Ahoy mates and welcome to MSW’s Scuttlebutt! Let’s see what going on today.
Victory at Sea – Battle of Lake Champlain
In today’s edition of Victory at Sea, we go back in time to the War of 1812 and the Battle of Lake Champlain. As you read, see how the naval battle directly affected the ensuing land battle at Plattsburgh.
Victory at Sea
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This Day in U.S. Naval History
1814 - In the Battle of Lake Champlain, Commodore Thomas Macdonough defeats a British Squadron.
1939 - USS Bear (AG 29) is commissioned by the U.S. Navy for Antarctic operations under command of Rear Adm. Richard Byrd.
1941 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces order to the Navy to "shoot on sight" vessels threatening U.S. shipping or ships under U.S. escort.
1942 - Pharmacist's Mate 1st Class Wheeler B. Lipes performs emergency appendectomy on Seaman 1st Class Darrell D. Rector, aboard USS Seadragon (SS 194), on patrol in South China Sea. This act was to be immortalized in the movie “Destination Tokyo” starring Cary Grant.
1943 - Italian Navy surrenders to Allies.
1945 - Operation Magic Carpet, the return of troops to the Unites States, begins.
2001 - One hundred twenty-five Pentagon employees, including 42 Sailors and Department of the Navy civilians, are killed along with 59 airline passengers when terrorists fly a highjacked airliner into the Pentagon.
Russia says its Navy ready to thwart any threat to security
Russia's Navy remains a strong force capable of repelling any attack by a potential aggressor, a Navy spokesman said on Tuesday.
"The Navy remains a serious deterrent prepared to thwart any threat to Russia's national security, and if necessary provide an adequate response to any act of aggression," Capt. 1st Rank Igor Dygalo said.
Russia announced on Tuesday it will send a naval task group, comprising nuclear-powered missile cruiser Pyotr Velikiy (Peter the Great) and support ships, for a sortie in the Atlantic Ocean, and to participate in joint naval drills with the Venezuelan navy in November.
Washington immediately responded by mocking the Russian move, which is widely considered a response to NATO's increased naval presence in the Black Sea following a brief military conflict between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia.
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack jokingly said that if Russia really intended to send ships to the Caribbean, "then they found a few ships that can make it that far."
Commenting on this statement, Dygalo said: "Do not forget that the Russian Navy has nuclear submarines and surface ships capable of conducting training and combat missions anywhere in the world."
For instance, the Pyotr Velikiy is a Kirov (Orlan) class nuclear-powered guided missile heavy cruiser, which has a practically unlimited operational range and carries 20 SS-N-19 Shipwreck surface-to-surface missiles with either nuclear or high-explosive warheads and about 500 surface-to-air missiles of different types, supplemented by a large number of other weaponry.
"The return of the Russian Navy to global oceans is an accomplished fact, whether you accept it or not," the official said.
Russia announced last year that its Navy had resumed, and would build up, its constant presence in different regions of the world's oceans.
A naval task force from Russia's Northern Fleet, consisting of the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, the Udaloy-Class destroyers Admiral Levchenko and Admiral Chabanenko, as well as auxiliary vessels, conducted from December 2007 to February 2008 a two-month tour of duty in the Mediterranean Sea and North Atlantic.
The Navy spokesman stressed that Russia has no intention of 'brandishing a stick' and threatening other nations.
"The main goal of the Russian Navy is to ensure the national security of the country; those who attempt to find any secret agenda in the upcoming joint naval exercises between Russia and Venezuela are mistaken," Dygalo said.
"During the drills, ships and naval aircraft will practice coordinated maneuvering, search-and-rescue, and communications," he said, adding that cooperation between foreign navies is normal international practice.
The Russian Navy retained the vast majority of the former Soviet naval forces, and currently comprises the Northern Fleet, the Pacific Fleet, the Black Sea Fleet, the Baltic Fleet, the Caspian Flotilla, Naval Aviation, Naval Infantry (marines) and coastal artillery.
The collapse of the Soviet Union led to a severe decline in the Russian Navy, but the recent rearmament program until 2015 put, for the first time in Soviet and Russian history, the development of the navy on an equal footing with strategic nuclear forces.
Out of 4.9 trillion rubles ($192.16 billion) allocated for military rearmament, 25% will go into building new ships.
Russia's Navy commander, Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky, said in July that the Navy command had decided to form in the future five or six aircraft carrier task forces to be deployed with the Northern and Pacific fleets.
At present, Russia has only one operational aircraft carrier, the Nikolai Kuznetsov, which was commissioned in the early 1990s and has recently re-entered service after a prolonged overhaul.
