Army secretary jabs Navy ship program
October 11th, 2011 | Army Navy Ships | Posted by Bill McMichael
Army Secretary John McHugh gave the Navy — and in particular, its ship acquisition strategy — a poke in the ribs Monday at the annual Association of the U.S. Army meeting in Washington. According to CNN reporter Lisa Sylvester, McHugh took his shot in the context of the Columbus Day holiday:
“But I’m a little confused as to why we’re kicking this great Army celebration off on Columbus Day,” McHugh said. “Frankly, I always thought of Columbus Day was kind of more of a Navy holiday. And I don’t mean it because of that 1492 ocean blue stuff, but in my mind, Christopher Columbus was the quintessential Navy man. After all, when he left, he didn’t know where he was going. When he got there, he didn’t know where he was. When he came back, he really didn’t know where he had been. But before he left, he had to have three new ships.”
The punch line elicited guffaws from the soldier-rich audience, and might add a little icing on the cake for the annual Army-Navy game Dec. 10.
If Columbus Day is more of a Navy holiday, what would be a good Army holiday, and why?”
I wonder what this button does?!
October 6th, 2011 | 7th Fleet Diplomacy Photos Ships The Pacific | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
A Russian boy watches as another plays with the controls in the combat information center aboard the destroyer Fitzgerald during a recent visit to Vladivostok, Russia.//Navy photos by Ens. Carissa Guthrie
We couldn’t help but smile at the faces of these Russian boys, who got the chance to play sailor aboard the destroyer Fitzgerald during an outing from Parus Nadezhdy Children’s Rehabilitation Center in Vladivostok. If we only knew what they were saying…
The Yokosuka, Japan-based Fitzgerald wrapped up a four-day visit to Russia’s Pacific Fleet port city, where they joined in community projects, sporting matches with Russian sailors and visited sick children at a local hospital before returning to sea for a planned U.S.-Russian joint exercise. The Parus Nedezhdy center for orphan children is something of a regular guest when U.S. ships visit the city. It’s Russia, of course, so chess remains a popular hobby and the obvious outlet for the American sailors to match wits and brains with the local children. Looks like fun. But it’s not about winning and losing, right?
Fire Controlman 3rd Class Alexander Poehner and Sonar Technician 1st Class Joseph Whalen face off Russian boys in a chess tournament Oct. 3 on the Fitzgerald's mess decks.
Haze gray and underway
September 27th, 2011 | Carriers Life at Sea Navy Photos Ships Training Underway replenishment | Posted by Bill McMichael
This simple yet atmospheric photo should resonate with anyone who’s ever been at sea …
Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Handling) Airman Apprentice Raymond Duenas waits on the elevator operator during replenishment at sea operations aboard the Norfolk-based carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower. In the background is USNS Lewis and Clark; USNS Arctic also took part in the "unrep." Ike is currently underway in the Atlantic conducting carrier qualifications. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Tony Bloom
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
Littoral, not figurative
September 15th, 2011 | Littoral Combat Ship Ships | Posted by Dave Brown
OK, folks. Scoop Deck doesn’t want to get into a whole thing here, but there’s something we have to say. Now that littoral combat ships are getting named, launching, deploying and being celebrated at baseball games, it’s time to get used to the word “littoral.”
It’s pronounced “literal,” not “lit-TOR-al.” So the next time you see, say, an admiral saying it wrong, do the right thing and correct him or her. OK, maybe that’s not a good idea. You could, however, tell the admiral’s aide. Give the two of them something fun to talk about in the back of the SUV on the trip back to the office.
Now that we’ve taken care of that, can you think of any other common Navy mispronunciations?
Mabus makes good on winning pitch
September 14th, 2011 | Baseball Littoral Combat Ship Navy secretary Photos Ships | Posted by Bill McMichael
The Navy’s top official visited the National League Central Division’s top team Tuesday as Navy Secretary Ray Mabus threw out a ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game at Miller Park, part of a day-long celebration of Littoral Combat Ship 5 being given the name Milwaukee. The original announcement was made March 18.
The Navy didn’t supply a pic of Mabus rifling a fastball off the Miller Park mound. But it did snap the secretary chatting on the field with former not-so-great-but-he-admits-it baseball player Bob Uecker, the longtime and beloved Brewers radio broadcaster who graced the movie “Major League” with lines such as, “Heywood leads the league in most offensive categories, including nose hair. When this guy sneezes, he looks like a party favor. ”
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus gives Bob Uecker a USS Milwaukee ballcap before throwing the ceremonial first pitch at the Sept. 13 Brewers-Rockies game at Miller Park in Milwaukee. // U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Sam Shavers
We like baseball at The Scoop Deck, so here’s a priceless line from Uecker that a screenwriter didn’t write: “I led the league in `Go get ‘em next time’.”
Back to the action: Mabus also met with Brewers players and, out on the field, introduced the crowd to a graphic of the future USS Milwaukee, displayed on the park’s Jumbotron screen. Earlier in the day, Mabus took part in other activities around the city, including the hosting of an event at Discovery World for Navy supporters, sailors and local officials.
No word on whether Mabus stuck around for the end of the game but if he did, he saw joy in Mudville: the Brewers beat the Rockies 2-1 on a walk-off home run by slugger Ryan Braun leading off the bottom of the 11th.
Home after the storm
August 31st, 2011 | 2nd Fleet Carriers Enterprise Hurricane Navy Norfolk Naval Shipyard Norfolk Naval Station Photos Ships | Posted by Bill McMichael
The 27 ships that sortied out of Hampton Roads in advance of Hurricane Irene’s arrival last weekend began returning to Naval Station Norfolk and Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek Tuesday and are continuing to come back throughout the week.
The destroyer Bainbridge returns to Naval Station Norfolk after getting underway ahead of Hurricane Irene Aug. 25. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Eric S. Garst
Also returning to their berths are some of the 28 ships in various stages of maintenance that were sent to safe havens to ride out the Category 1 hurricane, which whipped the region with high winds and generated what the National Weather Service estimates was a 4 1/2-foot storm surge at Naval Station Norfolk.
The aircraft carrier Enterprise returns to Naval Station Norfolk after taking shelter at Norfolk Naval Shipyard during Hurricane Irene. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Eric S. Garst
The sortie was ordered by 2nd Fleet commander Vice Adm. Daniel Holloway as a safety precaution for the Hampton Roads fleet concentration area.
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
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