Swapping out in Sasebo
April 13th, 2012 | 7th Fleet Amphibious operations Navy The Pacific | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
Amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard stopped in Okinawa, Japan, en route to Sasebo, where the San Diego-based crew will swap hulls with Essex. (Navy photo by MC2 Adam M. Bennett)
Amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard arrived in Sasebo, Japan, on April 8 for the Navy’s planned “hull swap” this spring with its older sibling, Essex. The BHR, as many call it, left San Diego in February for the cross-Pacific trek, carrying utility craft and about 800 Marines headed to South Korea for bilateral training exercises. The ship stopped in Okinawa, Japan, before heading on course for Sasebo Naval Base, the forward-deployed homeport for 7th Fleet’s amphibious force. While in Sasebo, the San Diego sailors will train with their Essex counterparts before both ships’ skippers exchange command for the official swap and both crews settle into their new bunks aboard their “new” (or in the case of Essex, older) ship.
The San Diego crew will then bring Essex to California, where the 20-year-old ship is scheduled to enter a San Diego shipyard later this year for some needed repairs and in-depth maintenance expected to take a year. Meanwhile, the Sasebo crew will operate the BHR, which itself got spiffed up in a shipyard period that included some upgraded systems and equipment, in 7th Fleet’s busy area of operations. Navy officials expect the ship will serve 10 years in the region.
For Essex, the swap marks a return to its old homeport of San Diego. The big-deck ship had replaced the now-retired (and sunken) Belleau Wood in a swap in 2000, and for the past 11 years has operated in the Far East, deploying with Marines, training with allied navies and assisting with humanitarian aid and natural disaster missions. Last year, Essex and members of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit responded to the disaster in Japan after the devastating earthquake and tsunami.
Amphibious assault ship Essex pulls into Sasebo, Japan, in December following fall patrols in the western Pacific. (Navy photo by MCSA Mackenzie P. Adams)
Back to the Philippines?
April 13th, 2012 | 7th Fleet Joint operations Liberty Navy The Pacific | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
It’s getting more jittery in the Pacific.
Amphibious transport dock Denver pulls into Subic Bay, Philippines, on April 10 for liberty. (Navy photo by MCSN Raul Moreo Jr.)
North Korea’s failed launch of a missile April 12 gives them more drive to conduct their next nuclear underground test, if nothing but to show the world that its new leader, Kim Jong Un, is just as tough and threatening as his paternal predecessors, defense analysts say. All that missile rattling, along with China’s growing military might, has heightened insecurities in an already-tense Asia-Pacific. With the U.S. strategy now taking a keener eye on the Pacific, and the brass talking more about ramping up training and deployments around the region, some of the Navy’s old haunts might be open to seeing more sailors, and their warships, in their seaports. Like the Philippines.
It’s been nearly a generation since sailors and Marines lived, trained and played in the Southeast Asia island-nation. The planned U.S. pullout of forces, and the 1991 volcanic blast of Mount Pinatubo, hastened the exit and made more permanent the closure of Subic Bay Naval Base and other installations that housed American troops. Over the years, occasional natural-disaster contingency missions driven by Mother Nature sent U.S. forces to help, a routine bilateral joint training exercises like the annual “Balikatan” have allowed some U.S. troops to visit the country. Recent years have seen more Navy ships have pulled into its ports as sailors have helped in community relations projects. On April 10, sailors arrived in Manila aboard dock transport ship Denver, which is on spring patrol from its Sasebo, Japan, homeport with the Essex Amphibious Ready Group, as the U.S. Pacific Command prepared to kick off this year’s “Balikatan” exercises, which run through April 27.
U.S. and military officials have dismissed the idea of basing troops in the Philippines again, but they say they plan to expand military training and port visits to the country, a key U.S. ally and treaty partner. While some in the region grumble at the prospects of more American intervention, some locals in the Philippines are more welcoming. One Manila columnist observed: “Aside from the bar girls of Olongapo who pine for the return of American sailors, there are many anxious souls who also wish the U.S. Seventh Fleet were back in Subic in light of the Chinese bullying in the West Philippine Sea.”