Avaya Federal Solutions to Provide Shipboard Communications for U.S. Navy's Next-Generation Aircraft Carrier
Avaya Federal Solutions, Inc. today announced it is providing communications for the USS Gerald R. Ford, the U.S. Navy's next-generation aircraft carrier. Currently under construction by Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, the Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) represents the lead ship of a new class of aircraft carriers. The ship is expected to deliver in 2015.
Avaya Federal Solutions is a wholly owned subsidiary of Avaya, a global leader in business communications applications systems and services.
The Avaya solution for the Gerald R. Ford is based on Avaya Communication Manager 4.0 telephony software running on high-reliability Avaya servers, voice messaging, audio conferencing, more than 1500 telephones plus tactical terminals from L3 Communications.
Requirements for voice systems installed on these ships include rigorous testing and certification for security, interoperability and resiliency, plus simultaneous support of legacy and advanced communications protocols and architectures.
To meet these requirements, all components of the Avaya solution for shipboard communications must be certified by the U.S. Department of Defense - Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC). In addition, Grade A Shock Testing -- a requirement of the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command -- subjected an active Avaya communications network to a series of detonations simulating underwater explosions, which was monitored for continuity of operations and maintenance of integrity at every step.
The Avaya solution enables Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding to simultaneously support traditional telephony features and interfaces to legacy shipboard systems while also offering modern communications protocols and architectures, such as Voice over IP (VoIP), Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA).
Avaya voice solutions are installed on more than 80 ships of the U.S. Navy fleet, including all the U.S. Navy's aircraft carriers, large deck amphibious platforms (LHA and LHD), and a number of submarines, and Military Sealift Command support vessels. Avaya Intelligent Communications also currently support more than 200,000 shore personnel across more than 75 Navy and Marine Corps bases and major commands and installations.
The Avaya solution for the Gerald R. Ford is being provided under contract to Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, the only shipyard in the U.S. capable of building nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a global defense and technology company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in information and services, electronics, aerospace and shipbuilding to government and commercial customers worldwide.
The Gerald R. Ford Class will be the premier forward asset for crisis response and early decisive striking power in a major combat operation. The Gerald R. Ford Class and the Carrier Strike Group will provide forward presence, rapid response, endurance on station, and multi-mission capability. The Gerald R. Ford Class balances improved warfighting capability, quality of life improvements for our Sailors and reduced acquisition and life cycle costs. When completed, the USS Gerald R. Ford will rise 20 stories above water level and able to sail the oceans for 20 years without refueling. The ship will feature a multitude of improvements over existing aircraft carriers, all designed to improve the combat capability of our carrier fleet while simultaneously reducing acquisition and life cycle costs. The ship will carry approximately 75 aircraft and 4,700 crew members.
Navy's New Broadband Satellite Program Provides Greater Reliability, 10-fold Increase in at-Sea Throughput
The Navy has begun procuring the next generation commercial satellite communications terminals to augment its Military Satellite Communications. The procurement is designed to significantly increase throughput to ships at sea. Throughput is the amount of data transferred in a specific amount of time, usually expressed as bits per second.
The Commercial Broadband Satellite Program (CBSP) is sponsored by the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition (ASN RD&A)) and executed by the Communications Program Office within the Navy's Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I). It is a Rapid Deployment Capability (RDC) acquisition to expedite replacement of Inmarsat B HSD and Commercial Wideband SATCOM Program (CWSP) capabilities. The current RDC fielding requirement is to install CBSP terminals on up to 49 ships.
Navy ships currently use Inmarsat B HSD (128 kbps) or CWSP (2.048 Mbps). CBSP terminals will be capable of delivering up to a near 10-fold increase in throughput from 881 kbps for the Small Ship Variant (SSV) equipped ships to 21.6 Mbps for the Force Level Variant (FLV) equipped ships. Throughput received by individual fleet units will depend on each ship's actual satellite allocation of CBSP bandwidth, which will be procured by PEO C4I in coordination with the Defense Information Systems Agency. The increased throughput capability will enable to ships to transmit voice, video and data faster and in greater volume. Additionally, the quality of life for Sailors will be increased by their ability to communicate using wideband SATCOM.
Chris Miller, who heads PEO C4I, the organization charged with acquiring, installing, and supporting communications and information technology systems for the Navy said, “Our warfighters need the added capability in order to ensure decision superiority – the ability to make informed decisions in critical situations – faster than the enemy.”
According to Navy Capt. John W. Pope III, Communications Program Manager, the Navy is acquiring three variants of the commercial terminals, depending on the size and mission of the ship for which it is destined.
