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The USS Medgar Evers? The USS John Murtha? The USS Cesar Chavez? Our Navy Secretary, Ray Mabus, has this diversity thing down cold. Each one of those ships was in a class that previous names of their sister ships had nothing to do with civil rights, or corrupt Democratic politicians. Ships are usually named after states, cities, even famous explorers and war heroes. But Mabus has injected partisanship into this tradition, naming another ship for Democrat Gabriel Giffords, who has shown courage in her recovery from an assassination attempt but had expressed little interest in the military during her career...

The U.S. Navy announced Wednesday morning that it has named one of its new ships after Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta, a San Diego native who died a hero in Iraq in 2004. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced the move, saying a new guided-missile destroyer will be named the USS Rafael Peralta. A Pentagon statement said Mabus named that ship and two other new destroyers after Navy and Marine Corps heroes whose actions occurred during different conflicts but "were united in their uncommon valor." Peralta was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross after using his body to shield fellow Marines from an...

As US Navy shrinks, China launches more, better war ships HONG KONG — As looming budget cuts force the Pentagon to plan for a smaller US navy, China is accelerating the launch of new, increasingly capable warships as part of a sustained drive to become a major maritime power. Shanghai's Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding Company late last month launched the fourth of China's new 071 amphibious landing ships according to reports carried by Chinese military web sites and the state-controlled media. While most attention has been drawn to the ongoing sea trials of China's first aircraft carrier, military analysts say the...

See the YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UwFdPu9fDg&feature=youtu.be See NAVSEA's Facebook presence: https://www.facebook.com/NAVSEA

PRINCIPAL OBJECTIVES In January 2012 the Department published a paper -- “Defense Budget Priorities and Choices” – identifying the major budgetary changes made in response to the new defense strategy. Changes in the Fiscal Year 2013 Budget support U.S. defense strategy and are organized around four major themes: 1. Making more disciplined use of defense dollars. 2. Applying strategic guidance to force structure and investment. 3. Ensuring the quality of the all-volunteer force. 4. Fully supporting deployed warfighters. Disciplined Use of Defense Dollars The FY 2013 budget continues the reform agenda advanced in the Department’s previous three budgets. The FY...

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus is back again using a U.S. Navy warship as a vessel of political pandering. At a hurriedly convened Pentagon ceremony Friday, Mr. Mabus announced that the next littoral combat ship, LCS-11, would be named for former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Arizona Democrat. Mrs. Giffords recently resigned her congressional seat to focus on recovering from wounds she received in a tragic January 2011 shooting. There are many appropriate ways to honor Mrs. Giffords, but this is not one of them.

The US Navy has been concerned for some time about the threat of “swarming” boats. This threat is seen as very strong where American warships go through narrow passageways like the Strait of Hormuz, or around important anchorages, as for example near key oil ports. The swarming boat thesis is that terrorist, whether directly or indirectly state sponsored (i.e., Hezbollah, al-Qaeda) will load up a number of small boats with high explosives and drive them toward US warships at relatively high speed. These boats, which just need a couple of high powered outboard motors, can move very fast. Because they...

Littoral ship named for Gabby ---

..WASHINGTON (AP) — The Navy has named a ship for Gabrielle Giffords, the recently retired congresswoman from Arizona who is recovering from a gunshot wound to the head received in January 2011. In a ceremony at the Pentagon, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus unveiled an artist's rendering of the USS Gabrielle Giffords. The littoral combat ship is among the Navy's most versatile and can operate in shallower coastal waters than larger ships. Mabus said: "God bless the USS Gabrielle Giffords and all who sail in her." Mabus also announced that the ship's "sponsor" is Roxanna Green. She's the mother of Christina-Taylor...

The Secretary of the Navy announced on Friday that a new littoral combat ship will be named after former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.). The announcement comes the same day that President Obama signed the last piece of legislation sponsored by Giffords, a bill aimed at reducing drug trafficking along the American borders with Canada and Mexico. Giffords, who recently stepped down from office, was the target of a shooting rampage in early January 2011. “The name this ship bears and the story represented by that name will inspire all those who come in contact with her,” said Navy Secretary Ray...

