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



Armistice/Veterans Day

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed an Armistice Day for November 11, 1919. The United States Congress passed a concurrent resolution seven years later on June 4, 1926, requesting the President issue another proclamation to observe November 11 with appropriate ceremonies. An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday; "a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day'."

In 1953, an Emporia, Kansas shoe store owner named Al King had the idea to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans, not just those who served in World War I. King had been actively involved with the American War Dads during World War II. He began a campaign to turn Armistice Day into "All" Veterans Day. The Emporia Chamber of Commerce took up the cause after determining that 90% of Emporia merchants as well as the Board of Education supported closing their doors on November 11, 1953, to honor veterans. With the help of then-U.S. Rep. Ed Rees, also from Emporia, a bill for the holiday was pushed through Congress. President Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law on May 26, 1954. Congress amended this act on November 8, 1954, replacing "Armistice" with Veterans, and it has been known as Veterans Day since.

Although originally scheduled for celebration on November 11 of every year, starting in 1971 in accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, Veterans Day was moved to the fourth Monday of October. In 1978 it was moved back to its original celebration on November 11 (with the exceptions described above). Since this change, there has been a trend against being closed on the holiday. It began with businesses (excluding banks) and in recent years some schools and local governments have also chosen to remain open.




Navies of 2 Koreas exchange fire near border
Source: Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea – A badly damaged North Korean patrol ship retreated in flames Tuesday after a skirmish with a South Korean naval vessel along their disputed western coast, South Korean officials said.

The first naval clash in seven years broke out just a week before President Barack Obama is due to visit Seoul, raising suspicions the North's communist regime is trying to rachet up tensions to gain a negotiating advantage.

There were no South Korean casualties, the country's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, and it was not immediately clear if there were any casualties on the North Korean side. Each side blamed the other for violating the sea border.

The exchange of fire occurred as U.S. officials said Obama has decided to send a special envoy to Pyongyang for rare direct talks on the communist country's nuclear weapons program. No date has been set, but the talks would be the first one-on-one negotiations since Obama took office in January.

"It was an intentional provocation by North Korea to draw attention ahead of Obama's trip," said Shin Yul, a political science professor at Seoul's Myongji University.

He also said the North was sending a message to Obama that it wants to replace the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War in 1953 with a permanent peace treaty while keeping its nuclear weapons.

Washington has consistently said that Pyongyang must abandon its nuclear arsenal for any peace treaty to be concluded. North Korea has conducted two underground nuclear tests since 2006 and is believed to have enough weaponized plutonium for half a dozen atomic weapons.

"We are sternly protesting to North Korea and urging it to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents," South Korean Rear Adm. Lee Ki-sik told reporters in Seoul.

North Korea's military issued a statement blaming South Korea for the "grave armed provocation," saying its ships had crossed into North Korean territory.

The North claimed that a group of South Korean warships opened fire but fled after the North Korean patrol boat dealt "a prompt retaliatory blow." The statement, carried on the official Korean Central News Agency, said the South should apologize.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who convened an emergency security meeting, ordered the South's defense minister to strengthen military readiness.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that a North Korean patrol boat crossed the disputed western sea border about 11:27 a.m. (0227 GMT), drawing warning shots from a South Korean navy vessel. The North Korean boat then opened fire and the South's ship returned fire before the North's vessel sailed back toward its waters, the statement said.

The clash occurred near the South Korean-held island of Daecheong, about 120 nautical miles (220 kilometers) off the port city of Incheon, west of Seoul, the statement said.

The North Korean ship was seriously damaged in the skirmish, a Joint Chiefs of Staff officer said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy. Prime Minister Chung Un-chan told lawmakers the ship was on fire when it fled north.

Lee, the rear admiral, said the shooting lasted for about two minutes, during which the North Korean ship fired about 50 rounds at the South Korean vessel, about two miles (3.2 kilometers) away. He said the South Korean ship was lightly damaged.

