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



Feature – Scratchbuilding a S-100 in 1/700

Join MSW Crewmember Anthony Kochevar (AJKOCHEV) as he tries his hand at scratchbuilding a S-100 Schnellboot in 1/700 scale.




Philippine Navy to buy Hamilton class patrol craft from the US
Source: World Arms Trade Analytic Center

Philippine Navy holds negotiations with US military authorities with a view to acquire the first of written-off Hamilton class USCG patrol crafts, reports Jane's Navy International.

US Coast Guard (USCG) is about to decommission four Hamilton class ships in 2011: USCGC Hamilton, USCGC Chase, USCGC Rush, and USCGC Jarvis. In prospect, those ships will be replaced with eight new Legend class patrol crafts; two of them have already been commissioned into US Coast Guard.

Hamilton class cutters were offered for sale and Philippine Navy sent a request, confirmed USCG. Officially, the delivery under Foreign Military Sales program will be formally declared in the nearest months. In case of positive decision, the 115-meter long ship will be the most powerful in Philippine Navy.

Philippines expect the ship to arrive at Manila in the first half of 2011. Supposedly, the ship will replace the flagship Rajah Humabon (American Cannon class patrol craft built in 1943).

USCGC Hamilton was launched in Dec 1965. Philippine Navy will have to arrange repair of the hull which had been in service for 44 years.

According to Philippine media, national navy intend to commission 7 ships in 2011: three littoral combat ships (possibly Hamilton class), three multipurpose attack crafts (MPAC), and a landing craft (LCU).

Each of new multipurpose attack crafts cost PHP 89 mln ($2.03 mln) and is a modified version of three 15-meter long landing cutters previously delivered by Propmech. In May 2009 those cutters joined Philippine Navy's special operations force.

In addition, Propmech takes part in a tender for the second parcel of MPAC. Acquiring of nine additional cutters is possible in prospect.

In March 2010 the company also won a PHP 178 mln ($4 mln) contract for delivery of a landing craft LCU in 2011.

Besides, there is a long-term project to purchase a multirole ship MRV used for transportation of troops, armor, and cargo; estimated cost of the project is PHP 5 bln. It was initially planned to finance the project till 2012. Previous Philippine leaders tied the MRV contract with South Korean company Daewoo Shipbuilding, but new government blocked the deal demanding an appropriate inquiry into circumstances of the contract conclusion.

MRV package includes Makasar class landing platform dock, two landing crafts LCU-23M, four armored amphibious vehicles KAAV (modification AAV-7) built by Samsung Techwin, four 9.8-meter rigid inflatable boats, mobile field hospital, ambulance car, six light trucks, and a forklift truck.


Navy Units Prepare to Support Tsunami-Damaged Areas
Source: US Navy

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (NNS) -- U.S. Pacific Fleet ships in the Western Pacific were converging on Japan to be in the best position to help those in areas damaged by the massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

They include the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), which departed Southern California waters on March 5 for a regularly scheduled deployment to the Western Pacific and U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. Reagan is the flagship of the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group, which includes USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) and USS Preble (DDG 88). All three ships were headed to Honshu's east coast. It is too early to say what they will be tasked with once they arrive.

USS Essex (LHD 2), also forward deployed to Sasebo, had just arrived in Malaysia, but is getting ready to return to Japan to rendezvous with USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49) and USS Germantown (LSD 42) off Tokyo to prepare for any humanitarian assistance/disaster relief duties.

USS Tortuga (LSD 46), a dock landing ship that carries helicopters and landing craft to support amphibious operations, left its forward deployed port of Sasebo in Southern Japan last evening to embark MH-53 heavy lift helicopters.

USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19), the U.S. Seventh Fleet command ship, had arrived in Singapore yesterday for a port visit, but immediately changed its focus to loading humanitarian assistance/disaster relief equipment and preparing to return to Japan to provide support as directed.

"We obviously have huge sympathy for the people of Japan, and we are prepared to help them in any way we possibly can," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in a statement. "It's obviously a very sophisticated country, but this is a huge disaster and we will do all, anything we are asked to do to help out."


This Day in U.S. Naval History

1863 - Rear Adm. Farragut's squadron of seven ships forces its way up the Mississippi River to support Union troops at Vicksburg, Miss., and Baton Rouge, La.
1929 - Naval Air Station Pensacola aircraft make 113 flights for flood rescue and relief.
1970 - Navy hospital ship USS Repose (AH 16) leaves South Vietnam after four years of service there.


Diorama Idea of the Day



The forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2) gets underway from Sepangar, Malaysia to support earthquake and tsunami relief operations.

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