This is what the Navy SEAL team looked like when they went in to get Bin Laden... Some items of note: 50 caliber sniper on the right. Knee, knuckle and forearm protection. Various plastic/wire ties. Absolute identity denial to protect their families. Free choice of footwear. Fourth from the right has three artillery simulators and CS gas grenades on his belly... He's the 'shock and awe' guy. Seal Team Six... can you imagine the look on Bin Laden's face when these guys came through the door? This open letter from a retired USMC colonel received via e-mail: ________________________________________________________________________________ Let's be...

The Russian Navy Grows from Bottom up While the nation’s leaders work at overhauling the Navy organization, the Navy itself continues to order new ships. Last year’s persistent scandals over nuclear submarine contracts proved a hard nut to crack when assigning government contracts in 2011. For a time, the submarine scandals confused the process for ordering surface ships. Meanwhile the focus there is being shifted to the production of time tested projects built around today’s armaments. “Due to the lack of funding, the Navy has come close to a numerical minimum required to fulfill its mission,” Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry...

Russia will start producing six submarines and one aircraft carrier annually starting in 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Thursday. “By 2013, production capacity [at Russian shipyards] will allow us to build six submarines and an aircraft carrier every year,” Rogozin told reporters, adding that the number includes both nuclear and diesel-powered submarines. As a result, the production output will surpass that of the Soviet era when Russia built an average of five submarines annually, he said. Rogozin earlier said the production had been bogged down in the past by a lack of financing, outdated equipment and a...

The Royal Navy’s most sophisticated warship is being sent to the South Atlantic in a move that will send a powerful message to Argentina. Dauntless will set sail for the Falkland Islands in the coming weeks armed with a battery of missiles that could "take out all of South America's fighter aircraft let alone Argentina's," ... The Type 45 destroyer is the most advanced anti-aircraft and anti-ballistic ship in the world equipped with 48 Sea Viper missiles and the Sampson radar, which is more advanced than Heathrow air traffic control The ship is in a league of its own in...

WSJ OPINION JANUARY 30, 2012, 11:46 P.M. ET Obama Exploits the Navy SEALs There may be political value in detailing how our special forces hunted bin Laden, but doing so threatens troop safety and future missions. BY LEIF BABIN America's premier Special Operations force is once again in the headlines after a team of Navy SEALs rescued two hostages from captivity in Somalia last week. Elite U.S. forces have carried out such operations periodically over the past decade, always with skill and bravery. The difference in recent months is that the details of their work haven't remained secret. On the...

Imagine a Naval gun so powerful it can shoot a 5-inch projectile up to 220 miles, yet requires no explosives to fire. That's the Navy's futuristic electromagnetic railgun, a project that could be deployed on the service's ships by 2025, and which is now a little bit closer to reality with the signing of a deal with Raytheon for the development of what's known as the pulse-forming network. (Snip) At the same time, because the power for the railgun will come from ships' standard battery banks, the Navy shouldn't have to maintain large amounts of space on board for storage

This New Commando 'Mothership' Is Being Rushed To The Middle East Robert Johnson January 28, 2012The Pentagon is wasting no time in modifying its forces to meet the needs of a more specialized and commando-based military. The Washington Post reports the Pentagon is fast-tracking the conversion of the 1960s warship USS Ponce to use as a "commando mothership" base for special forces teams in the Middle East. The re-christened Ponce will hold small Combat Rubber Raiding Craft (Zodiac style boats), and helicopters routinely employed by the SEAL teams that are now becoming famous for their successful clandestine operations. The news...

Navy wants commando ‘mothership’ in Middle East By Craig Whitlock, Saturday, January 28, 7:57 AM The Pentagon is rushing to send a large floating base for commando teams to the Middle East as tensions rise with Iran, al-Qaeda in Yemen and Somali pirates, among other threats. In response to requests from U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, the Navy is converting an aging warship it had planned to decommission into a makeshift staging base for the commandos. Unofficially dubbed a “mothership,” the floating base could accommodate smaller high-speed boats and helicopters commonly used by Navy...

