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



Feature - The Ships of MosquitoCon 2009
MSW crewmember Dave O''Meara (GRUMPYOLDMAN) shares with us his pictures from the annual New Jersey International Plastic Modelers Society famous MosquitoCON.
Feature


Community build 10th session voting results
The results of the 10th session of the MSW Community Build are in. Check it out.
OOB
Full Build




Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum

Today’s website is the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum. Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum at Portsmouth, VA. was established in 1949 within the nation's oldest shipyard, the museum was later moved in 1963 to the Portsmouth waterfront at Riverfront Park. At the new location, visitors can experience a steady stream of vessels from pleasure craft to aircraft carriers. Enjoy.
Website




This Day in U.S. Naval History

1885 - Naval forces land at Panama to protect American interests during a revolution.
1912 - USS Chester (CL 1) and USS Salem (CL 3) sailed from Massachusetts to assist RMS Titanic survivors.
1918 - First Marine Aviation Force formed at Marine Flying Field, Miami.
1961 - Launching of first nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser, USS Bainbridge (CGN 25), at Quincy, Mass.
1962 - USS Princeton (CV 37) brings the first Marine helicopters to Vietnam. This was the first Marine advisory unit to arrive in South Vietnam.
1969 - A North Korean aircraft shoots down a Navy EC-121 reconnaissance aircraft over the Sea of Japan.
1986 - During Operation Eldorado Canyon, Navy aircraft from USS America (CV 66) and USS Coral Sea (CV 43) attack Libya in conjunction with Air Force aircraft, after Libya is linked to the terrorist bombing of a West Berlin discotheque that killed one American and injured 78 people.


Undeterred Somali pirates hijack 3 more ships
Source: Associated Press

MOMBASA, Kenya – Undeterred by U.S. and French hostage rescues that killed seven bandits, Somali pirates brazenly hijacked three more ships in the Gulf of Aden, the waterway that's become the focal point of the world's fight against piracy.
The latest trophy for the pirates was the M.V. Irene E.M., a Greek-managed bulk carrier sailing from the Middle East to South Asia, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur.
The Irene was attacked and seized in the middle of the night Tuesday — a rare tactic for the pirates.
U.S. Navy Lt. Nathan Christensen, spokesman for the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, said the Irene was flagged in the Caribbean island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and carried 23 Filipino crew. Choong reported a crew of 21, and there was no immediate way to reconcile the figures.
A maritime security contractor, speaking on condition of anonymity because it is a sensitive security issue, said the ship put out a distress signal "to say they had a suspicious vessel approaching. That rapidly turned into an attack and then a hijacking."
"They tried to call in support on the emergency channels, but they never got any response," the contractor said.
On Monday, Somali pirates also seized two Egyptian fishing boats in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia's northern coast, according to Egypt's Foreign Ministry, which said the boats carried 18 to 24 Egyptians total.
A flotilla of warships from nearly a dozen countries has patrolled the Gulf of Aden and nearby Indian Ocean waters for months. They have halted several attacks on ships this year, but say the area is so vast they can't stop all hijackings.
Choong said pirate attacks this year had risen to 77, with 18 of those ships hijacked and 16 vessels with 285 crew still in pirates' hands. Each boat carries the potential of a million-dollar ransom.
The latest seizures come after Navy SEAL snipers rescued American ship captain Richard Phillips on Sunday by killing three young pirates who held him captive in a drifting lifeboat for five days. A fourth pirate surrendered after seeking medical attention for a wound he received in trying to take over Phillips' vessel, the Maersk Alabama.
Phillips is aboard a Navy vessel at an undisclosed location, Christensen said. He was initially taken aboard the Norfolk, Va.-based USS Bainbridge and then flown to the San Diego-based USS Boxer for a medical exam.
In Washington, President Barack Obama appeared to move the piracy issue higher on his agenda, vowing the United States would work with nations around the world to fight the problem.
"I want to be very clear that we are resolved to halt the rise of piracy in that region and to achieve that goal, we're going to have to continue to work with our partners to prevent future attacks," Obama said at a news conference Monday.
The 19 crew members of the Alabama celebrated their skipper's freedom with beer and an evening barbecue Monday in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, said crewman Ken Quinn.
The vessel's chief mate was among those urging strong U.S. action against piracy.
"It's time for us to step in and put an end to this crisis," Shane Murphy said. "It's a crisis. Wake up."
The U.S. is considering new options to fight piracy, including adding Navy gunships along the Somali coastline and launching a campaign to disable pirate "mother ships," according to military officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because no decisions have been made yet.
In Burlington, Vt., Phillips' wife, Andrea Phillips thanked Obama, who approved the dramatic sniper operation.
"With Richard saved, you all just gave me the best Easter ever," she said in a statement.
The four pirates that attacked the Alabama were between 17 and 19 years old, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.
"Untrained teenagers with heavy weapons," Gates told students and faculty at the Marine Corps War College. "Everybody in the room knows the consequences of that."
U.S. officials were now considering whether to bring the fourth pirate, who surrendered shortly before the sniper shootings, to the United States or possibly turn him over to Kenya. Both piracy and hostage-taking carry life prison sentences under U.S. law.
The American ship had been carrying food aid bound for Rwanda, Somalia and Uganda when the ordeal began Wednesday hundreds of miles off Somalia's eastern coast. As the pirates clambered aboard and shot in the air, Phillips told his crew to lock themselves in a cabin and surrendered himself to safeguard his men.
Phillips was then taken hostage in an enclosed lifeboat that was soon shadowed by three U.S. warships and a helicopter. Navy SEAL snipers on the USS Bainbridge got the go-ahead to fire after one pirate held an AK-47 close to Phillips' back, U.S. defense officials said.
The French navy late Monday handed over the bodies of two Somali pirates killed in a hostage rescue operation last week to authorities in Somali's semiautonomous northern region of Puntland, and they were buried.


The Italian Navy Takes Delivery of the Frigate “Caio Duilio”
Source: Fincantieri

Today there was the ceremony at Fincantieri’s Muggiano (La Spezia) shipyard to mark the handover to the Italian Navy of the frigate “Caio Duilio” which had been launched in October 2007 at Riva Trigoso.

The handover follows intensive sea trials and there will be further testing of the communication, command and control systems so that the “Caio Duilio” may become fully operational.

The key feature of the ceremony was the raising of the flag of the Italian Navy on the Duilio.

The “Caio Duilio”, together with her sister ship, the Andrea Doria, which is already in service and was also built at Riva and Muggiano shipyards and delivered to the Navy in December 2007, were ordered by the Italian Navy from Fincantieri within the “Orizzonte” (Horizon) programme, which involves cooperation between Italy and France for the construction of two vessels for the fleet of each national Navy.

At 153 metres long with a beam of 20 metres, the “Caio Duilio” has a displacement at full load of 7,050 tonnes. Her maximum speed is 29 knots and the ship can accommodate a crew of 230.

This is the fourth vessel that the Italian Navy has named “Caio Duilio”, in memory of the Roman consul who distinguished himself in the first Punic war when his fleet won the battle of Milazzo in 260 B.C.


Photo of the Day



Seaman Anthony Fortunate, from Las Vegas, stands port forward lookout watch aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74). Stennis is on a scheduled six-month deployment to the western Pacific Ocean.

Gator