A tale of two ships
May 18th, 2012 | 3rd Fleet 7th Fleet Life at Sea Maintenance Navy Ships | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
Amphibious assault ship Essex approaches its pier May 17 at San Diego Naval Base, with Peleliu berthed nearby. (Gidget Fuentes/staff) Below, sailors with Bonhomme Richard join in command exercise May 8 in Sasebo, Japan. (Navy photo by MC2 William T. Jenkins)
Let’s face it: Once you step into a new car – or even a previously-owned vehicle, as used-car dealers say – it’s just not exciting to drive older wheels. Classic rebuilt cars, the exception of course. Trading down just isn’t fun.
So we can feel for the sailors and officers of amphibious assault ship Essex, who this spring took the Wasp-class big-deck Bonhomme Richard from their home in San Diego, Calif., and swapped hulls in Japan, where they exchanged ships and even the official Facebook pages with their Sasebo-based counterparts in the Navy’s latest scheduled hull swap. The San Diego-based crew returned to California May 17 aboard Essex, while the Sasebo crew took ownership of Bonhomme Richard and prepared for upcoming patrols in 7th Fleet. Essex arrived on time, but not before colliding with the oiler Yukon as the ship prepared to take on fuel. Repairs, as well as the investigation, are underway.
The BHR, as some call it, last year completed a major overhaul, a shipyard drydock period that included upgrades to berthing areas, new advanced controls for its boilers and some reworking to accommodate the MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft the Marine Corps plans to base in Japan.
Essex, meanwhile, has spent the past 12 years in Japan, where duty with 7th Fleet means shorter, but more frequent, deployments than stateside ships usually have – but without the significant shipyard maintenance periods where crews and workers can really spend time and get their hands and eyes on the ship and its innards. Recent years have seen maintenance problems cropping up even as the ship has gotten underway for patrols in the region, and Essex isn’t alone in the aging fleet in suffering from fewer maintenance dollars and high operational tempo.
The Navy decided to send one of its most updated Gators, the BHR, to replace it in Japan, and give the 21-year-old Essex its much-needed rest and repairs back in the states so the ship can continue to serve in San Diego and operate with 3rd Fleet. (The Navy also has little choice, considering the shrinking size of the overall fleet, including its amphibious Gator community that Marines rely on to get them where they need to go.)
But before that happens, Essex and its crew are slated to participate in the high-visibility “Rim of the Pacific” exercises off Hawaii this summer. Essex will be the big deck among 42 ships participating. After that, the crew will get the ship – and themselves – ready for the drydock phased maintenance availability expected to run 52 weeks. In a February interview, Capt. Chuck Litchfield, Essex’s skipper and former executive officer of BHR and, briefly, Essex, lauded the San Diego crew for the work getting Bonhomme Richard through a successful yard period and sea trials ahead of leaving for Japan, “and I expect to be successful again.” The past year was focused on preparing for the hull swap and crew taking on Essex, eyes wide open. “A new ship is something that you have to learn,” he said.
Sticking to tradition
May 9th, 2012 | Carriers Congress Enterprise Gerald R. Ford Navy Navy secretary Ships Traditions | Posted by Charles Hoskinson
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus — under fire for some of his past ship-naming choices — is winning praise from even his toughest critics for the latest one: The USS Thomas Hudner, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer for which the Navy awarded a construction contract in February.
Medal of Honor recipient retired Capt. Thomas Hudner salutes while taps is played during the Centennial of Naval Aviation wreath laying ceremony at the United States Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C. Navy photo.
Hudner, 87, was a Navy aviator patrolling near the Chosin Reservoir in December 1950 when his wingman, Ensign Jesse Brown, was shot down in combat. Hudner crash-landed his plane near Brown’s and tried to save his fellow sailor, the first African-American naval aviator to fly in combat. Brown died, but Hudner earned the Medal of Honor for his efforts.
“Now THIS is how you name a warship,” wrote blogger CDR Salamander, one of those who have criticized Mabus’ past choices.
Naming the latest DDG after Hudner is one in a series of apparently safe choices by Mabus in recent months after a string of decisions that have been criticized as political in nature and at odds with the Navy’s conventions for naming ships. The most recent batch of DDG names previously released were all named after past heroes in keeping with tradition, including one in honor of Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta, whose case had been championed by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), one of Mabus’ key critics on this front. Even the name chosen for the last Zumwalt-class DDG, Lyndon B. Johnson, technically met the convention because the former president had both worn the uniform and received the Silver Star during World War II.
But the controversy already had gotten so bad that it’s put at risk the centuries-old prerogative of the Navy secretary to choose ship names. Congress — at the prodding of some conservatives — in December required the Defense Department to review the service’s ship-naming practices. A report is due by this summer.