He said several Chinese fishing boats were operating in the area at the time of clash, but they were undamaged. Chung, the prime minister, described the clash as "accidental," telling lawmakers that two North Korean ships had crossed into South Korean waters in an attempt to clamp down on Chinese fishing.

Lee, however, said the South Korean military was investigating if the North's alleged violation was deliberate.
The Koreas regularly accuse each other of straying into their respective territories. South Korea's military said that North Korean ships have already violated the sea border 22 times this year.

The two sides fought deadly skirmishes along the western sea border in 1999 and 2002.

No South Koreans were killed in 1999, but six South Korean sailors died in 2002, according to the South Korean navy. It said exact North Korean causalities remain unclear.

Baek Seung-joo, a North Korea expert at Seoul's state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said Tuesday's clash would not have a big impact on inter-Korean relations.

He said the Koreas held a landmark summit in 2000 and the North sent a cheering squad to the South for the Asian Games in 2002. Both events took place after the separate clashes in 1999 and 2002.

Baek, like fellow analyst Shin, said that North Korea caused the incident but that Pyongyang appears to want to create tensions and use them for domestic political consumption.

The two Koreas have yet to agree on their sea border more than 50 years after the end of their 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice and not a peace treaty. Instead, they rely on a line that the then-commander of U.N. forces, which fought for the South, drew unilaterally at the end of the conflict.

North Korea last month accused South Korean warships of broaching its territory in waters off the west coast and warned of a clash in the zone, which is a rich crab fishing area.

The latest conflict comes after North Korea has reached out to Seoul and Washington following months of tension over its nuclear and missile programs.

North Korea launched a long-range rocket in April and carried out its second underground nuclear test in May. But it subsequently released South Korean and U.S. detainees, agreed to resume joint projects with South Korea and offered direct talks with Washington.

Two administration officials said Monday in Washington that Obama has decided, after months of deliberation, to send a special envoy to Pyongyang for direct talks on nuclear issues
.
Obama will send envoy Stephen Bosworth, although no date for his trip has been set, the officials said. The officials discussed the matter on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been publicly announced.

Hundreds of thousands of combat-ready troops on both sides face across the 155-mile-long (248-kilometers-long) land border that is also strewn with land mines and tank traps and laced with barbed wire. About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea to deter a potential North Korean aggression.


Navantia Launches First Naval Action Ship for Spanish Navy
Source: Navantia

The San Fernando-Puerto Real shipyard on October 16 launched “P41 Meteor,” the first of four Maritime Action Ships for the Spanish Navy. The ceremony was godmothered by Elena Salgado Méndez, Minister of Economy and Finance, and was also attended by the President of SEPI, Enrique Martinez Robles, the President of Navantia, Aurelio Martínez Estévez, as well as the supreme commander of the Spanish Navy, Admiral Manuel Rebollo Garcia.

This vessel is the first in the initial series of four Navantia-built BAM ships for the Spanish navy, according to Executive Order signed on 31 July 2006, but is expected to eventually involve a total of 10 units. Delivery of the lead ship is planned for late 2010.

The construction of these ships will bring Navantia 3,130,000 hours of work, 270,000 of them in engineering, and workload until 2011.

It is a vessel of moderate size, high performance, great versatility in terms of missions, a high level of commonality with other Navy ships and reduced acquisition and service life costs.

Its main missions are:
- Protection and escorting other ships
- Control of shipping
- Control and neutralization of terrorist and piracy
- Operations against drug trafficking and human trafficking
- Rescue and Salvage
- Support for crisis situations and humanitarian
- Control of fishing laws
- Control of environmental legislation and anti-pollution

Main characteristics:
- Length overall: 93.90 m
- Maximum Beam: 14.20 m
- Height to Flight Deck: 7.2 m
- Full load displacement: 2,575 t
- Draft: 4.4 m
- Maximum speed: 20.5 kts
- Range (at 15 knots): 8,000 miles
- Crew: 35
- Additional capacity: 35 people.