“Each terminal variant is capable of receiving differing satellite spectrum bands depending on their use,” said Pope. “The SSV is a Ku band terminal intended for ships operating in littoral waters. The Unit Level Variant (ULV) terminal will be commercial X and Ku capable and will be the size and weight to fit on unit level ships. The FLV terminal will access the C and Ku satellites and will be large enough to provide high data rate to force level ships."
Pope said his program office’s goal is to deliver the capability as quickly as possible while balancing cost, schedule and performance, in addition to the challenges inherent in an RDC acquisition.
“This program plays a key role in the Navy’s SATCOM roadmap strategy as we consolidate from five SATCOM terminal Programs of Record to two: CBSP and the Navy Multiband Terminal. This effort should allow the Navy to take advantage of newer technology and reduce overall lifecycle costs.”
The Navy recently completed a Developmental Test and Quick Reaction Assessment of the first CBSP terminal, installed aboard the mine countermeasures ship USS Champion (MCM 4), under the command of Navy Lt. Cmdr. John Callaway.
“CBSP SSV is a significant improvement in capability and reliability,” said Callaway. “It’s the first time I have been able to surf the SIPRnet (Secret Internet Protocol Router Network) while at sea.”
The increased bandwidth provided by CBSP was welcomed by Information System Technician Senior Chief (Surface Warfare) (ITCS(SW)) Jim Crewse, USS Champion Communications’ Division Chief.
“Overall the system has been performing great and had added capability and performance for the ship,” explained Crewse.
According to Melinda Ratz, the Assistant Program Manager for CBSP, the Navy’s first priority is to install CBSP terminals on the most “bandwidth disadvantaged” users, a group that includes frigates, mine countermeasure ships, and coastal patrol ships.
“Additional SSV terminals were ordered after the successful Developmental Testing and Quick Reaction Assessment aboard USS Champion for installations beginning as early as September,” said Ratz. “ULV terminals are being produced for installation and testing in spring 2009 to ensure the frigates receive this mission essential capability. The next priority will be to install CBSP on force level ships to replace CWSP.”
The SSV CBSP terminal is manufactured by CVG, Inc., of Chantilly, Va. The FLV and ULV contracts were awarded in May and June 2008 to Harris Corp., of Melbourne, Fla.
Naval Strike Wings's Role in Operation OQAB TSUKA
Operation OQAB TSUKA was the mission to move a large hydroelectric turbine, from Kandahar Airfield, to the dam at the Kijaki reservoir in the Helmand Province of Southern Afghanistan. Destined to be installed within the dam’s hydroelectric power station the turbine, once in place, will double the plants power generation capabilities. This will have a positive impact on a large area of Southern Afghanistan and as such is seen as a key move in the efforts to rebuild and improve the nation’s infrastructure.
The Operation was particularly challenging for several reasons. Once the turbine and its components arrived at Kandahar airfield, (flown in by series of large cargo aircraft), they had to be transported to the dam via a poor road network, and through territory that was likely to be contested by the various insurgent groups that operate within the area. To facilitate the move, a convoy was assembled, which when the various support elements such as engineers and security were included, numbered in excess of eighty vehicles. Part of the security arrangements included the use of air power. This included the Harriers of Naval Strike Wing.
NSW’s aircraft contributed to several aspects of the Operation, providing reconnaissance, prior to the operation, and flying protective overwatch missions once the convoy was underway. In the latter role, the presence of the NSW Harriers, (together with other aircraft), provided the ground forces with the ability to deter enemy aggression, and the capability to respond quickly, accurately and decisively if an attack was forthcoming. The aircraft also acted as visible psychological reassurance for friendly forces on the ground. In addition to these tasks, the Harriers were also able to search the route ahead of the convoy and provide timely information of potential threats and observe areas of concern prior to the convoy’s transit. Using air to air refuelling, the aircraft were able to remain on task for considerable periods.
The convoy was able to reach its destination after several days travel and a considerable amount of effort by those directly concerned. The move did attract the attention of the insurgents, but through a proactive stance and robust force protection the threat was kept largely out of the convoy’s way. Much of the security effort was focused on the flanks beyond the convoy’s route. Multi-national forces, (British, Canadian, American, Australian and Afghan) moved into area bordering the route, and actively engaged the enemy. During these actions, NSW again played an important role, providing protective overwatch for friendly forces, and on several occasions conducting strike missions in support of troops who were in contact with enemy forces.
Through such tasking, NSW was once again to prove the capability and flexibility of fixed wing naval aviation.
Photo of the Day
Today’s photo is of the Pentagon Memorial for 9/11. Let us remember all of those who have given their lives to defend America.
Gator