Meanwhile, among the high-profile naming opportunities coming up is the next Ford-class aircraft carrier, which by convention would be named after a former president. But there are a lot of people lobbying to transfer the name from the soon-to-be decommissioned carrier Enterprise — which politically would be a safer choice than the USS Richard M. Nixon or the USS Bill Clinton.
Let’s see how Mabus navigates that minefield.
USS Constitution display shows visitors ship’s history
March 26th, 2012 | Navy Ships Washington | Posted by Jacqueline Klimas
An interactive exhibit at the National Museum of the U.S. Navy lets visitors learn about all the sailors who have commanded the USS Constitution.
The exhibit, which will soon be available in the USS Constitution Museum in Boston and online as well, includes a timeline, a quiz and biographies of former commanders of the ship. The timeline also includes major events in naval history and how Old Ironsides played a part in them, said Jennifer Marland, assistant curator at the museum.
“This ship covers almost all of our Navy’s history, so the biographies provide a way of looking at 215 years of our Navy’s history in an interesting way,” Marland said. “Hopefully this will inspire someone to read more about an era, a historic event or ask a relative about their naval service.”
The display is located on a re-creation of part of Constitution’s gun deck. Marland said the exhibit is an “ongoing process” and will be updated.
Navy League jumps into debate over fleet size
March 20th, 2012 | Budget China Congress Navy Navy secretary Ships The Pacific | Posted by Charles Hoskinson
The Navy League of the United States has jumped into the fleet size debate, saying in its annual Maritime Policy Statement that a minimum of 305 ships are needed “to continue to deliver disaster aid and humanitarian assistance, deter aggression, maintain freedom of the seas and, if necessary, win wars. These are the capabilities upon which the global community has come to depend.”
The statement puts the group at odds with Navy leaders, who have proposed a five-year budget plan that includes early retirements of seven Ticonderoga-class cruisers and two amphibious ships, along with shipbuilding delays that will bring the fleet down below the current level of 282 ships. The cuts are part of the Defense Department’s plan to shrink its budget by $259 billion through fiscal year 2017, as mandated by law.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that the Navy would “again cross the threshold of 300 ships” by 2019 under the service’s budget plans.
Republicans in Congress oppose shrinking the size of the fleet, saying it’s inconsistent with the focus on Asia in the Obama administration’s new national security strategy. Navy League Executive Director Dale Lumme echoed that concern, saying: “In light of the new national defense strategy’s emphasis on the Asia-Pacific and continued presence in the Middle East, the need for maritime forces that are forward deployed, forward engaged and ever-ready to respond is more critical now than ever before.”
Public rationales for unanticipated shipbuilding costs
February 21st, 2012 | Carriers Gerald R. Ford Navy Newport News Shipbuilding Photos Ships Shipyard | Posted by Bill McMichael
A euphemism is “the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant,” according to Merriam-Webster. An example might be couching a near-$1 billion increase in the cost of the most expensive ship ever in the most innocuous terms possible.
My colleague Chris Cavas has a fine explainer story in the print version of this week’s Defense News on the soaring cost of CVN 78, the Gerald R. Ford. Chris notes that the Navy’s recently unveiled fiscal year 2013 budget request asks Congress for another $811 million atop a total price tag of more than $15 billion — the most expensive ship ever built.
A 945-ton superlift is lowered into place near the stern of PCU Gerald R. Ford, or CVN-78, on May 21, 2011, at Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Va. The superlift erected contained a diesel generator room, a pump room, an oily water waste pump room, 16 complete tanks and 18 partial tanks that was welded to the rest of the ship. It is one of 162 total superlifts that comprise the ship. // Photo courtesy of Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries.
Chris made sure to include the euphemism the Navy unwrapped to describe the rationale for the cost bump. The Navy is attributing the need for more money to “fact-of-life cost increases.”
I understand that the Ford is the first in a new class of ship and that the Navy was ordered to put nearly all of the technology improvements originally slated to be spread across the first three carriers of the Ford class into the first one, yada yada. It’s all a matter of scale, I suppose. But that’s some “fact of life.” $811 million would go a long toward, say, remodeling aging barracks for single sailors’ pockets. Put another way, it’s enough to pay for about a third of a new Flight III Arleigh Burke destroyer.
But from a writing standpoint, I just love that phrase! What’s next? “Lessons-in-life cost increases”? “Cost-of-doing-business cost increases”? If you were trying to spin this increase for Congress, how would you term it?
Rescue swimmers … are awesome
December 19th, 2011 | Amphibious operations COMPTUEX Navy Photos Rescue swimmers Ships Training | Posted by Bill McMichael
No matter what the service, military rescue swimmers are a pretty remarkable bunch. In addition to being skilled at their normal rating duties, they’re able — and willing — to be lowered into some pretty hair-raising situations that most normal folks would regard as out of the realm of possibility.
