Welcome to MSW’s Scuttlebutt! Here’s the news for the day.
Campaign Proposal - "Big Fish"
MSW crew-mate Peter Fulgoney (peterf) has put together a great new MSW Campaign idea for all of you "Big Fish" builders out there.
Denmark dispatched marines to intercept Greenpeace ship
Source: RusNavy.com
Denmark dispatched marines to intercept Greenpeace ship sailed off London to hold protest action against deepwater drilling, reported The Guardian.
The vessel named Esperanza left London port last week. As for plans of the environmental organization, the ship with the Greenpeace activists on board is supposed to reach one of the oil platforms and hold peaceful protest action against deepwater drilling. According to Greenpeace, this oil extraction method endangers environment and invites large-scale environmental disasters like recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
However, Greenpeace has not disclosed the ship's route and final destination either. By order of Danish government, a warship with marines will expect the Greenpeace activists off the Faeroes where one of deepwater drilling platforms is located, although it is uncertain whether the ecologists' vessel would arrive there or choose another platform.
Greenpeace has already expressed concern of the Denmark's decision and pointed out that the action was going to be absolutely peaceful.
According to The Guardian, there are 30 men aboard Esperanza which is former Russian Vikhr-type rescue tug; the Greenpeace activists have food supplies for several months, lifeboats and a helicopter. Greenpeace says Esperanza has been conducting environmental activities since 2002 and is a flagship of the Greenpeace fleet.
This action is not the first one undertaken by Greenpeace to draw public attention to danger of deepwater drilling in particular and to inexpedience of oil use in general. Late July the Greenpeace activists blocked all London's BP gas stations in protest against oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
BSF sub to be laid down on Aug 20
Source: RusNavy.com
Project 636 diesel electric submarine for Black Sea Fleet will be laid down on Aug 20 at Admiralteyskie Verfi shipyard (St. Petersburg), reports RIA Novosti referring to the shipyard press service.
The keel-laying ceremony will be attended by Mikhail Oseyevsky, Vice Governor of St. Petersburg; Leonid Strugov, representative of Russian Ministry of Trade and Industry; Roman Trotsenko, president of JSC United Shipbuilding Corporation; Vladimir Aleksandrov, director general of Admiralteyskie Verfi shipyard.
Vladimir Vysotsky, Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief said late July that 3 Project 636 submarines and 3 frigates of new project would be laid down at Russian shipyards for Black Sea Fleet in 2010.
CHARACTERISTICS OF PROJECT 636 SUBMARINES
NATO classification: Improved Kilo
Surface speed: 17 knots
Submerged speed: 20 knots
Operating depth: 240 meters
Test depth: 350 meters
Endurance: 45 days
Crew: 57
DIMENSIONS
Surface displacement: 2,300 tons
Submerged displacement: 3,950 tons
Extreme length (at design waterline): 76.2 meters
Extreme beam: 9.9 meters
Mean draft (at design waterline): 6.2 meters
ARMAMENT
6 x 533-mm torpedo tubes (18 torpedoes or 24 mines) capable to launch Club-S missiles
MANPADS Strela-3M or Igla-1
USS Nautilus (SS 168)
Today’s website is the USS Nautilus (SS 168). Enjoy.
This Day in U.S. Naval History
1838 - Exploring Expedition under Lt. Charles Wilkes embarks on world cruise.
1911 - First Navy Nurse Corps superintendent, Esther Voorhees Hasson, appointed.
1965 - First major amphibious assault in Vietnam, Operation Starlight captures 2,000 Viet Cong.
1966 - First ship-to-shore satellite radio message sent from USS Annapolis (AMGR 1) in South China Sea to Pacific Fleet Headquarters at Pearl Harbor.
1974 - After flooding in Philippines, Navy helicopters begin six days of operations to rescue people and bring supplies (244 flights).
Photo of the Day
The Thetis-class patrol frigate, also called Stanflex 3000, is a class of large patrol vessels built for the Royal Danish Navy. The class comprises four ships, all built and commissioned in the early 1990s. The ships' tasks are mainly maintenance of sovereignty, search and rescue, fishery inspection and support to local (mainly Greenlandic) authorities. The operation areas are normally Greenland and the Faroe Islands, but the vessels also operate near Iceland on transit between Greenland and the Faroe Islands, and near Denmark.
Gator
