Welcome to MSW’s Scuttlebutt! Here’s the news for the day.
The Historic Dockyard Chatham
Today’s website is The Historic Dockyard Chatham. The dockyard features museum ships from the days of sail to the Cold War. Enjoy.
Website
This Day in U.S. Naval History
1783 - USS Alliance, commanded by Capt. John Barry, defeats HMS Sybil in the final naval action of the American Revolution in West Indies waters.
1933 - The Pacific Fleet provides assistance after an earthquake at Long Beach, Calif.
1945 - Navy and civilian nurses interned at Los Banos, Philippines, are flown back to the United States. The Navy nurses are each awarded a Bronze Star.
1948 - First use of jets assigned to operational squadron (VF-5A) aboard a carrier - USS Boxer (CV 21).
Tight-knit Trident Submariners Conduct Strategic Deterrence Missions
Source: U.S Department of Defense
WASHINGTON --- Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean last week, sailors aboard the Trident strategic missile submarine USS Maryland prepared to start a series of underwater practice maneuvers known as “angles and dangles.”
The Maryland’s captain, Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey M. Grimes, and his chief of the boat and senior enlisted leader, Master Chief Petty Officer Michael C. McLauchlan, intently observed the actions of the officers and enlisted crew in the control room as the vessel silently tilted downward.
Trident strategic deterrent submarines -- nicknamed “Boomers” -- carry as many as 24 Trident II D-5 nuclear ballistic missiles.
“We’re there on the front line, ready to go,” Grimes said. Important missions, he said, are “happening every day in the deep, blue ocean.”
Tridents are nuclear-powered, Ohio-class submarines. At 560 feet long and 42 feet wide, they are the largest submarines in the U.S. Navy’s inventory.
Meanwhile, in the control room, Petty Officer 3rd Class Lamar Johnson, 23, sits calmly at the helmsman’s station as he adroitly manipulates the yoke control that adjusts the submarine’s depth and direction. At about 400 feet under the waves, the Maryland leveled off, then began ascending.
After the exercise, Johnson, who hails from Chicago, said piloting the Maryland underwater is a matter of “paying attention, making sure you’re tracking the gauges.”
Sailors volunteer for submarine duty and are among the top performers across the Navy, McLauchlan, a 26-year veteran, said.
“There is a pretty rigid screening process to get a guy to come into the submarine force,” McLauchlan said. New submariners are subject to stringent qualification criteria when they report to their first boat, he said, while submarine veterans experience continued certifications during their careers.
During their first year while assigned to their first submarine, enlisted members are required to earn the coveted silver “dolphins” pin that says they’ve learned how to function as a team member aboard their boat. Dolphins-pin recipients also must demonstrate knowledge of basic submarine operations, as well as the ability to work as a team member to put out fires and control flooding.
“They kill themselves to try to get those dolphins, because it’s very important to them,” McLauchlan said of enlisted sailors aboard their first submarine. “And we make it very special when we present them. Once they get those dolphins, it’s just the start for more and more for these kids.”
Commissioned-officer submariners also must qualify to wear golden dolphins.
About a week earlier, the Maryland’s “Gold” crew under Grimes’ command embarked on its 53rd patrol from its home port at Naval Submarine Base King’s Bay, Ga. Trident submarines have two crews, called Blue and Gold, which rotate patrols. One crew is at sea for 60 to 90 days, while the other trains ashore. In this way, the vessels can be employed at sea 70 percent of the time, when not undergoing scheduled maintenance in port.
The USS Maryland is “a platform that is undetectable, that cannot be found, and yet, is in constant connection with the national command authorities,” Grimes explained. The submarine, he added, possesses “the stealth and power needed to respond to a global crisis with devastating force.”
The Maryland’s crew routinely performs damage control exercises –- consisting of flooding and fire scenarios -- as well as mock battle and strategic-deterrence drills during its patrols, so that if the real event should ever occur, “we’re ready to go,” Grimes said.