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.”
Naval Academy’s ‘South Pacific’ is a secret
January 24th, 2012 | Naval Academy Navy The Pacific World War II | Posted by Jenn Rafael
The Naval Academy Glee Club is putting on Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific," but apparently isn't allowed to say so. // Amazon.com
Next month, Naval Academy midshipmen will perform possibly the most nautical musical ever to hit Broadway — but you wouldn’t know it by reading the school’s announcement of tickets for the winter musical.
It’s South Pacific, but “licensing restrictions prohibit releasing the name of the production in this announcement.”
The story is set on a South Pacific island during World War II, featuring two love stories threatened by prejudice and war. Nellie, a spunky nurse from Arkansas, falls in love with a French planter, while Lt. Joe Cable finds himself denying his love for an island native.
The songs are familiar: “There Is Nothin’ Like a Dame” and “Some Enchanted Evening,” “Younger Than Springtime” and “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair.”
“The performance will be a fully realized Rodgers and Hammerstein production, complete with dancing, costumes, and a live pit orchestra made up of midshipmen musicians,” according to the news release.
The show will be performed Feb. 24, 25, and 26 and March 2, 3, and 4 in Mahan Hall. Performances are at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays. Tickets go on sale Jan. 24 and can be purchased online, by calling the Music and Theatre Box Office at 410-293-8497 or at the door.
Down Under, memories of another ‘Pearl Harbor’
November 25th, 2011 | Australia Historical Liberty Navy The Pacific | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
No doubt the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor stands out as a critical turning point in our nation’s history. Next month, we mark the 70th anniversary, and the nation will join countless veterans and service members in recalling the sacrifice from that day and the amazing generation that stepped up and answered the nation’s call.
Such pivotal moments are shared by U.S. allies including the Australians, who are strengthening their ties and military relationship with the United States that goes back 60 years to World War II with an alliance that’s remained solid – and popular among U.S. sailors and Marines who get to visit the remote island continent. Most recently, President Barack Obama announced a new rotation of Marines and Air Force units to Australian military training bases that will also see more U.S. ships visiting in Darwin, in the Northern Territory, and likely other liberty ports Down Under.
At the USS Peary memorial in Darwin, Australia, President Obama and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard pay respects to the 91 sailors who perished when the city was bombed in 1942. (AP photo)
Like our Pearl Harbor, the Aussies, too, had a pivotal moment during World War II when 260 Japanese fighters and dive bombers attacked Darwin, home to several key bases and communications stations, on Feb. 19, 1942. Although the Australian military was in the thick of the larger war, this was the first attack on Australian soil. Thick dark plumes of smoke rose over the city from oil storage tanks struck in the attack as soldiers and sailors manned anti-aircraft guns. Two Royal Australian Navy shipswere crippled in the harbor as the hulls exploded. The attack killed as many as 252 troops and local civilians and left hundreds wounded. The bombing of Darwin remains a dark day in that nation’s history. Australia recently announced a new national day of observance to mark the attack.
The enemy aircraft that day also struck the USS Peary as it sat in Darwin’s harbor, off the Timor Sea, killing 91 sailors. On his recent visit, Obama laid a wreath at a memorial dedicated to the Peary, a site anchored by one of the ship’s four-inch guns recovered after the attack. The president met Tony Duke, whose late father, Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class Melvin Duke, had survived the attack, received the Purple Heart medal and later had his remains buried at the wreckage site. His son provides a poignant recollection of his father and how he learned what he went through on that fateful day.
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.
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.
“Know Your AOR” edition: Spratlys
July 22nd, 2011 | China Diplomacy Geography Navy The Pacific The Philippines | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
You may have caught it in passing on a news ticker or blog, but have no clue what or where on Earth are the Spratly islands. But you hear they are contested islands some defense experts think potentially could spark the start of a regional war.
