THE PENTAGON — Defense Department leadership is staying mum about whether they think the Pentagon will get enough money to build and sustain a 355-ship Navy while top Navy and Army leaders argue over their share of the budget.
Category Archives: Surface Forces
Navy Striving for 71% On-Time Ship Maintenance This Year, No Extensions By End of 2021
Tugboats maneuver the guided-missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) in position for dry-docking in preparation for the ship’s Extended Dry-Docking Selected Restricted Availability (EDSRA) on March 5, 2019. US Navy photo.
ARLINGTON, Va. – The chief of naval operations gave the Navy an aggressive goal to eliminate lost operational days from overrun maintenance availabilities by next year, and surface navy and maintenance community leadership believe they’re on track to do just that. Read More
Coast Guard Icebreaker Polar Star Breaks Out McMurdo Station in Antarctica
The Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star moves through pack ice Dec. 28, 2019, about 200 miles north of McMurdo Station, Antarctica. The 43-year-old Polar Star is the nation’s only heavy icebreaker. This year marks the 64th iteration of the operation known as Operation Deep Freeze. U.S. Coast Guard photograph
The nation’s only heavy icebreaker USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10) finished bashing a 23-mile channel through pack ice on Wednesday to reach the National Science Foundation’s research facility, McMurdo Station, in Antarctica.
Document: Report to Congress on Gerald R. Ford Carrier Program
The following is the Jan. 21, 2020 Congressional Research Service report, Navy Ford (CVN-78) Class Aircraft Carrier Program: Background and Issues for Congress. Read More
Textron’s Common USV Ready for Production, Experimenting with Lethal Surface Warfare Payloads
Textron’s Common Unmanned Surface Vehicle. Textron photo.
ARLINGTON, Va. – Even as Textron is awaiting a decision to move from development of its Mine Countermeasures Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MCM USV) into production, the company also has its eye on using the vessel for missions such as surface warfare and amphibious operations. Read More
Officials: U.S.-Japan Iron Fist Amphib Exercise ‘Extremely Important’ as China’s Navy Expands
U.S. Marines with 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Japan Ground Self-Defense Force soldiers with Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade stand in formation during the opening ceremony of Exercise Iron Fist 2020 on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California on Jan. 17, 2020. US Marine Corps Photo
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – Sailors and Marines kicked off an annual bilateral Iron Fist exercise with Japanese soldiers on Friday that’s designed to help Japan’s fledgling amphibious force become ready to operate. Read More
Sea Hunter USV Will Operate With Carrier Strike Group, As SURFDEVRON Plans Hefty Testing Schedule
Sea Hunter. US Navy Photo
ARLINGTON, Va. – The Navy’s experimentation squadron for unmanned surface vessels has big plans for its second year that include integrating the Sea Hunter Medium USV into a carrier strike group and leading a large U.S. Pacific Fleet experiment this summer. Read More
Navy Will Commission All Expeditionary Sea Bases as USS Warships
Miguel Keith (ESB-5) departs General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. shipyard in San Diego, Calif. During the weeklong acceptance trials, the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey conducted comprehensive tests to demonstrate and evaluate the performance of all of the ship’s major systems in 2019. NASSCO photo
ARLINGTON, Va. – The Navy will now commission all of its Expeditionary Sea Base ships to allow them to conduct a broader and more lethal mission set, compared to original plans for them as Military Sealift Command ships with a USNS designation. Read More
Lincoln Strike Group CO: Record Deployment Marks New Uncertainty for Fleet
Sailors render honors as the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) transits past the USS Arizona Memorial while pulling into Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for a scheduled port visit on Jan. 8, 2020. US Navy Photo
This post has been updated to show Lincoln was deployed for 295 days, counting the day it returned — Jan. 20, 2020.
SAN DIEGO — The 3,000 sailors aboard aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) arrived at their new California homeport this morning having spent more time deployed than any carrier since the mid-1970s – 295 days. Read More
USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Jan. 20, 2020
USNI News Graphic
These are the approximate positions of the U.S. Navy’s deployed carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups throughout the world as of Jan. 20, 2020, based on Navy and public data. In cases where a CSG or ARG is conducting disaggregated operations, the chart reflects the location of the capital ship. Read More