As the Maryland’s commander, it’s important to impart to the crew “how they fit together on the ship as a team,” Grimes said.
“They realize the mission is relevant and they feel the importance of their job,” Grimes said. “They leave their families at home. They work long hours for me when we have the boat in for refit.
“It’s all about the mission,” Grimes said, adding that Trident submarine sailors stay in the Navy “because they like what they do, and they are true patriots.”
The Navy’s attack and strategic-deterrent submarine force “is safe, secure and reliable and ready to perform its mission, 24/7,” said Navy Capt. Kevin R. Brenton, who was along for part of the Maryland’s patrol and is preparing to take command of Submarine Squadron 20 at King’s Bay.
“We couldn’t do it without the extraordinary young men that man these submarines,” Brenton said. “They’re America’s best and brightest.”
Besides its 160-member crew, the Maryland also was carrying a group of journalists, who early on Feb. 15 had been conveyed by tugboat to the Maryland for a two-day orientation tour. During the journalists’ visit, the submarine would be submerged for 24 hours.
A nuclear-powered Trident submarine like the Maryland produces its own drinking water and oxygen, and, therefore can remain submerged nearly indefinitely, Grimes said, needing to surface only to take on food.
The Maryland’s lead culinary specialist, Chief Petty Officer Tony L. Thompson, 40, said he and his staff prepare food for about 120 crew members during the course of the day. Submariners, he said, enjoy the best food in the Navy.
“We do all we can to make them comfortable down here,” Thompson said of his team’s efforts to provide the best meals possible for the Maryland’s crew.
Thompson, a 20-year Navy veteran, said he enjoys the “close-knitted” camaraderie that’s part of duty aboard submarines such as the Maryland.
“I could walk around and talk to anybody around here,” said Thompson, as he enjoyed a plate of prime rib. “Everything is ‘one’ crew … because you’ve got to depend on everybody. “I’m a cook,” Thompson said, “but at the same time, I can go and put out a fire.”
Near the end of the journalists’ visit, the submarine surfaced to make its rendezvous with the tugboat that would return them to shore.
A cloudless, bright-blue sky stretched across the horizon as Lt. j.g. Eric S. Spurling, Petty Officer 2nd Class Kyle G. Fulmer and Seaman DeAngelo Jackson Adams pulled watch duty on the bridge atop the Maryland’s sail panel, or uppermost structure. The day’s temperature was unseasonably mild.
Submariners belong to “a real tight community” of sailors who perform a vital, unique mission, said Fulmer, 23, from Dillon, S.C.
“You have to be able to trust everybody with your life. … Any time, anything could go wrong, and if you’re beside it, you have to be ready to act on it,” Fulmer said.
Adams, a 21-year-old sailor from Detroit, cracked a sliver of a smile at his machine-gun station as the breeze batted at his orange windbreaker. Adams said he loves the sailor’s life aboard the Maryland. “The mission of being out to sea, under water, is just cool, you know?” he said.
New Patrol Boat Inaugurated and Named in the Lithuanian Naval Force
Source: Lithuanian Ministry of National Defence
New patrol boat P12 obtained by Lithuanian Naval Force will be solemnly given the name of “Dzukas” and inaugurated at the Naval Force Flotilla in Klaipeda, February 23.
The event will be attended by the Minister of National Defence Rasa Jukneviciene, Chief of Defence of Lithuanian Armed Forces Lt. Gen. Valdas Tutkus, commanders of LAF services and divisions, representatives of the Kingdom of Denmark, and delegation of Alytus municipality.
The ceremony will be opened by reading out the order of Commander LNF before a solemn LNF troops’ formation on commissioning and naming the new boat. By tradition each boat is named by godparents therefore the new vessel will be given the name “Dzukas” by Mayor of Alytus Celsovas Daugela and Vice Mayor Rima Rakauskiene as representatives of Dzukija ethnical region. In the upcoming event R.Rakauskiene will unveil the nameplate and Chaplain of LNF Romualdas Ramasauskas will bless the boat and its crew.