The archipelago is comprised of small atolls, reefs, islets and outcroppings in the South China Sea, west of the Philippines and spread across a large area but claimed by the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Taiwan and Malaysia. The islands, which range in size from small to tiny, are in a prime fishing region and sit atop what’s believed to be vast reserves of oil and natural gas. It’s no surprise numerous disputes flare up between nations that stake claim on the islands and nearby waters, a well-trafficked route for commercial ships and military vessels.
“The worry, among others that I have, is that the ongoing incidents could spark a miscalculation, and an outbreak that no one anticipated,” Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen told reporters in Beijing during his China visit earlier this month. The Spratlys were among the hot topics at a regional security conference in Bali just this week.
But that political and diplomatic hubbub is pretty much lost on residents of the remote tropical islands. Their biggest worry? Boredom. So says this Associated Press report from a recent – and controversial – July 20 visit by some Filipino lawmakers to Pagasa, one of the islands: “The only sounds are the waves slapping the shore and the wind whistling in the ears. At high noon, fighting off sleep is a struggle.”
Nonexistent crime tests the Filipino police officers on the island, which covers just 91 acres. “One big problem really is how to kill time,” said one town mayor. “After fishing, walking around, playing billiards and cards, what else can one do next?”
Something to think about during those long days at sea.
Colombia’s drug lords enter the silent service
February 15th, 2011 | Foreign navies Navy Submarines The Pacific | Posted by Sam Fellman
Colombian soldiers board a submersible narco-sub on a remote jungle river during a raid on Monday. // AP Photo
It’s Pablo Escobar meets John Holland: drug lords built a 99-foot-long submarine, believed to be the first Colombian narco-sub capable of traveling fully submerged, Colombian officials said Monday. It even sported a periscope.
The fiberglass sub, crewed by four, had been designed to haul up to eight tons of narcotics and could travel 9 feet underwater, powered by two diesel engines, Colombian officials told the Associated Press. Tipped off to its existence, the Colombian military seized the sub from its makeshift berth on a jungle river, hundreds of miles off the country’s northwest coast. No one was aboard, however.
Col. Manuel Hurtado, chief of staff of Colombia’s Pacific Command, estimated the sub, outfitted with a 16-foot periscope and air conditioning, had cost $2 million to build and said it could make the roughly 1,300-mile trip to Mexico underwater.
“The engines were already fully installed and ready to go,” he said.
Message not received
November 23rd, 2010 | Carriers China Navy North Korea The Pacific Washington | Posted by David Larter
An F/A 18E Super Hornet assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-27 takes off from the flight deck of USS George Washington as the destroyer Stethem steams alongside during flight quarters. // MC3 Devon Dow
Remember all those exercises South Korea held with the U.S. a few months ago to send a message to its pugnacious northern neighbor? You know, the ones that had the carrier George Washington steaming with the South Korean navy? The exercises that drove U.S.-Chinese relations to a low-point earlier this year? Well Kim Jong-Il didn’t pick up the phone, apparently.
This morning, the news broke that North Korea opened a barrage of artillery fire on South Korean troops, killing at least two people.
The question must be asked: How do the U.S. and South Korea abide this? The U.S. pulled out the biggest gun it had in the region the last time North Korea acted up — the 80,000-ton, four-and-a-half-acre George Washington and its escorts. It could be argued the situation is worse now than it was in the immediate wake of the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan. Our relationship with China has suffered since and, by extension, so has our ability to respond diplomatically, since China is our only real means of reaching out to North Korea.
Another round of naval exercises would further tick off the Chinese and, given this morning’s news, would it be effective? How effective were those exercises this year if it failed to deter further aggression from North Korea?
The Defense Department said today it was monitoring the situation “with concern,” but that any discussion of a military response would be “premature.”
Meanwhile, South Korea put the word out that any further aggression from North Korea could be met with an “enormous” military response.
This situation could get ugly in the coming days. What do you think should be the response?