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



Feature - USS Illinois BB-7

MSW crew-mate Bob Cicconi (bobcicconi) brings us his latest build of Niko's USS Illinois BB-7 in this MSW Feature.




Swedish Combat Boats Loaned Overseas
Source: Thelocal.se

Two Swedish Combat Boat 90s (StridsBåt 90, CB 90) have been loaned to the UK and the Netherlands for six months.

The boats have been rebuilt so that they can be taken aboard major warships. The possibility of military cooperation with the two countries is expected to increase as a result of the loan.



"It is a way for Sweden to be able to support military operations," Kristofer Gattberg, project manager at the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (Forsvaretsmaterielverk, FMV), told the TT news agency.

FMV has permitted the building of fast military assault craft, in the case the CB90 model. They can now be hoisted on board larger British and Dutch warships, required for departure to international efforts around the world.

Over the next six months, the boats will be tested by the British and Dutch navies.

British and Dutch personnel, including divers, have already received training on a CB90 in Sweden. The boats are suitable for coastal operations and military purposes, such as for disasters or pirate and terrorist threats. They can be used to transport people, medical care, command location and a complete weapons system.

For Dockstavarvet, a shipyard that builds boats, the tests represent the opening up of possible export markets. Previously, the CB90 model has been exported to Mexico, Malaysia, Norway and Greece and is used for military or Coast Guard purposes.


Last of Navy’s New Air Defense Destroyers Launched
Source: UK Ministry of Defense

The sixth and last of the Royal Navy’s powerful new Type 45 Destroyers was launched today on the Clyde.

The 7,500 tonne warship HMS Duncan has been built by BAE Systems using 2,800 tonnes of steel - more than used in Blackpool Tower. This equates to 100,000 square meters and is covered with 40 tonnes of paint.



Marie Ibbotson, wife of the Deputy Commander-in-Chief Fleet Vice Admiral Richard Ibbotson, sent the Type 45 down the slipway on the anniversary of the Royal Navy’s significant victory over the Dutch fleet in 1797 which was led by Admiral Adam Duncan after whom the ship is named.

On his first visit to the Clyde as Minister for Defense Equipment, Support and Technology Minister, Peter Luff, watched the launch and met members of the shipyard workforce. He said:

“The launch of HMS Duncan is the culmination of a huge effort by workers here on the Clyde, across the country throughout the supply chain, and in the MOD, completing this class of potent warfighters of which everyone involved can be very proud.

“Following on from HMS Daring being declared in service and the successful first firing of the Sea Viper missile system, this is another significant milestone in the delivery of a truly world-class air defense capability to the Royal Navy.”

Equipped with the Sea Viper missile system, the Type 45 will be able to engage multiple airborne or sea skimming targets from any direction at supersonic speed, helping her to provide unrivalled protection to the fleet from the most sophisticated aircraft or missiles.

Commander-in-Chief Fleet Admiral Sir Trevor Soar said:

“The Type 45 is world class. These ships are as versatile as they are powerful. Providing flexible global reach they will deliver broad utility, common to maritime forces, and give the UK military, diplomatic and political options, with their ability to exert effect on land from the sea. This ranges from deterrence and conflict prevention right up to high intensity war fighting and all points between.

“Naturally her war-fighting capability includes the ability to engage hostile forces using the Sea Viper missile system, her gun or other onboard weapon systems, while her Ship’s Company provide anything from boarding parties that deter and disrupt pirates, to landing ashore for the provision of humanitarian disaster relief. HMS Duncan can also deploy up to 60 Royal Marines Commandos and their equipment and operate a range of helicopters from her flight deck. These are fantastic ships and I look forward to HMS Duncan joining the Fleet.”

Duncan is affiliated to Dundee and Belfast. She completes the Class of six Type 45 warships along with Daring, Dauntless, Diamond, Dragon and Defender. She is expected to enter service in 2014.


BACKGROUND NOTES:
1. Duncan is named after Viscount Adam Duncan of Camperdown. Her ship’s motto is ‘Secundis dubusque rectus’ (Upright in prosperity and peril). Construction began on the ship early in 2007.

2. The Type 45s are the largest and most powerful destroyers ever ordered for the Royal Navy. They have a range of around 7,000 nautical miles which equates to travelling to New York and back without refueling. Each gas turbine on the ship produces about 24 Megawatts of power.

3. Type 45 program progress:
-- Ship 1 - HMS Daring was declared in service with the Royal Navy in July 2009.
-- Ship 2 – HMS Dauntless was commissioned into the Royal Navy in June 2009. Sea Viper was fired from HMS Dauntless on 29 September in the first firing of the missile from a Type 45 platform.
-- Ship 3 – HMS Diamond was accepted off contract at Portsmouth Naval Base in September.
-- Ship 4 – Dragon will shortly commence her first set of Sea Trials.
-- Ship 5 – Defender was launched on the Clyde in October 09 and is currently being fitted out on the Clyde.




Cuban Missile Crisis

Today’s is the anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis.


This Day in U.S. Naval History

1918 - Naval aviators of Marine Day Squadron 9 make the first raid-in-force for the Northern Bombing Group in World War I, when they bombed a German railroad at Thielt Rivy, Belgium.
1920 - The obsolete battleship Indiana (BB 1) is sunk in Tangier Sound, in the Chesapeake Bay.
1962 - A U.S. reconnaissance plane photographs a Soviet nuclear missile site under construction at San Cristobal, 100 miles west of Havana.


Photo of the Day



Reserve component Sailors assigned to Beach Master Unit (BMU) 2 prepare to check the water depth from a landing auxiliary rescue craft.

Gator