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



Royal Navy Surrenders One New Aircraft Carrier In Budget Battle (excerpt)
Source: The Sunday Times

The Royal Navy has agreed to sacrifice one of its two new aircraft carriers to save about £8.2 billion from the defence budget.

The admirals, who have battled for a decade to secure the two new 65,000-ton carriers, have been forced to back down because of the soaring cost of the American-produced Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft due to fly off them.

The move is a blow to the navy’s prestige and has come on the heels of Gordon Brown’s announcement last month that he was axing one of the navy’s four Trident nuclear deterrent submarines.

It is too late for the navy to renege on contracts to build the two carriers, the Queen Elizabeth, due to go into service in 2016, and the Prince of Wales, due to follow in 2018. Although the second carrier will be built, it will be used as an amphibious commando ship, with only helicopters on board instead of JSF aircraft.

The move will leave the navy without a carrier when the Queen Elizabeth goes into refit, leaving open the possibility that it might have to borrow one from the French navy. In a meeting with Brown last year, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, had suggested that refits of French and British aircraft carriers should be co-ordinated.

The decision to have only one new aircraft carrier will cut the number of JSFs to be flown by RAF squadrons from 138 to about 50, saving £7.6 billion. At current prices, the aircraft will cost close to £90m each, but this could rise to more than £100m.

Using the Prince of Wales as a commando ship will save a further £600m, the amount that would have been needed to replace the amphibious landing ship Ocean, which is due to go out of service in 2018.


Navantia Launches Second Patrol Vessel for Venezuela
Source: Navantia

Navantia today at 13:00, at its Puerto Real facility, christened the second of four Patrulleros Oceánicos de Vigilancia de la Zona Económica Exclusiva (Ocean-Going Patrol Boats for the Surveillance of the Exclusive Economic Zone, POVZEE) with the name "Warao." The godmother was Mrs. Soledad Villafaña de Aniasi.

The event was attended, among others, by the General Commander of the Venezuelan Navy, Carlos Aniasi, the Ambassador of Venezuela to Spain, Julian Isaís Rodriguez, the head of the Venezuelan naval mission in Spain, Admiral Padrón, and, for Navantia, by its President Aurelio Martinez, and by Fernando Miguélez, director of the San Fernando-Puerto Real Shipyard.

This ship launched over the weekend, is the second in a class of four ships that Navantia is building for the Venezuelan Navy. Its construction began in September 2008 and the keel laying took place on 12 May 2009.

POVZEE ocean surveillance ships can perform different tasks such as surveillance and protection of the Exclusive Economic Zone, maritime protection, defense of strategic interests, search and rescue operations, humanitarian relief and assistance to other ships, maritime pollution control, counter-smuggling, operations against drug trafficking and illegal immigration, surveillance and information gathering, environmental intelligence, surface defense, and passive electronic warfare.

The characteristics of the POVZEE ships are:
- Length overall: 98.90 m.
- Beam: 13.60 m
- Height to main deck: 7.20 m.
- Design draft: 3,80 m.
- Displacement: 2,200 tons
- Maximum speed: 25 knots

The contract of these four patrol ships and four smaller coastal surveillance vessels, whose construction will involve five million working hours (1,456,900 for Navantia and 3,580,700 for subcontractors and suppliers) was signed on 28 November 2005. Deliveries are scheduled between November 2009 and July 2011.




USS Cavalla

Today’s website is USS Cavalla. The USS Cavalla is berthed in Seawolf Park, Galveston, Texas as a memorial to the lost submarine USS Seawolf. Enjoy.


This Day in U.S. Naval History

1813- Capt. David Porter claims Marquesas Islands for the United States.
1943 - Carrier force attacks bases on Tarawa and Makin begun.
1943 - USS Nautilus (SS 168) enters Tarawa lagoon in first submarine photograph reconnaissance mission.
1961 - At the request of the president of the Dominican Republic, U.S. Naval Task Force sails to Dominican Republic to bolster the country's government and to prevent a coup.
1969 - Navy astronauts Cmdr. Charles Conrad Jr. and Cmdr. Alan L. Bean are third and fourth men to walk on the moon. They were part of Apollo 12 mission. Cdmr. Richard F. Gordon Jr., the command module pilot, remained in lunar orbit. During the mission lasting 19 days, four hours and 36 minutes, the astronauts recovered 243 lbs. of lunar material. Recovery was by HS-4 helicopters from USS Hornet (CVS 12).


Photo of the Day



The Seawolf-class attack submarine USS Connecticut (SSN 22) is underway in the Pacific Ocean.

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