U.S. helicopters swooped into Somalia on Wednesday and rescued an American and a Dane after a shootout with pirates holding them hostage, in a rare raid into the Horn of Africa nation to free foreign captives... U.S. President Barack Obama was overheard congratulating Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, apparently for the success of the operation, as Obama entered the House of Representatives chamber on Tuesday for his annual State of the Union speech. "Leon. Good job tonight. Good job tonight," Obama said.

WASHINGTON -- In a daring nighttime raid Tuesday, U.S. Navy SEALs rescued two hostages, including one American, who were being held by kidnappers in Somalia, U.S. officials tell NBC News. American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and a 60-year-old Dane, Poul Thisted, were working for a Danish relief organization in northern Somalia when they were kidnapped last October. U.S. officials described their kidnappers as heavily armed common criminals with no known ties to any organized militant group. According to the U.S. officials, two teams of Navy SEALs landed by helicopter near the compound where the two hostages were being held. As the...

A Virginia man claimed to be a Navy SEAL to talk his way out of a gun possession arrest on Thursday, and the New York Police Department committed him to a psych ward thinking his claims of elite military status were the rantings of a lunatic.NYC Police Throw Navy SEAL Into Psych Ward For Claiming... Hes a SEAL Turns out the guy was in fact an elite Navy SEAL. But as the New York Post put it, telling the NYPD “I’m in an elite military unit, you can’t arrest me,” doesn‘t help much when the city’s draconian gun laws are...

BUELLTON, Calif (NNS) -- Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 3 and the 31st Seabee Readiness Group (SRG) helped to rescue a family involved in a car wreck on Highway 101 in Buellton, Calif., Jan. 12.

British and French ships joined a US carrier group in a six-strong flotilla of warships which passed through the sensitive Strait of Hormuz, Britain's Ministry of Defence said.

Vietnam's navy has taken delivery of its first locally-made warship, equipped with artillery and missile systems, local media report. The Hong Ha shipbuilding company started building the model in 2009 and tested the warship last year.

Brit Phil Warren took 63 years to build this incredible fleet of 432 ships in exacting 1:300 scale- and check this out: every last one of them is built entirely from matchsticks and matchboxes. The amazing collection includes nearly 370 American and  60 British RN ships. Mr Warren started the first one in post-war 1948 when just a lad of 17, and the only tools utilized in their impeccable construction are razor blade, tweezers and sandpaper. Balsa wood glue keeps it all together.. and that's it.  More than 650,000 used matchsticks and boxes were used to create the fleet (must know every...

Somewhere around West Bend, several people have pieces of U.S. Navy Commander Wilma Roberts' life - her furniture, her china, her clothes, financial records, the family Bible, even the ceremonial sword from her son's graduation from a military academy. Nearly all Roberts' worldly possessions were auctioned off by a storage business last summer after a classic military snafu: Though Roberts, 48, was on active duty in Japan and Kuwait from July 2008 to July 2011, Navy officials stopped paying for her storage in 2010 and told the West Bend company it could sell off the goods - though the Navy...

The Royal Navy has been named in the UK’s top 100 of ‘gay-friendly’ employers based on a major national survey. More than 350 companies, whose workforces total more than 1.9 million people in all – one in every 15 people in employment in the land – took part in the survey by Stonewall, the UK charity which campaigns and lobbies on behalf of lesbian, gay and bisexual men and women. The Naval Service has been one of Stonewall’s ‘diversity champions’ for the past seven years and has taken part in the organisation’s workplace survey since 2006. The RN was placed...

* Vessel brings emergency fuel supplies to U.S. town * Tanker ploughs through two-feet-thick ice on 10-day voyage By Alissa de Carbonnel MOSCOW, Jan 13 (Reuters) - A Russian tanker escorted by the U.S. Coast Guard reached the frozen Alaskan port of Nome with emergency fuel supplies on Friday after a 10-day voyage through ice-choked seas, the Russian company that owns the vessel said. The mission to Nome is the first mid-winter marine delivery to western Alaska and comes as oil and gas development and climate change increase commercial traffic along trade routes in the Arctic. ... The Renda herself...