Goodbye Old Friend: Huey Retires After 30 Years of Service
Source: US Marine Corps

HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan --- The year was 1971. That year, President Richard Nixon began reducing the U.S. troop presence in Vietnam from more than 250,000 to 196,700. Walt Disney World opened in Orlando. Boxer Joe Frazier defeated Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden, the voting age changed from 21 to 18 and Jim Morrison of The Doors was found dead.

All of these events will live on in our nation’s history, but 1971 marks an event specific to the United States Marine Corps as well, the birth of the UH-1 ‘Huey’ helicopter. Now, after more than 30 years of faithful service, the old is replaced by the new, with the entrance of the new Huey, the UH-1Y ‘Venom’.

Lessons learned throughout Vietnam in the 1960s proved the Marine Corps needed armed escort helicopters to suppress enemy fire in landing zones. This led to the purchase of several Bell UH-1E and UH-1H helicopters for Marine Observation Squadrons (VMO), which became the first generation of the Huey family in the Corps.

During the early years of the Huey, it carried more than 5,000 pounds of cargo, had room for 13 Marines, traveled 125 miles per hour and had a range of 275 miles.

“It truly is a jack of all trades,” said Ben Kristy, an aviation curator at the National Museum of the Marine Corps.

As time went on, the Huey matured into the aircraft faithfully serving the needs of the Marine Corps in Iraq and Afghanistan today.

“Over the years, the Huey has changed equipment and [has] been upgraded per the needs of the Marine Corps,” said Master Sgt. Jorge Alvarado, the maintenance chief with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron-169 and crew chief by trade.

With more than 18 years experience with the Huey, flying in more than ten countries, Alvarado has seen his share of the modifications and upgrades the Huey has undergone.

“They might have the same airframes but the fact is that they are well-kept and are only as good as the Marines working on them,” he said.

The youngest member of the UH-1 family, the UH-1Y ‘Venom’, is making its combat debut with HMLA-367 when it arrives in Afghanistan later this year.

“It will definitely add value to the battlefield,” said Maj. Jim Isaacs, executive officer of HMLA-169 and Huey pilot. “With better sensors, increased speed, and increased lifting capacity it will perform very well here.”

The legacy of the UH-1 family continues on with an active role in Marine Corps aviation.

“Whereas the UH-1N already does a great job, the UH-1Y will do even better,” said Isaacs. “It will expand the envelope for Marine Expeditionary Brigade-Afghanistan and be a true force-multiplier.”




In Flanders Fields

Today’s website is the In Flanders Fields.


This Day in U.S. Naval History

1870 - Navy expedition to explore the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, southern Mexico, commanded by Capt. Robert W. Shufeldt, enters the Coatzacoalcos River to begin a survey for possible interoceanic canal. Support provided by USS Kansas and USS Mayflower.
1918 - Armistice ends World War I.
1920 - Lenah S. Higbee becomes the first woman to be awarded the Navy Cross. It was awarded for her World War I service.
1921 - Washington Naval Conference begins.
1943 - Two Carrier Task Forces strike Japanese shipping at Rabaul, sinking one carrier and damaging other ships. Raid was first use of SB2C Curtiss Helldivers in combat.
1954 - November 11 designated as Veterans Day to honor veterans of all U.S. wars
1966 - Launch of Gemini 12, with Cmdr. James A. Lovell, Jr., as the command Pilot. Mission lasted 3 days, 22 hours and 34 minutes and included 59 orbits at an altitude of 162.7 nautical miles. Recovery by HS-11 helicopter from USS Wasp (CVS-18).
1981 - Commissioning of first Trident-class Nuclear Powered Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine, USS Ohio (SSBN-726).


Photo of the Day



More than 40 Sailors assigned to the guided-missile destroyer USS Chafee (DDG 90) and various commands clean the Navy Veterans Cemetery in Honolulu in preparation for Veteran's Day, Nov. 11.

Gator