Welcome to MSW’s Scuttlebutt! Here’s the news for the day.



Alert - Community Build Session 6
Muster up, all Community Build participants!
It's that time again, yes, time for me to start poking, prodding and reminding to you you all that the close of Session 6 of our Community Build is gaining fast!
As per contest rule, all image updates have to be uploaded and in your personal BLOG by the first of December, EST, so mark your calendars, my friends, and take heed!


Review - V-106 Torpedo Boat(1986)
MSW Crew-mate Jay Massey (treadhead1952) gives us a closer look at Mirage Hobby's 1/400 scale plastic Injection mold kit, V-106 Torpedo Boat, in this "inbox" review!
Review




All The World’s Battlecruisers

Today’s website is All The World’s Battlecruisers. This is a nice reference sight with information on what the site’s author dubs the “world’s last dreadnoughts”. Enjoy.
Website




This Day in U.S. Naval History

1775 - Continental Congress authorizes privateering.
1943 - In Battle of Cape St. George, five destroyers of Destroyer Squadron 23 (Capt. Arleigh Burke) intercept five Japanese destroyers and sink three and damage one without suffering any damage.
1961 - Commissioning of USS Enterprise [CVA(N)-65], the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, at Newport News, Va.


SBK Movie Studio announces Jutland movie
Source: Variety

Ben Kingsley's fledgling U.K.-based production company SBK Pictures is ramping up its slate, putting five films and one made-for-TV miniseries into development.

Kingsley is attached to star in several of the projects, including the WWI drama "Jutland 1916," based on the book by Peter Hart about the epic naval battle. Kingsley has committed to star as Admiral John Jellicoe.
Nick Willing, who directed Kingsley in the 1999 NBC TV movie "Alice in Wonderland," will adapt the screenplay.


Shippers want naval blockade of Somali coast
By Eileen Ng, Associated Press Writer

Shipping officials from around the world called Monday for a military blockade along Somalia's coast to intercept pirate vessels heading out to sea. But NATO, which has four warships off the coast of Somalia, rejected a blockade.

Peter Swift, managing director of the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners, said stronger naval action — including aerial and aviation support — is necessary to battle rampant piracy in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia.
Some 20 tankers sail through the sea lane daily. But many tanker owners are considering a massive detour around southern Africa to avoid pirates, which will delay delivery and push costs up by 30 percent, Swift said.

The association, whose members own 2,900 tankers or 75 percent of the world's fleet, opposes attempts to arm merchant ships because it could escalate the violence and put crew members at even greater risk, he said.
"The other option is perhaps putting a blockade around Somalia and introducing the idea of intercepting vessels leaving Somalia rather than to try to protect the whole of the Gulf of Aden," Swift said.

Somali pirates have become increasingly brazen, seizing eight vessels in the past two weeks, including a huge Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million worth of crude oil.
A blockade along Somalia's 2,400 mile coastline would not be easy.
"But some intervention there may be effective," Swift told reporters on the sidelines of a shipping conference in Malaysia.

U.S. Gen. John Craddock, NATO's supreme allied commander, said Monday the alliance's mandate is solely to escort World Food Program ships to Somalia and to conduct anti-piracy patrols.
Asked what he thought of a Russian proposal to jointly attack the pirate strongholds, Craddock answered: "That's far beyond what I've been tasked to do."

According to Lt. Nathan Christensen, spokesman of the U.S. 5th Fleet based in Bahrain, more than 14 warships from Denmark, France, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, the U.S. and NATO are currently patrolling a vast international maritime corridor. They escort some merchant ships and respond to distress calls in the area.
Christensen declined to comment on the idea of a blockade.

But the navies say it is virtually impossible to patrol the vast sea around the gulf.
NATO has ruled out a blockade.
"Blocking ports is not contemplated by NATO," said NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in Brussels. U.N. Security Council resolutions "do not include these kind of actions and as far as NATO is concerned, this is at the moment not on the cards," he said.

Secretary-General of the Arab League Amr Moussa said Monday Arabs should deploy their own naval forces to fight piracy in the Horn of Africa and also cooperate with foreign fleets in the area.
Diplomats of the Arab countries on the Red Sea met in Cairo last week to coordinate efforts to combat piracy, but some of these nations have been reluctant to get involved.

Somalia, an impoverished nation caught up in an Islamic insurgency, has had no functioning government since 1991. There have been 95 pirate attacks so far this year in Somali waters, with 39 ships hijacked.
Fifteen ships with nearly 300 crew are still in the hands of Somali pirates, who dock the hijacked vessels near the eastern and southern coast as they negotiate for ransom.

"Any action to prevent the pirates from heading out to sea is welcome," said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur. He said it was up to the international community to decide how they can deploy their forces for the blockade.

The Baltic and International Maritime Council, the world's largest private shipping organization, echoed calls for greater military action.
"Despite increased patrols by coalition forces, piracy attacks continue. We hope a system ... will be put in place to coordinate the coalition forces," said Thomas Timlen, its Asian liaison officer. "It's clear from recent events ... that more needs to be done."

Both Swift and Timlen said a blockade is possible if the multi-coalition naval force coordinate their actions and more warships are sent to the area with a stronger mandate.
U.N. resolutions now allow pursuit of pirate ships but various countries interpret the law differently, Swift said.
He called for a clear mandate from the United Nations to allow warships to intercept pirate ships and arrest the sea bandits.




Hornet Celebrates 30th Anniversary of First Flight
Source: US Navy

The F/A-18 Hornet community celebrated the 30th anniversary of the legacy aircraft's first flight Nov. 18.

The Hornet, introduced as a multimission aircraft, was designed to replace the Navy's F-4 Phantom and A-7 Corsair II in each of their respective fighter and attack roles.

"Throughout its 30 years of service in the fleet, it has demonstrated its capability and maintainability," said Capt. Mark Darrah, F/A-18 and EA-18G (PMA-265) program manager.

Darrah noted that the Hornet has proven its multimission capability. He recounted that on the first day of Operation Desert Storm, two Hornets shot down an enemy fighter jet and continued on to destroy their assigned target. During the Kosovo War, Marine F/A-18Ds were used during the rescues of downed U.S. Air Force pilots.

Currently, 636 Legacy Hornets are part of 62 active, Reserve, training and research, development, test and evaluation squadrons within the Navy and Marine Corps fleet. Seven international business partners also fly the Hornet.

The entire F/A-18 family of aircraft, including the Hornet, Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler, commemorated the accumulation of seven million flight hours in July.

"The Super Hornet and Growlers, built on the platform of the Hornet, are destined to continue the 30-year F/A-18 achievement in the future," said Darrah.


Photo of the Day



A Tiger Cruise guest stands on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) while a SH-60F Seahawk assigned to the "Black Knights" of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron (HS) 4 lands in the background.

Gator