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



Feature - A New Deck for IJN Kaga
MSW Crewmember Anthony Kochevar[ajkochev] gives us a nice process to improve our builds of the IJN Kaga with his how to on scratch building a new deck.. Enjoy.




Navy Officials Push for Allowing Women on Submarines
Source: US Department of Defense

WASHINGTON --- The Navy secretary yesterday advocated for allowing women to serve on submarines, which would require ending a long-standing ban.

“This is something the [chief of naval operations] and I have been working on since I came into office,” said Ray Mabus, who was confirmed as the secretary of the Navy in May. “We are moving out aggressively on this.

“I believe women should have every opportunity to serve at sea, and that includes aboard submarines,” he told reporters following a tour of Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Newport News shipyard.

Mabus is one of several top Navy officials recently to call for ending a long-standing policy barring women from serving on submarines. Officials have cited a lack of privacy and the cost of reconfiguring subs as obstacles to allowing female crewmembers to serve aboard the vessels.

Navy Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, acknowledged that special accommodations would be a factor, but one that’s not insurmountable.

“Having commanded a mixed-gender surface combatant, I am very comfortable addressing integrating women into the submarine force,” he said in a statement last week. “I am familiar with the issues as well as the value of diverse crews.”

Roughead said that he has been personally engaged through the years in the Navy’s debate of the feasibility of assigning women to submarines.

“There are some particular issues with integrating women into the submarine force -- issues we must work through in order to achieve what is best for the Navy and our submarine force,” he said. “This has had and will continue to have my personal attention as we work toward increasing the diversity of our Navy afloat and ashore."

Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, addressed the issue with the Senate Armed Services Committee this month.

“I believe we should continue to broaden opportunities for women,” Mullen is quoted as saying in response to written questions posed by the Senate Armed Services Committee. “One policy I would like to see changed is the one barring their service aboard submarines.”

Mullen, a staunch champion of diversifying the services, said this month that having a military that reflects the demographics of the United States is “a strategic imperative for the security of our country.”


General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems Awarded $153 Million Navy Submarine Contract
Source: General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems

FAIRFAX, Va. --- General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics, has been awarded a $152.8 million contract by the U.S. Navy for FY 2010 and FY 2011 production and deployed-systems support for the United States and United Kingdom SSBN fire control system (FCS) and the SSGN Attack Weapon Control System (AWCS).

The contract includes the U.S. and U.K. Sea Based Strategic Deterrent (SBSD) Strategic Weapons System (SWS) Fire Control Subsystem-related efforts necessary for the concept development, prototyping and initial design efforts for a Common Missile Compartment (CMC) for the SSBN and SSGN OHIO Class replacement.

Under this contract General Dynamics will support equipment and SSP alterations (SPALTs) necessary to sustain the fire control and attack weapon control systems, including engineering support, performance evaluation, logistics, fleet documentation, reliability maintenance, engineering services and training.

The company will also provide technical and engineering support to the Common Missile Compartment concept-development efforts for Strategic Weapon System lifecycle cost-control evaluations related to the fire-control subsystem, and verify the operational and ongoing sustainment requirements for the SSBN fire control system and SSGN attack weapon control system, including its subsequent training, support, and advanced development laboratory equipment.

"We will continue to deliver highly reliable and innovative systems to the U.S. and U.K. Navy," said Lou Von Thaer, president of General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems. "The SSGN Attack Weapon Control System, based on an open architecture approach, provides a platform for efficient insertion of new capabilities to the fleet."

Work will be performed in Pittsfield, Mass., and is expected to be completed by December 2012.




USS Forrestal Museum

Today’s website is USS Forrestal Museum. This site is the home page for the effort to create a museum on the decommissioned Forrestal in Baltimore Harbor. Enjoy.


This Day in U.S. Naval History

1824 - U.S. schooner Porpoise captures four pirate ships off Cuba.
1944 - 7th Fleet lands more than 60,000 Army troops on Leyte, Philippines, while Japanese aircraft attack.
1952 - Task Force 77 establishes Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) Hunter/Killer Teams of two ECM-equipped aircraft and an armed escort of four Skyraiders and four Corsairs.
1967 - Operation Coronado VII began in Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
1983 - Due to political strife, USS Independence (CV 62) is ordered to Grenada.


Photo of the Day



The amphibious assault ship Pre-Commissioning Unit Makin Island (LHD pulls into her homeport of San Diego. Makin Island is the final amphibious assault ship built in the Wasp-class, but the first of the class built with gas turbine engines and an electric drive.

Gator