The Atlantic waters looked to be fairly calm when the dock landing ship Gunston Hall conducted a man-overboard drill last week, as you can see:
Engineman 3rd Class Michael E. Kenyon, a Gunston Hall search and rescue swimmer, gets lowered into the water Dec. 15 for a shipboard recovery man-overboard drill. Gunston Hall is underway participating in Composite Training Unit Exercise, a major requirement for the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group certification for deployment. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Lauren G. Randall
That’s a long way down, though. In addition, the water temperature was on the cool side. According to the National Oceanographic Data Center, the average water temp off the Virginia coast this time of year is in the mid-to-high 40s. Not so extreme on this day — it was 65 degrees, according to Lt. Megan Shutka, spokeswoman for Amphibious Squadron 8.
Still, not exactly shower-warm! Put yourself in Kenyon’s place in this pic:
Kenyon rescues 'Oscar', the ship's man-overboard prop. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Lauren G. Randall
No word on what Oscar thought of the conditions …
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
Lasers on deck
November 29th, 2011 | Navy Ships | Posted by Sam Fellman
Zap. Zap. Contractors are developing a laser for shipboard use, pictured here in a simulated engagement. // Boeing
Stop hostile skiffs with a zap. Down enemy drones, too.
These are some of the selling points of a new shipboard solid-state laser. Boeing and BAE Systems received a $2.8 million contract to test the 10-kilowatt commercial laser installed onto the 25mm gun mount, which is used aboard ship, in 2012.
After decades of development, lasers have come far enough that a shipboard laser could enhance a warship’s self-defense, designers say.
“If approached by a small boat with unclear intentions, a ship with Mk 38 [Tactical Laser System] could stop it with nonlethal means, such as frying the engine,” Amir Chaboki, a manager with BAE Systems, was quoted as saying in a Boeing press release. Chaboki added that the laser is more accurate than guns.
An artist's rendering of the laser on the Mk 38 gun mount. The laser beam director is on the right. // Boeing
But gunner’s mates out there: Don’t get too amped up yet. Even if the system works and the Navy buys it, sailors aren’t likely to man the tactical laser topside, leaning into the harness like the 25mm and turning the mount with their body weight. The design drawings lack the harness altogether, suggesting the laser is more likely to be fired remotely.
Haze gray in Charm City
November 16th, 2011 | Community relations Historical Navy Photos Ships Surface Force Atlantic War of 1812 | Posted by Bill McMichael
Next year marks the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, and the Navy is helping the state of Maryland kick off its multi-year commemoration with a two-ship visit to Baltimore’s beautiful Inner Harbor. The war with Great Britain that gave us the Star-Spangled Banner and “Don’t give up the ship!” was declared on June 18, 1812, and lasted another 2 1/2 years.
Two patrol coastals, Hurricane and Monsoon, arrived at Baltimore's Inner Harbor Tuesday morning. The two ships are in town to take part in Maryland's Star-Spangled Bicentennial Launch, slated for Wednesday morning. // U.S. Navy photo
The Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard will be marking the bicentennial through 2015 with week-long events, parades of sail, public visits and numerous other community relations activities in Baltimore, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, Boston, and the Great Lakes ports of Milwaukee, Chicago, Toledo, Cleveland, Detroit and Buffalo, according to Naval Surface Force Atlantic.
The kickoff ceremony will be held Thursday at 11:30 a.m. in Baltimore’s Bicentennial Plaza.
Busy days and nights aboard Ike
October 19th, 2011 | Carrier qualifications Carriers Life at Sea Navy Photos Ships Training Underway replenishment | Posted by Bill McMichael
The Norfolk-based carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower is deep into the basic phase of pre-deployment training while underway in the Atlantic. Technically, it’s taking part in a Tailored Ship’s Training Availability and Final Evaluation Problem, or TSTA/FEP, and conducting carrier qualifications for Carrier Air Wing 7 fliers.
An F/A-18E Super Hornet launches from the flight deck of the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower Oct. 14. // U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nathan Parde
Ike will be out for several weeks to come, so it’s a busy time for the crews of the ship and the wing. All that activity demands fresh stores of all sorts. On Oct. 18 — not clear if it was pre-sunrise or post-sunset — the fast combat support ship USNS Arctic delivered the goods.
The fast combat support ship USNS Arctic sails alongside Ike during an Oct. 18 underway replenishment. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Julia A. Casper
During an UNREP, the flight deck remains quiet — but under a watchstander’s careful eye.
Boatswain’s Mate Seaman Nicholas Blackburn of the Eisenhower stands watch during an underway replenishment with USNS Arctic. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Julia A. Casper