill as new technology. That’s changing, though — sailors aboard the carrier Abraham Lincoln are testing three new high-speed ovens that can basically cook meals on their own, and which promise to make work much simpler for the CSes of tomorrow.
The Blodgett Hydrovection, Rational Combi, and Alto Shaam Combi-therm all can be programmed with the Navy’s standard menu items, which means that sailors can prepare entrees the way the rest of us push the “popcorn” button on the microwave:
“Now the culinary specialist doesn’t have to read off the card and set everything accordingly. It’s as simple as pressing a few buttons,” said Culinary Specialist 1st Class Eric Russell…
For example, the menu card for beef roast rib says to roast the meat for three to four hours at 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Since the oven knows this, the CS just has to look under the beef section for roast rib and the oven knows the exact temperature and time left to cook.
In cases like beef rib roast where the menu card instructs the CS to insert a thermometer and roast until it reaches a certain temperature in the center, the new oven has another convenient feature. There is a sensor the CS can insert in the meat so the oven can keep track of the temperature itself. It knows that according to the menu card, beef rib roast must be roasted until the center is at least 140 degrees Fahrenheit. So it adjusts the remaining time according to the temperature of the meat.
It’s the galley practices of tomorrow — today! If your ship makes a lot of special requests for chow, these new ovens eventually will include the ability for local cooks to program them, according to this story.
Navy’s top techie approves social media tools
October 23rd, 2009 | Blogs Navy Science and technology | Posted by Andrew Tilghman
Anybody see the Navy’s Chief Information Officer’s blog this week? Rob Carey, the Navy’s top techie, approves of sites like Facebook.
3. Social Media as a Tool to Build Trust. Social media is an inherent part of the toolbox for members of the millennial workforce, while baby boomers are just adopting it. Social media tools should become the standard by which we can share and collaborate on information inside and outside the network boundaries.
Nevertheless, there is a downside.