Welcome to MSW’s Scuttlebutt! Here’s the news for the day.
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This Day in U.S. Naval History
1847 - The Battle of San Gabriel takes place in California. The Navy, Marines and Army defeat the Mexicans in the battle.
1916 - A permanent Marine base (later named Camp Pendleton) is established in San Diego.
1945 - Task Group 77.2 delivers intensive shore bombardment of landing beaches on Lingayen Gulf. The destroyer/minesweeper, Palmer (DMS) is sunk by conventional Japanese air attack.
Navy to Commission Aircraft Carrier George H.W. Bush
Source: US Department of Defense
The Navy’s newest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George H. W. Bush will be commissioned Saturday, Jan. 10, 2009, during an 11 a.m. EST ceremony at Naval Station Norfolk, Va.
President George W. Bush will deliver the principal address. Dorothy “Doro” Bush Koch, daughter of the ship’s namesake, is the ship’s sponsor. In the time-honored Navy tradition, she will give the order to "man our ship and bring her to life!"
The last Nimitz-class aircraft carrier is named to honor World War II naval aviator and America’s 41st president George H. W. Bush. Born on June 12, 1924, in Milton, Mass., Bush began a lifetime of service to America when he joined the Navy on his 18th birthday as a seaman. He became the youngest pilot in the Navy at the time, receiving his commission and naval aviator wings before his 19th birthday.
Bush flew the Avenger torpedo bomber in combat from the carrier USS San Jacinto. During an attack on enemy installations near Chichi Jima in September 1944, his plane was hit by enemy fire while making a bombing run. Although the plane was on fire and heavily damaged, he completed a strafing run on the target before bailing out of the doomed aircraft. Bush parachuted into the sea and was later rescued by the Navy submarine USS Finback. He was later awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and three Air Medals for his Navy service in the Pacific theater during World War II.
After his time in the Navy ended in September 1945, Bush held a number of public service roles that included two terms as a U.S. congressman from Texas, ambassador to the United Nations, chief of the U.S. Liaison Office to China and director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He then served two terms as vice president under the late President Ronald Reagan before being elected himself as President of the United States in 1988. As commander-in-chief, Bush led the United States and a coalition of nearly 30 other nations during Operation Desert Storm, which ended Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and liberated the people of the Persian Gulf nation.
Capt. Kevin O'Flaherty, from Los Angeles, Calif., and a 1981 Naval Academy graduate, will become the ship’s first commanding officer, leading a crew of more than 5,500 men and women, including embarked air wing personnel. George H. W. Bush will be initially homeported in Norfolk, Va., assigned to the U.S. Atlantic Fleet.
Construction of the tenth Nimitz-class ship took place at Northrop Grumman-Newport News, Va., starting with the ship’s keel laying Sept. 6, 2003, and christening Oct. 7, 2006. George H. W. Bush towers 20 stories above the waterline, displaces approximately 95,000 tons of water, has a flight deck width of 252 feet, and at 1,092 feet long, is nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall. This floating airfield has a flight deck that covers 4.5 acres. Bush’s two nuclear reactors are capable of more than 20 years of continuous service without refueling, providing virtually unlimited range and endurance, and a top speed in excess of 30 knots.
The ship will support a wide variety of aircraft, including the F/A-18C Hornet and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighters, the E-2C/D Hawkeye Airborne Early Warning aircraft, the C-2 Greyhound logistics aircraft, the EA-6B Prowler and the EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, multi-role SH-60 and MH-60 helicopters, and other future carrier-based aircraft.
Royal Navy Minehunter Sails for NATO Mission
Source: Royal Navy
Royal Navy minehunter HMS Brocklesby left Portsmouth Wednesday (January 7) for a six-month mission to the Mediterranean and Baltic.
The Hunt-class vessel will form part of a NATO group, working alongside mine countermeasures vessels from Germany, Belgium, Latvia and the Netherlands and a Danish frigate.
Brocklesby’s first stop after leaving Portsmouth will be Copenhagen where she will attend a ceremony to mark Denmark taking command of NATO’s mine countermeasures group in the region.
She then sails to the Mediterranean for a month of exercises with the other ships in her group. On completion the vessels embark on the clearance of live WW2 ordnance from the English Channel, North Sea and Baltic. This will allow Brocklesby to use her new state of the art mine warfare system –Seafox – for the first time.
Seafox comprises a remote-controlled unmanned submarine with a camera and is capable of destroying ordnance in depths of more than 300 metres.
Her Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander Tom Tredray, said the 45 crew on board were looking forward to the deployment. “It will be busy but varied – it is always interesting working with ships from foreign navies and I know the younger members of the ship’s company in particular are looking forward to that.
“We also have a number of goodwill port visits lined up in France, Italy, Spain and Germany.”
The ship’s company are also looking forward to speedier internet and email access – Brocklesby is one of the first ships in the Royal Navy to be fitted with an upgraded broadband system.
The ship is due to return to Portsmouth in July.
Photo of the Day
Fire fighting on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, showing partial damage, during the battle of Santa Cruz.
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