Navy Renames Three Ship Classes, Creates 'Expeditionary' Designator in Naming System

Navy Renames Three Ship Classes, Creates ‘Expeditionary’ Designator in Naming System

A Landing Craft Air Cushion is launched from the Military Sealift Command mobile landing platform USNS Montford Point (MLP 1) during Pacific Horizon 2015. US Navy photo.

A Landing Craft Air Cushion is launched from the Military Sealift Command mobile landing platform USNS Montford Point (MLP 1) during Pacific Horizon 2015. US Navy photo.

This post has been updated to include additional information regarding the ship naming action memo from the chief of naval operations to the Navy secretary.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus redesignated three new ship classes to give them more traditional three-letter names. Read More

U.K. Minister Mordaunt: Britain No Longer Defense Spending 'Basket Case'

U.K. Minister Mordaunt: Britain No Longer Defense Spending ‘Basket Case’

British Royal Marine Commandos take part in Operation Sond Chara, the clearance of Nad-e Ali District of Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan in 2009. DoD Photo

British Royal Marine Commandos take part in Operation Sond Chara, the clearance of Nad-e Ali District of Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan in 2009. DoD Photo

In explaining Britain’s future national security course, one of its most senior defense officials said the country is “no longer that basket case” that it was five years ago when its budget was in a “black hole” and the Defense Ministry was trying to unravel a tangle of programs. Read More

UPDATED: Marine Killed, 9 Injured Following Super Stallion ‘Hard Landing’ at Camp Lejeune

UPDATED: Marine Killed, 9 Injured Following Super Stallion ‘Hard Landing’ at Camp Lejeune

Marines with 2nd Transportation Support Battalion prepare to attach an 8,500-pound high beam to a pintle hook beneath a CH-53E Super Stallion during an external lift exercise aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C. on Aug. 25, 2015. US Marine Corps Photo

Marines with 2nd Transportation Support Battalion prepare to attach an 8,500-pound high beam to a pintle hook beneath a CH-53E Super Stallion during an external lift exercise aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C. on Aug. 25, 2015. US Marine Corps Photo

This post has been updated with additional information from II MEF.

One Marine is dead and nine others are injured following the hard landing of a Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion heavy lift helicopter during a Wednesday training exercise at Camp Lejeune, N.C., officials at the base told USNI News on Thursday. Read More

McCain, Reed Chide Navy Over Problems with LCS Mine Countermeasure Package, Recommend Review of Other Technologies

McCain, Reed Chide Navy Over Problems with LCS Mine Countermeasure Package, Recommend Review of Other Technologies

The littoral combat ship USS Independence (LCS-2) deploys a remote multi-mission vehicle (RMMV) while testing the ship’s mine countermeasures mission package (MCM). US Navy Photo

The littoral combat ship USS Independence (LCS-2) deploys a remote multi-mission vehicle (RMMV) while testing the ship’s mine countermeasures mission package (MCM). US Navy Photo

The heads of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) expressed disappointment in the progress of the Mine Countermeasures (MCM) package for the Littoral Combat Ship and are recommending the Navy review other mine hunting technologies to fill looming needs in the fleet, according to a Monday letter to Defense Department acquisition chief Frank Kendall, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert obtained by USNI News. Read More

Document: SASC Letter to Navy, DoD Leaders 'Expressing Concern' with LCS Mine Countermeasure Package Performance

Document: SASC Letter to Navy, DoD Leaders ‘Expressing Concern’ with LCS Mine Countermeasure Package Performance

The following is an Aug. 31, 2015 letter from Senate Armed Services Committee leaders chairman Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and ranking member Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) to Department of Defense Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert on the Mine Countermeasures package for the Littoral Combat Ship.  Read More

Navy Refining Surface Ship Master Plan to Balance Shipyard, Operational Needs

Navy Refining Surface Ship Master Plan to Balance Shipyard, Operational Needs

Water is drained from a dry dock at U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility and Japan Regional Maintenance Center (SRF JRMC) Yokosuka preparing the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Shiloh (CG 67) for a scheduled maintenance availability in July 2015. US Navy photo.

Water is drained from a dry dock at U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility and Japan Regional Maintenance Center (SRF JRMC) Yokosuka preparing the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Shiloh (CG 67) for a scheduled maintenance availability in July 2015. US Navy photo.

SAN DIEGO – The Navy’s maintenance and operational communities have completed the first iterations of a surface ship master plan for maintenance and modernization work, in the hopes of balancing out peaks and valleys in shipyard workload without impacting operational needs. Read More