Welcome to MSW’s Scuttlebutt! Here’s the news for the day.
Review - Fujimi IJN Shokaku Aircraft Carrier
Ahoy Shipmates!
MSW Crewmember D.T. (DR_WHO2) shares with us an in box review on the latest IJN Aircraft Carrier to hit the waves. The kit is Fujimi’s IJN Shokaku Aircraft Carrier in 1/350 scale.
Review
WW1 Warships Campaign
Ahoy mates! The World War I Warships campaign will be kicking off on May 15. If you haven’t signed up, please do. We would love to have you. If you have signed up, time to dust off those kits and get ready to start building.
Campaign HQ
Color Schemes of WW1 Warships
Today’s website is Color Schemes of WW1 Warships. Although originally written for the wargaming genre, this article will prove useful for anyone participating in the WW1 Warship Campaign. Enjoy.
Website
This Day in U.S. Naval History
1908 - Navy Nurse Corps established.
1943 - Bureau of Navigation renamed Bureau of Naval Personnel.
1945 - Aircraft from fast carrier task force begin 2-day attack on Kyushu airfields, Japan.
1964 - Organization and deployment of world's first all nuclear-powered task group, USS Enterprise (CVN 65), USS Long Beach (CGN 9), and USS Bainbridge (CGN 25), to Sixth Fleet.
U.S. Sea Supremacy Permits Naval Budget Shifts, Lynn Says
Source: U.S Department of Defense
WASHINGTON --- The United States’ maritime supremacy allows the Defense Department to slow production of sea-based defense systems, Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III said today at the Navy League’s annual Sea-Air-Space Exposition in Oxon Hill, Md.
Lynn addressed the group days before the department is slated to submit its budget proposal to Congress. Echoing remarks Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates made last month when announcing his budget recommendations, Lynn said the new fiscal breakdown reflects the need to balance traditional and unconventional capabilities.
“The United States stands alone unsurpassed on, above and below the seas,” Lynn said. “One consideration as we rebalance the department’s priorities is that the military dominance that we enjoy is greater in some areas than in others. We look for ways to strengthen irregular warfare capabilities while maintaining the overwhelming edge we enjoy in conventional capabilities.”
In terms of tonnage, the U.S. battle fleet is far larger than any potential combination of adversaries, and no other fleet can match the reach or combat power of a single American carrier battle group, he said.
The defense budget that is slated to reach Congress this week recommends shifting the Navy aircraft carrier program to a five-year build cycle to place it on a more “fiscally sustainable” path. This will result in 10 carriers after 2040, defense officials said.
The department also proposes delaying the Navy “CG-X” next-generation cruiser program to revisit its requirements and acquisition strategy. To allow more time to assess costs and analyze its necessity, Gates also proposed delaying the amphibious ship and sea-basing programs known as the 11th Landing Platform Dock ship and the Mobile Landing Platform ship until fiscal 2011.
Meanwhile, the department plans to use the budget to place greater emphasis on the Navy’s ability to conduct nontraditional missions.
“The Navy must be ready for counterinsurgency and other irregular operations, which means dealing with nonstate actors at sea or near shore or with a swarm of speed boats sent by military groups from hostile countries,” Lynn said.
Accordingly, Gates proposed improving the Navy’s intertheater lift capacity by increasing the charter of joint high-speed vessel ships from two to four until the department’s production program begins deliveries in 2011.
The defense secretary recommended buying more littoral combat ships – a key capability for presence, stability and counterinsurgency operations in coastal regions – from two to three ships in fiscal 2010, with the long-term goal of eventually acquiring 55 such ships.
“The requirement is predominance, for speed, it’s the ability maneuver in shallow waters,” Lynn said. “The ship that best fills this bill is the LCS, which, despite its past development problems, is a versatile ship that can be turned on a dime, go places that are either too shallow or too dangerous.