After the naming ceremony the new patrol boat of Lithuanian Naval Force P12 “Dzukas” and command and support boat N-42 “Jotvingis” will be presented to the guests. Delegation of the National Defence Minister after visiting the LNF Flotilla will proceed to the LNF HQ where Lithuanian Naval Force and subdivisions will be introduced.
“Dzukas” is the second P12 class boat in Lithuanian Naval Force. The first vessel P11 “Zemaitis” was delivered to Lithuania at the end of May and is now in service. The third patrol boat of the same class is expected to reach Lithuania in June 2009.
UAV Brings Mahan to Forefront of 21st Century Readiness
Source: US Navy
USS MAHAN At Sea --- The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capability aboard USS Mahan (DDG 72) provides the capability to pace emerging threats during its counter-piracy mission and perform missions in a more efficient and effective manner throughout its expected service life.
"Mahan is the first [guided missile] destroyer to deploy with a UAV system fully integrated into the ship's combat systems," said Intelligence Specialist 1st Class Danielle Fournet, one of Mahan's UAV imagery analysts. "This is a significant step forward and is reflective of the increased use of UAVs across the spectrum of military operations."
The combat readiness enabled by the UAV system has proven itself extremely effective during Mahan's current involvement in Combined Task Force (CTF) 151's counter-piracy operations in and around the Gulf of Aden.
"The UAV's mission supports the ship's mission as part of CTF 151," said Fournet. "It supports the counter-piracy mission by providing maritime surveillance and cueing on suspicious activity."
The UAV operates daily to conduct surveillance which is monitored by the intelligence specialists on the ship who carefully watch for any suspicious activity which may be related to acts of piracy on the high seas.
"It can fly day or night in a covert or overt posture, making it much harder for pirates to hide," explained Fournet.
The combination of UAV capabilities and modernization of the Aegis destroyer bridge the gap to future surface combatants and facilitate a more rapid and affordable capability insertion process.
"Taken in context with other aircraft and ships operating in the area, the UAV is a true force multiplier," added Fournet. "Its ability to provide high quality imagery in real time speeds decision making and provides a significant tactical advantage in stopping piracy on the high seas."
Watchstanders in the operations center of the ship believe it is evident that equipping the ship with an integrated UAV system makes it a technologically advanced hub of modern warfare on the tip of the spear with significant surveillance and monitoring capabilities.
"The UAV provides invaluable cueing that is used by the operations personnel [and CTF 151 staff] to station associated surface assets," explained Fournet. "It is versatile and very responsive, able to change operating areas and change missions in mid-flight."
Piracy is an international problem that requires an international solution. For that reason, Mahan, as well as other assets of CTF 151, has been working very closely with naval ships from 14 different nations to coordinate efforts most effectively to combat piracy in the region.
"We are most certainly sharing data with other nations," said Fournet. "That is one of the biggest tactical advantages that the UAV brings to the fight. We are able to rapidly disseminate high quality imagery to our coalition partners, thereby improving overall mission effectiveness and strengthening key partnerships between navies."
The UAV system has a multitude of possible uses for the Navy while facing modern challenges, making it an invaluable asset to CTF 151 during counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden.
"The maritime applications of unmanned systems have been many and varied over the course of Mahan's deployment," added Fournet. "Our detachment is working hard to document lessons learned and is eager to contribute to the U.S. Navy's plans for the future of UAVs at sea.
"[The UAV system] has great significance as a developing effort to apply 21st century technology to the 21st century challenges that our Navy faces," said Fournet.
Mahan will continue to support Combined Task Force 151, a multinational task force conducting counter-piracy operations to detect and deter piracy in and around the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and Red Sea, until the end of her current deployment. CTF 151 was established to create a lawful maritime order and develop security in the maritime environment.
Photo of the Day
HMS Gannet (1878) starboard view in No 4 Dock, The Historic Dockyard Chatham.
Gator
