Welcome to MSW’s Scuttlebutt! Here’s the news for the day.
Feature - USS California
MSW crew-mate David J. Salvin shares a gallery of images and build details of his USS California in this "Build Story” feature.
On-Display - IJN Seaplane Tender Notoro
Crew-mate Alec Cap (bigal07) shares a gallery of images of his build of the IJN Seaplane Tender Notoro in this "On Display" feature.
Victory at Sea – Hampton Roads
Step back in time to 1862 when two iron clad behemoths clashed at the Battle of Hampton Roads.
Navantia Floats OPV and Delivers Littoral Surveillance Ships for Venezuela
Source: Navantia
Navantia on March 2 at midday christened at its facilities in Puerto Real the third of four Ocean Patrol Ships for the Exclusive Economic Zone (POVZEE) with the name "Yekuana” given by Mrs. Lorraine López de Toro.
This vessel is the third in a series of four such that Navantia is building for the navy of Venezuela. Its construction began in December 2008 and the keel was put on 22 October 2009.
These Ocean Surveillance Ships are 98.90 meters long, displace 2,200 tons and can reach a top speed of 25 knots. They can perform different missions, such as surveillance and protection of the exclusive economic zone, maritime protection, defense of strategic interests, search and rescue operations, humanitarian assistance, control of marine pollution, counter-smuggling, drug trafficking and illegal immigration, surveillance and information, environmental protection and passive electronic warfare.
Navantia that same day delivered to the navy of Venezuela, at its facilities in San Fernando, the first of four ships of the Littoral Surveillance Vessels (BVL), launched on October 16, 2008 and christened with the name "Guaicamacuto”.
Both ceremonies were attended, among others, by Venezuela's ambassador in Spain, Isaís Julian Rodriguez, the head of the Venezuelan Naval mission in Spain, Admiral Padrón and Navantia by its President, Aurelio Martinez and the Director of Shipyard San Fernando-Puerto Real, Fernando Miguélez.
The vessel is 79.90 meters long and displaces 1,500 tonnes; it can reach a top speed of 22 knots. These vessels can perform different tasks such as surveillance and coastal zone protection, protection of maritime traffic, health care to other vessels, external fire fighting, combat and control marine pollution, transport of personnel and supplies, search and rescue operations, early intervention, and diver support.
Over 90 companies around the world have contributed to the construction of these ships and to their equipment and provisioning.
The contract of these four patrol boats and four coastal surveillance vessels, whose construction will require five million working hours (1,456,900 hours for Navantia and 3,580,700 for subcontractors) was signed on 28 November 2005.
Deliveries are scheduled between March 2010 and late 2011.
France's Russia Warship Plan Raises Baltic Hackles
Source: Agence France Presse
RIGA, Latvia --- France's plan to sell Moscow four warships has triggered anger in former Soviet republics now firmly anchored in the European Union and NATO, fearful their new western allies underestimate the Kremlin.
In interviews with AFP, top officials in the Baltic states questioned France's willingness to go ahead with what would be an unprecedented transfer of advanced military technology by a NATO member to Russia.
They insisted that, while they too want better ties with their Soviet-era master, Paris's stance is wrong-headed and sends the wrong signal to a Moscow government already all-too keen to assert itself in its region.
France argues Russia must be treated as a partner and not as a threat, saying it is time to time to turn the page on the Cold War.
"I'm not sure that the best way to turn the page on the Cold War is by trading in items of hot war," said Latvia's Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins.
Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania have repeatedly raised concerns since plans to sell Mistral-class amphibious assault vessels were first floated last year
But the issue came more sharply into focus on Monday when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited Paris for talks with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy and both confirmed that the deal would go ahead in some form.
Speaking alongside Medvedev, Sarkozy said a sale would be a symbol of trust, as the West seeks to get Moscow on-side in crises such as the stand-off with Iran. He said the warships would be delivered unarmed.
While Paris, keen to preserve jobs in its naval shipyards and to get Russia to agree new UN sanctions against Iran, has played up the ships' possible role in humanitarian operations, experts say they are a potent military asset.
"The Mistral will remind countries in Russia's zone of influence that, in military terms, Moscow is still the boss and wants global prestige," said Thomas Gomart at the French Institute of International Relations.
"We don't know what they are going to do with a Mistral," said Lieutenant General Ants Laaneots, Estonia's chief of staff. "Are they going to keep them in the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, the northern fleet?"
Laaneots noted Russia that recently boosted a marine brigade in its Baltic territory of Kaliningrad from a decade-old strength of 1,200 to 2,700.
The officials also pointed to Russia's new strategic doctrine on NATO which dubs the expanded alliance a threat, and a Baltic war-games scenario last year that included a pincer operation cutting off Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
"This trend deepens our concern," said Lithuania's Defence Minister Rasa Jukneviciene.
France's European affairs minister Pierre Lellouche made a whistle-stop tour of the Baltic last week, attempting to allay concerns, without success. But Francois Heibourg, an adviser at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris, said fears about the sale were understandable.
"The Mistral is a considerable strategic tool: Russia's power projection capability will be much increased in the Black Sea, the Baltic and even far into Asia," he said.