American sailors have come to the rescue of distressed Iranian fishermen for the second time in less than a week, the Pentagon said Tuesday. The United States Coast Guard cutter Monomoy "picked up six Iranian mariners after their vessel broke down" in the Persian Gulf Tuesday, the BBC reported Tuesday.

US Kidd sailor and Iranian sailor hug Amid growing tension between the US and Iran, the US Navy vessel U.S.S. Kidd rescued 13 Iranian sailors who were held captive by Somali pirates for more than 40 days. The dramatic rescue occurred just days after Iranian commanders ordered US navy ships not to return to the North Arabian Sea. The extraordinary rescue also follows President Obama’s signing of tough new sanctions against Iran, making it harder for Iran to sell its oil. The irony is not lost on the fact that in the midst of such an international crisis with...

(CNN) -- U.S. sailors from a carrier strike group whose recent presence in the Persian Gulf drew the ire of Iranian military officials have rescued 13 of the Middle Eastern country's sailors from a hijacked fishing boat, a military spokesman said Friday. The destroyer USS Kidd came to the aid of the ship Thursday in the North Arabian sea, near the crucial Strait of Hormuz, according to the Navy. The rescue prompted the captain of the freed ship to offer his "sincere gratitude," according to Josh Schminky, a Navy Criminal Investigative Service agent aboard the Kidd.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The same U.S. aircraft carrier group that Iran warned not to return to the Gulf has rescued 13 Iranians held hostage for weeks by pirates in the Arabian Sea, the Pentagon said on Friday. The rescue operation took place on Thursday, when forces with the USS John C. Stennis carrier strike group received a distress call from the master of the Al Molai, an Iranian-flagged fishing vessel, who said he was being held captive by pirates.

Click on the link, it is a video, with vulgarity, of a Navy SEAL who was at a wake that Jesse Ventura attended, and Ventura said that in this war, NAVY SEALS DESERVE TO DIE!!

(Honolulu, HI) -- You can expect increased aircraft noise over Kaneohe and over the Kona side of the Big Island through January 18th because of special military exercises. A dozen FA/18 Hornet aircraft will be involved in exercises between Marine Corps Base Hawaii and the Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island. After the exercises in Hawaii, the Hornets are headed to Japan and then to deployment in Afghanistan.

SAN DIEGO — San Diego County investigators trying to determine a motive behind a New Year's Day murder-suicide involving two Navy pilots and two other people are looking at whether jealousy may have played a role. Sheriff's Capt. Duncan Fraser said Thursday investigators are looking at all aspects, including whether there was a relationship between one of the pilot's sisters who was also killed and the Navy pilot who committed suicide. John Robert Reeves, 25, shot himself in the head, and the three others with him were murdered, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said, citing autopsy results. Fellow Navy...

China Takes Aim at U.S. Naval Might . The USS Gerald R. Ford was supposed to help secure another half century of American naval supremacy. The hulking aircraft carrier taking shape in a dry dock in Newport News, Va., is designed to carry a crew of 4,660 and a formidable arsenal of aircraft and weapons. But an unforeseen problem cropped up between blueprint and expected delivery in 2015: China is building a new class of ballistic missiles designed to arc through the stratosphere and explode onto the deck of a U.S. carrier, killing sailors and crippling its flight deck. Since...

A shooting in Coronado, Calif., that left four people dead, including two Navy pilots and one of their sisters, is being investigated as an apparent murder-suicide. The New Year's Day shooting in a condo there claimed the lives of siblings David and Karen Reis, 25 and 24, respectively, as well as David's roommate, John Reeves, 25, and a fourth unknown man. David Reis and Reeves were both pilots in the Navy, and shared the condo home in Coronado, sources told ABC affiliate KGTV. The other dead man is a 31-year-old civilian who lives in Chula Vista, according to the county...

