Welcome to MSW’s Scuttlebutt! Here’s the news for the day.
Feature - Tugs!
MSW Crew member Peter Fulgoney shares with us with his little diorama entitled Tugs!.
Navy Drops Carrier Group, Down To Nine
Source: Center for a New American Security
WASHINGTON --- A recent Navy decision to deactivate one of its aircraft carrier groups could be a sign of things to come for the service's carrier fleet.
On Monday, former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead announced that the Navy's Carrier Strike Group 9 will be reassigned from the USS Abraham Lincoln to the USS Ronald Reagan.
The reason for the group's reassignment? To take the place of the recently deactivated Carrier Strike Group 7, stationed in San Diego, Calif. Taking CSG-7 out of the fleet leaves the Navy with only nine operational carrier strike groups.
A number that the sea service will likely be stuck with over the next decade, according to Ray Pritchett, who runs the Information Dissemination blog that covers Navy issues closely.
According to Pritchett, the move is the Navy's way of cutting costs early on as DoD prepares for lean funding years ahead. By cutting a carrier group, the Navy can clear all the operations and maintenance costs for that group off their books.
In addition, Pritchett points out, the Navy will also save service dollars in operations and maintenance for the air wings tied to CSG-7.
Even though the Navy will keep all 11 carriers in the fleet, which will drop to 10 ships once the USS Enterprise retires, it will likely maintain the nine carrier group construct for the long term.
Once the Enterprise is taken out of service, the Navy will likely just do the same thing it did with CSG-7, simply shifting the group (CSG-12) from the Enterprise to another carrier.
While the Navy will be able to shoulder the loss of the group, and still maintain a strategic presence worldwide, the message the move sends -- particularly to the Hill -- could be irreversible, according to one defense analyst.
If Navy operations do not suffer as a result of the cut and maintain the nine strike group construct long term, "it will be very hard to bring that [number] back up" if needed, said Travis Sharp, a defense budget analyst at the Center for a New American Security.
The move will also make the Navy's case for the new Ford-class carrier harder to make, Sharp said, noting that the Navy could bolster its amphibious fleet as a way to fill that gap.
Argentina Re-states Intent for Nuclear-Powered Submarines
Source: Forecast international
NEWTOWN, Conn. --- Argentinean Minister of Defense Arturo Puricelli says that the country is considering the development of nuclear propulsion for submarines currently designed with diesel-electric powertrains. The initiative follows a request from President Cristina Fernandez and is closely linked to Brazil's construction of a nuclear-powered submersible with French technology.
According to Puricelli, Argentina has the capability to develop this technology. Argentina's National Atomic Energy Commission and the National Institute for Space and Nuclear Technology apparently have completed designing the CAREM reactor, which can be adapted for use on a submarine.
The two vessels that could receive the new power systems first are the Santa Fé and the San Juan. Construction of the Type 1700 Santa Fé was never completed and is currently under way. The Navy hopes to have the sub conventionally powered and in the water by 2015. A nuclear propulsion system would be added later.
Argentina first expressed an interest in nuclear-powered submarines last year. Former Defense Minister Nilda Garre announced in June 2010 that technical studies toward development were already under way. Critics have discredited the plans, saying that the program would be too costly for the government.
Battle off the coast of Abkhazia
Today is the anniversary of the Battle off the coast of Abkhazia.
ZR-1 USS Shenandoah
Today’s website is ZR-1 USS Shenandoah. Enjoy.
This Day in U.S. Naval History
1815 - Captain Stephen Decatur concludes treaty for the United States with Tripoli.
1842 - Signing of Webster-Ashburton Treaty under which United States and Great Britain agreed to cooperate in suppressing the slave trade.
1865 - Return of Naval Academy to Annapolis after four years at Newport, R.I.
1919 - Construction of rigid airship Shenandoah (ZR 1) is authorized.
1941 - Atlantic Charter Conference is first meeting between President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.
1942 - Battle of Savo Island begins; First of many sea battles near Guadalcanal.
1945 - Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. Navy weaponeer arms the atomic bomb.
1949 - First use of pilot-ejection seat for emergency escape in U.S. made by Lt. Jack I. Fruin of VF-171 near Walterboro, S.C.
Diorama Idea of the Day
Captain Emile Dechaineux DSC on the bridge of HMAS Australia in the South-West Pacific Area in September 1944. To see the original high resolution photo, click here.
Gator
