USS Kauffman (FFG-59) departs Naval Station Norfolk for its final deployment. US Navy Photo
The U.S. Navy’s penultimate frigate is slated to decommission today in a ceremony at Naval Station Norfolk, Va., the service said in a statement. Read More
USS Kauffman (FFG-59) departs Naval Station Norfolk for its final deployment. US Navy Photo
The last Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate deployment ended on Sunday when USS Kauffman (FFG-59) returned to Naval Station Norfolk, Va. following six months in U.S. Southern Command. Read More
USS Kauffman (FFG-59) transits the Hudson River during Fleet Week 2011. US Navy Photo
UPDATE: USS Kauffman (FFG-59) began its final deployment, three days later than planned and left Naval Station Norfolk, Va. on Sunday, according to a statement from the Navy.
The final deployment for the Oliver Hazard Perry class of frigates begins today. Read More
USS Taylor (FFG-50) returns to its homeport of Naval Station Mayport, Fla. on Aug. 9, 2014. The ship is one of four the US may sell to Taiwan. US Navy Photo
China issued a strong statement against a planned sale of U.S. Oliver Hazard Perry frigates to Taiwan that was singed into U.S. law on Thursday. Read More
Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate USS Rodney M. Davis (FFG-60) and Royal Brunei Navy Darussalam-class offshore patrol vessel KDB Darulaman (PV-08) on Nov. 12, 2014 . US Navy Photo
The Taiwanese government said has sets aside $176 million to buy two Oliver Hazard Perry as part of a potential four ship deal, Defense Minister David Lo said on Tuesday. Read More
USS Taylor (FFG-50) departs Naval Station Mayport in 2014. US Navy Photo
USS Taylor (FFG-50) — assigned to U.S. Navy’s 6th Fleet in support of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia — has run aground, 6th Fleet officials announced on Tuesday. Read More
Navy Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen during a 2009 exercise. US Navy Photo
The Navy will issue a report to the Pentagon by July on the service’s plan to allow women to serve in Costal Riverine Units — one of the few remaining Navy specialties closed to women, according to a report a May 2 implementation report released Tuesday. If approved, female officers and enlisted could serve be assigned to the units as early as October.
The riverine unit integration is the first of five so-called “decision points” in response to the January removal of the ground combat exclusion rule that prevents women from serving in frontline combat units. Read More
USS Nicholas (FFG-47) departs Souda Bay, Greece harbor following a port visit on Feb. 11, 2013. US Navy Photo.
Interaction with partner navies around the world is a centerpiece of “A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Sea Power,” the document that guides U.S. Navy maritime operations. One of the strategic imperatives in that directive demands that the Navy “[f]oster and sustain cooperative relationships with more international partners.” That task is extraordinarily difficult because of the disparity between U.S. ships and partner vessels in size and capabilities.
The recent decision to retire seven aging Aegis cruisers eases the disparity to some extent, but also highlights an ongoing debate about the future of the naval force structure. Those seven cruisers are in addition to the five Ticonderoga-class ships scheduled for decommissioning in 2013 and the six Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates also designated to leave the fleet this year. The retirement of the frigates raises old issues. The current naval construction program will replace the “low-end” warships with littoral combat ships (LCSs). The Navy needs the high-low mix across the spectrum of tactical mission areas, but how can this best be achieved?
A new book by former deputy undersecretary of the Navy Seth Cropsey stirs this boiling pot. Read More
Even as the Coast Guard gets a grip on the Arctic, drug smugglers in the eastern Pacific are slipping through its fingers, Commandant Adm. Robert Papp acknowledged Thursday.
At the Surface Naval Association Symposium, Papp told reporters he has been forced to give some things up as demands on the Coast Guard increase in the warming Arctic. As he has sent the service’s new National Security Cutters into the frozen north, it has been at the expense of man- and ship-hours for other missions, including drug interdiction in the eastern Pacific.
The Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf sails in the Arctic Ocean near Barrow, Alaska, Aug. 28, 2012. U.S. Coast Guard Photo
“We don’t have enough ships out there to interdict all the known tracks that we’re aware of,” he said. “We intercept as many as we can.”
