Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Jonathan Greenert testifies before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies about the devastating affects of the continuing resolution and sequestration on military readiness. US Navy Photo
A group of ten Congress members are urging the Navy not to defer maintenance of surface ships as part of the service’s plan to find money to cover mandatory budget cuts. Read More
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) arrives at Newport News Shipbuilding for its 44-month refueling complex overhaul (RCOH) on March 28, 2013. HII Photo
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) has arrived at Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding facility to begin its mid-life refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH), Naval Sea Systems Command officials told USNI News on Thursday. Read More
Sailors’ vehicles are parked on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) on March, 13 2013. US Navy Photo
When in doubt about grave questions, reach for the classics. What would the likes of Alfred Thayer Mahan or Julian Corbett say about the fate of the big-deck aircraft carrier or nuclear carrier (CVN)? I suspect their ghosts would voice skepticism. Read More
USS Miami (SSN-755) on March, 15 2012 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. US Navy Photo
The U.S. Navy submarine damaged by an arsonist in Kittery, Maine will be repaired, said Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter on Monday. Read More
Lockheed Martin Photo
In a classified memo, the details of which were revealed last week in Defense News, Vice Adm. Tom Copeman, commander U.S. Naval Surface Forces told Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert not to build a new version of the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer (DDG-51).
The Flight III DDG-51 is the planned successor to the current Flight IIA design and the planned landing platform for the Navy’s air and missile defense radar (AMDR). Read More
The Military Sealift Command mobile landing platform ship USNS Montford Point (T-MLP 1) is floated out of General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard on Nov. 12, 2012. US Navy Photo
A key component of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps new sea basing strategy has completed its first round of sea trials, Naval Sea Systems Command officials told USNI News on Monday. Read More
USS Freedom (LCS 1) arrives at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on March, 11 2013. US Navy Photo
Christopher P. Cavas’ much-discussed March, 18 Defense News story about the recommendations of Vice Adm. Tom Copeman revealed that even one of the Navy’s top surface warriors has become something of a littoral combat ship (LCS) skeptic, given his reported willingness to recommend a major course correction for the program.
The Navy’s LCS never has had a shortage of skeptics, but for a long time they seemed to be a minority in the surface-warfare world, on the outside looking in. Until now. Read More
From the March, 15 Congressional Research Service report: Coast Guard polar icebreakers perform a variety of missions supporting U.S. interests in polar regions. The Coast Guard’s two existing heavy polar icebreakers— Polar Star and Polar Sea — have exceeded their originally intended 30-year service lives. Polar Star was placed in caretaker status on July 1, 2006. Congress in FY2009 and FY2010 provided funding to repair it and returnit to service for an additional 7 to 10 years of service; the repair work was completed and the ship was reactivated on December 14, 2012. Read More
Capt. Kenneth Coleman when he was commander of the USS Independence (LCS-2). SWONet Photo
Capt. Kenneth Coleman knows more about the Littoral Combat Ship program than most any sailor. Currently Coleman works at U.S. Surface Forces as requirements officer for the LCS program and from April 2010 to Sept. 2011, he was the commander of the Blue crew of USS Independence (LCS-2). USNI News recently interviewed Coleman on the latest of the deployment of USS Freedom (LCS-1). Coleman discussed manning changes for the ship, how the ships will be maintained while deployed and what it’s like for a ship commander to do his own dishes. Read More
HSV-2 Swift departs from Naval Station Mayport to begin Southern Partnership Station 2013. US Navy Photo
The U.S. Navy is examining low-cost high-speed ships to replace aging surface ships in U.S. Southern Command’s fight against drug traffickers, U.S. 4th Fleet officials told USNI News on Tuesday. Read More