“And as we’ve seen off the coast of Somalia, it does not take a big ship to carry out anti-piracy missions,” he said, referring to the U.S. Navy-led rescue of an American ship captain kidnapped by Somali pirates off the Horn of Africa.
“American people our more aware today of our maritime forces than they have been in a long time,” he said. “Piracy off the Horn of Africa and the dedicated actions of our skilled and brave Navy SEALs have reminded us of why we have sea services.”
Lynn underscored the role U.S. maritime forces have played in operations since Sept. 11, 2001.
“The first thing is to acknowledge how grateful we are to the men and women of the Marines, the Navy and the Coast Guard since Sept. 11, 2001,” he said. “They have been engaged in operations around the world to defeat terrorist groups and to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The progress we’ve made owes so much to their skill, their dedication and too often, to their sacrifices,” he said.
Chinese Vessels Approach Sealift Command Ship in Yellow Sea
Source: U.S Department of Defense
WASHINGTON --- Chinese fishing vessels closed in on and maneuvered near the USNS Victorious in international waters in the Yellow Sea on May 1, Pentagon officials said today. The Victorious is one of the five ocean surveillance ships that are part of the 25 ships in Military Sealift Command's Special Mission Ships Program.
The vessel was conducting routine operations 170 miles off the coast of China when two Chinese fishing vessels approached, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.
“This was an incident where a couple of Chinese fishing vessels maneuvered close to the Victorious in what was an unsafe manner,” Whitman said.
The Victorious took defensive measures as the vessels got close. The Victorious crew sounded the ship’s danger alarms and manned fire hoses. They sprayed water at the Chinese vessels, but did not hit them, officials said.
The Victorious requested the assistance of a nearby Chinese government vessel, at which time the fishing vessels departed, Whitman said.
He did not comment on the motive of the Chinese vessels. “That requires you to get inside the heads of the mariners out there,” he said. “What is clear is that it is unsafe and dangerous behavior, and it needs to be addressed. We do not want the mariners of any of the vessels out there in jeopardy.”
One Chinese vessel approached within 30 yards of the Victorious, officials said. “They are clearly demonstrating unsafe seamanship,” Whitman said. “As we have in previous incidents, we’ll be developing a way forward to deal with this diplomatically.”
On March 8, five Chinese vessels surrounded the USNS Impeccable as it was conducting operations 80 nautical miles off Hainan Island. There have been other incidents where Chinese vessels operated in an unsafe manner around U.S. ocean surveillance ships.
“It’s in everybody’s interest to ensure that safe procedures on the seas are followed,” Whitman said. “This was clearly well into international waters.”
Military vessels are not subject to coastal state jurisdiction and do not require the prior consent of the coastal state for activity in the exclusive economic zone.
Test Proves Raytheon KillerBee Unmanned Aircraft System Can Be Recovered At Sea
Source: Raytheon Company
YUMA PROVING GROUND, Ariz. --- Raytheon Company's KillerBee unmanned aircraft system demonstrated it can be recovered from a net on a moving platform, simulating an at-sea recovery.
The KillerBee UAS features a blended-wing aircraft body design. It also has systems for land or sea launch, recovery and ground control. The unique design of KillerBee enables growth for future payloads and additional mission capabilities.
During the land-based test, KillerBee was recovered in a net mounted on a rapidly moving truck, demonstrating that the guidance system enables aircraft recovery from platforms moving at speeds similar to a naval vessel.
"Raytheon continues to provide innovative UAS solutions that deliver actionable intelligence to the warfighter," said Bob Francois, Raytheon Missile Systems Advanced Programs vice president. "KillerBee's minimal footprint ensures our ability to integrate the system onto a wide variety of U.S. Navy ships."
KillerBee is designed to provide the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps with a UAS for their respective Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Tier II missions, which require UAS launch and recovery aboard a ship. KillerBee is ideally suited for force protection in an expeditionary environment and represents a major upgrade to today's embedded airborne surveillance, reconnaissance and target acquisition capability.
Photo of the Day
The British Grand Fleet underway.
Gator