The warship plan also comes less than two years after Russia's August 2008 war with pro-Western, ex-Soviet Georgia. Estonia's Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said Russia has since failed to live up to a ceasefire brokered by Sarkozy.
"Trust-building is important for Russia, not only for EU or NATO member states," Ansip said.
The Baltic states were seized by the Soviet Union during World War II, were scarred by mass deportations of their people and finally won freedom when the communist bloc crumbled in 1991.
The Kremlin only pulled out its troops in 1994 and the newly independent nations, with a combined population of only 6.8 million, still have rocky relations with giant Russia, notably since their NATO and EU entry in 2004.
General Dynamics NASSCO Awarded $825 Million Contract for T-AKE Ship Construction
Source: General Dynamics NASSCO
SAN DIEGO --- General Dynamics NASSCO, a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Dynamics, has been awarded an $824.6 million contract from the U.S. Navy for the construction of two T-AKE dry cargo-ammunition ships.
Announced by the Department of Defense on February 26, the contract provides full funding to NASSCO for the construction of T-AKE 13, the future USNS Medgar Evers, and T-AKE 14, the unnamed final ship of the Lewis and Clark class. In December 2008, NASSCO received a $200 million contract to purchase the engines and other long lead materials for these ships. Construction of T-AKE 13 and 14 is scheduled to begin in the second and fourth quarters of 2010, respectively. NASSCO expects to deliver both ships to the Navy's Military Sealift Command in 2012.
General Dynamics NASSCO employs more than 4,300 people and is the only full-service ship construction and repair yard on the West Coast of the United States. The shipyard delivered its ninth T-AKE ship on February 24 and is currently building the tenth through twelfth ships of the class.
Australian Defense Force gets new naval combat helicopter
Source: Australian Defense Force
The Minister for Defiance, Senator John Faulkner, today announced that the Government has given first pass approval for a major project to provide the Australian Defense Force with a new naval combat helicopter.
Project AIR 9000 Phase 8 is included in the Defense Capability Plan to provide naval warships with a new combat helicopter.
Senator Faulkner said that two potential helicopters had been identified. "The Government has decided that the new helicopter will be either the Sikorsky-Lockheed Martin built MH-60R sourced through the United States Navy, or the NATO Helicopter Industries NH90 NFH sourced through Australian Aerospace".
Senator Faulkner said that a competition would be held between the two helicopter options which would be cost-capped by the Defense Materiel Organization through the tender process.
"The new naval combat helicopter will enhance the Royal Australian Navy's ability to conduct a range of maritime operations. It will be capable of undertaking anti-submarine warfare and will be equipped with air-to-surface missiles," Senator Faulkner said.
"This fleet of combat helicopters will form the centerpiece of naval combat aviation to beyond 2040.
"The new helicopter will greatly extend the eyes and ears of our surface fleet and allow the conduct of combat and support operations in the complex and demanding maritime environment.
"They will replace the current fleet of Seahawk anti-submarine warfare helicopters and fill an operational need left by the cancellation of the Seasprite project," Senator Faulkner said.
The procurement of the new naval combat helicopters as a matter of urgency was announced in the 2009 Defense White Paper. This decision demonstrates the Government's commitment to this important Defense capability.
Sufficient helicopters will be acquired to provide at least eight helicopters concurrently embarked on ships at sea, which under the White Paper requires a fleet of 24 helicopters.
"The competitive process would commence in the next few months with the Government making a final decision about the new helicopter in 2011," Senator Faulkner said. "This schedule will enable the new helicopters to be delivered from 2014.
"Any decision Government makes in 2011 will take into account all relevant considerations including capability, cost, interoperability with other ADF capabilities, Australian industry opportunities, risk and value for money," Senator Faulkner said.
The Minister for Defense Personnel, Materiel and Science, Greg Combet, said that the decision to progress the project via a competitive tender was consistent with the Kinnaird and Mortimer procurement reforms.
The tender will allow the companies to offer innovative solutions that satisfy the capability, cost and schedule requirements and detail what opportunities they will offer local industry.
"A competitive process will ensure value for money for the tax payer and ensure the project's acquisition strategy provides the Government with the best possible information to support a decision for this vital capability," Mr Combet said.Thales Alenia Space to Build Jason-3 Operational Oceanographic Satellite
Source: Thales Alenia Space
CSS Virginia
Today’s website is the history of the CSS Virginia. Enjoy.
USS Monitor Center
Today’s website is the history of the USS Monitor Center. Enjoy.
This Day in U.S. Naval History
1854 - Commodore Matthew Perry opens treaty negotiations with Japan.
1862 - Ironclad ram CSS Virginia destroys USS Cumberland and USS Congress.
1945 - Phyllis Daley, assigned to the Navy Nurse Corps, becomes the first African-American ensign.
1958 - Battleship USS Wisconsin (BB 64) is decommissioned, leaving the Navy without an active battleship for the first time since 1895.
1965 - The 7th Fleet lands the first major Marine Corps units in South Vietnam at Danang.
Photo of the Day
The amphibious dock landing ship USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52), right, and the Military Sealift Command fleet replenishment oiler USNS Henry J. Kaiser (T-AO 187) conduct an underway replenishment.
Gator
