Two Saildrone Explorer unmanned surface vessels and the guided-missile destroyer USS Delbert D. Black (DDG 119) operate in the Arabian Gulf, Jan. 8. US Navy Photo
The U.S. Navy will expand its unmanned systems experimentation testbed to U.S. 4th Fleet to counter both drug trafficking and China’s illegal fishing, service officials announced Tuesday. Read More
Naval Aircrewman (Helicopter) 2nd Class Bryce Batiancela, assigned to the “Chargers” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 26 Detachment 3 attached to hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20), monitors the helicopter’s distance from the ship during flight operations off the coast of Jeremie, Haiti, Dec. 12, 2022. US Navy Photo
Personnel from USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) resumed medical services at Wharf de Jeremie, Haiti, on Wednesday following a short pause after 19 people went overboard during a transfer between the wharf and the medical ship. Read More
Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Omar Bowen, left, assigned to Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Unit Bahrain, administers the COVID-19 vaccine to Lt. j.g. Kory Hill, anti-terrorism officer aboard amphibious transport dock ship USS San Diego (LPD-22), in Manama, Bahrain on Feb. 26, 2021. US Navy Photo
The COVID-19 pandemic continued to affect the Navy’s functioning, even as vaccines were rolled out to the fleet. The past year brought ebbs and flows in terms of the number of cases with peaks brought by the Delta and Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2. Read More
Sailors heave line on the fo’c’sle as the Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Milwaukee (LCS-5) arrives in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on Dec. 20, 2021. US Navy Photo
This post has been updated to correct the deployment date of USS Milwaukee (LCS-5). It departed Florida on Dec 14.
USS Milwaukee (LCS-5) is in port after sailors aboard the Littoral Combat Ship tested positive for COVID-19, the Navy announced on Friday. Read More
BAE Guayas and low-profile vessel on Oct. 22, 2021. Ecuadorian Navy Photo
A three-masted training ship interdicted a drug-laden high-speed smuggling vessel off the coast of Colombia on Friday, the Ecuadorian Navy announced. Read More
An MH-60S Knight Hawk helicopter assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 21 (HSC 21) lands on the flight deck of the independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Tulsa (LCS-16) on July 5, 2021. US Navy Photo
KUALA LUMPUR — The Navy is making Littoral Combat Ship deployments in the Indo-Pacific region more flexible and unpredictable, allowing the service to respond to impromptu engagement opportunities and ensuring the LCS are not tied to any fixed location for too long, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said during a media conference call on Wednesday in conjunction with his official visit to Singapore. Read More
Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, addresses the crew of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Hopper (DDG-70) following the completion of their maintenance availability on June 29, 2021. US Navy Photo
The U.S. Navy’s numbered fleets are by tradition tied to a specific geographical region, but that doesn’t mean commanders in California can’t command ships in the Western Pacific or any other part of the world, the new U.S. Pacific Fleet commander said on Wednesday. Read More
USS Charleston (LCS-18) arrives for a contactless port visit ahead of Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Sri Lanka on June 23, 2021. US Navy Photo
The Navy will have six Littoral Combat Ships deployed by the end of the year – a record for the program, several Navy officials have confirmed to USNI News. Read More
The Independence-variant littoral combat ships USS Montgomery (LCS 8) and USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10) operate in the South China Sea, accompanied by an MH-60S Sea Hawk assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23, Jan. 28, 2020. US Navy photo
The Navy is now pushing the Littoral Combat Ships out into the Pacific in force after more than a decade of stops and starts and studies. Read More
Adm. Craig Faller, commander of U.S. Southern Command, visited troops assigned to Joint Task Force-Bravo in Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras on Dec. 11, 2020. US Army Photo
China has used the COVID-19 pandemic to rapidly expand its “corrosive, insidious influence” – from money laundering for transnational gangsters to using its own ships to illegally fish protected waters and benefit from illegal logging and mining – “in our neighborhood,” U.S. Southern Command’s top officer said Tuesday. Read More
