Welcome to MSW’s Scuttlebutt! Here’s the news for the day.
Russian Naval History
Today’s website is Russian Naval History. Visit this site and learn much more about Russian seafaring. Enjoy.
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This Day in U.S. Naval History
1917 - First Navy ships, Destroyer Division 8, arrive at Queenstown, Ireland, to provide convoy escorts against German U-boats.
1942 - Battle of Coral Sea, first carrier vs. carrier battle, begins.
1945 - Japanese attempt to land on Okinawa repulsed; kamikaze attacks damage 6 U.S. Navy ships.
1961 - Cdmr. Malcolm D. Ross, USNR, and medical observer Lt Cmdr. Victor A. Prather Jr., ascended in two hours to over 11,000 feet in Strato-Lab 5, a 411-foot hydrogen filled balloon launched from the deck of USS Antietam. This was the highest altitude attained by man in an open gondola. Tragically, Prather drowned during the recovery.
1994 - Operation Restore Hope begins in Somalia.
Navy Accepts Delivery of Future USS Makin Island
Source: U.S Navy
U.S Navy
Order Placed for Third Projection and Command Vessel
Source: DCNS
As part of the [French] Government’s [economic] recovery plan, STX France and DCNS have been awarded the contract to build the French Navy’s third Projection and Command Vessel (BPC) for the French Navy.
Work on the third BPC was launched today in Saint-Nazaire by Hervé Morin, the Defence Minister and Patrick Devedjian, Minister in charge of implementing the recovery plan.
In line with the recovery plan initiated by the Government in order to face up to the challenges of the world economic crisis, the order of the third Projection and Command Vessel called for the creation of a tailor-made industrial organizational structure in order to achieve the budgetary objective fixed by the state. It therefore not only meets the operational objectives of every new ship ordered by the government but also the specific economic objectives of the recovery plan.
With this in mind, it taps into the respective skills of STX France and DCNS. STX France, the prime contractor for the project, will build the platform and fit-out the ship and DCNS, its co-contractor, will produce its combat system.
Due to the extremely tight economic constraints that characterize this project, the ship will be built solely on the Saint-Nazaire site. In fact, the sharing of the construction of the platform between two production sites would have generated additional costs - in particular for transport, interfacing and tests - which would have made it impossible to meet the budgetary target fixed by the Government.
STX France, in charge of the overall coordination of the project for the industrial part, will build the whole of the propelled platform including the fitting out of equipment onboard. This represents 75% of the vessel value. Once trials are completed, BPC 3 will move to Toulon under its own power.
DCNS will manufacture and integrate the combat system, which includes communications, navigation and combat management systems. The tasks involved in its production demand high value added skill levels, in order to enable the BPC to conduct its operational missions, and represent a quarter of the overall cost of the ship.
199 metres in length, with a displacement of 21,000 tons and a speed of 19 knots, the BPCs are distinguished by their large carrying capacity: 450 troops, 16 heavy-lift helicopters, 2 hovercraft, 4 LCMs (landing craft) or a third of a mechanized regiment (1,000 tons), which they are able to deploy worldwide. They are equipped with electric pod propulsion and their high level of automation enables the size of their crew to be reduced to 160. They also boast an on-board hospital for large-scale humanitarian missions. Their particularly advanced communications system, 3D surveillance radar and combat management system (Senit 9) make them ideal platforms for commanding a naval task force.
The first two BPCs, Mistral and Tonnere, built by DCNS and Chantiers de l'Atlantique, were delivered in 2006 and 2007.
Joint Strike Fighter Arrives in UK
Source: Royal Navy
After a three-week ocean voyage, the first structural test airframe for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter, has arrived in the United Kingdom. The F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant static test airframe (referred to as AG-1) , will undergo testing in the Structural and Dynamic Test facility at BAE Systems’ site in Brough, East Yorkshire, England.
AG-1 began its travels on March 27at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, Texas, plant. It was shipped overland to the Texas coast, where it was placed aboard a U.K-bound cargo ship. AG-1 is one of six static test airframes constructed for the System Development and Demonstration phase of the F-35 Lightning II programme, which is developing and validating all of the aircraft’s systems and manufacturing techniques. Another 13 F-35s are dedicated to flight testing.
Photo of the Day
The Colombian Navy frigate Almirante Padilla (FL 51) prepares to launch an AS-555 Fennec helicopter as part of a sinking exercise during UNITAS Gold.
Gator