...four people found dead in a New Year’s Day shooting at a tony Coronado condominium on San Diego Bay. It was not immediately clear how the siblings, along with two men ages 25 and 31, died ... Homicides are extremely rare in Coronado — just one was recorded in 2010.

In reaction to proposed sanctions over its nuclear program, Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz cutting off the flow of crude from the Middle East. Iran’s Chief of the Navy, Admiral Habibollah Sayyari boasted that “Closing the of Hormuz for Iran’s armed forces is really easy.” He was overhyping the capability of his navy in advance of a planned 10 day Iranian navel exercise in the strait. Iran did state that “it would stop the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if sanctions were imposed on its crude exports.” This was the...

Amid a verbal row with the United States over blocking the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil shipping route, Iran proclaimed on Friday that it will start testing long range missiles in the Persian Gulf. "On Saturday morning the Iranian navy will test several of its long-range missiles in the Persian Gulf," navy deputy commander Admiral Mahmoud Moussavi told Fars news agency.

Iranian naval chief Habibollah Sayyari said Wednesday that "Closing the Strait of Hormuz for Iran's armed forces is really easy ... or as Iranians say it will be easier than drinking a glass of water." Parisa Hafezi of Reuters reports Sayyari then topped this off by saying that while his forces could do this at any time, there was currently no need, as they control the Sea of Oman and therefore all shipping through the strait. Iran's threats Tuesday to close the strait sent oil prices up close to 2%, but it won't last. Oil analyst Thorbjoern bak Jensen, with...

Back in the 80s, the United States Navy wanted a stealth aircraft to replace the A-6 Intruder. McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics came up with an ultra-secret flying wing design, an alien-looking aircraft called the A-12 Avenger II. It never flew. Fast forward 30 years and go to eBay. Someone named Seth Kettleman is selling its canopy for a whooping $620,238. How did this happen? Kettleman is probably going to get that amount or more. After all, this is the only part of this secret airplane to reach public hands. Nobody else has anything else about this fabled jet, ultimately...

VIRGINIA BEACH It's Wednesday morning around 10:30 when the Oak Hill finally comes into view, its steel-gray bow peeking out from behind a grove of green trees at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek. It's been three months since the dock landing ship left home for Central America, and all of the usual fanfare is waiting to greet its crew: crowds of cheering families, toddlers dressed in sailor suits, and the lucky, excited woman who's been chosen to take part in a time-honored Navy tradition - the first homecoming kiss. In this case, that woman is 22-year-old Citlalic Snell. She's a...

U.S. Navy Expects to Base Ships in Singapore By SHAUN TANDON, Agence France-Presse Published: 17 Dec 2011 13:04 WASHINGTON - The United States, facing a rising China but a tighter budget, expects to station several combat ships in Singapore and may step up deployments to the Philippines and Thailand, a naval officer said. The United States has been increasingly vocal about defending freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, where tensions over territorial disputes between Beijing and Southeast Asian nations have been on the rise. Related Topics In an academic article forecasting the shape of the U.S. Navy in...

The $15 a gallon price is 4 times the world market price of conventional jet fuel. The U.S. has plenty of oil and natural gas if the Obama administration would only permit expanded exploration and development. The announcement is part of President Obama’s goal of advancing a domestic biofuels industry capable of powering vehicles that now use diesel and jet fuel. It’s also part of the administration’s ongoing effort to try to advance parts of its energy agenda that don’t require congressional approval. Another case in point was Obama’s announcement on Friday of new energy-efficient building initiatives. “We can’t wait...

A Navy shipbuilder in Maine says it had to fumigate a warehouse and part of a warship because a shipment of parts from the West Coast contained about two-dozen venomous black widow spiders. ... The shipyard is confident exterminators eliminated any spiders that weren’t stomped.

DENVER – DigitalGlobe Inc., a commercial satellite company, said Wednesday that it took a photograph of China’s first aircraft carrier during a sea trial in the Yellow Sea, off the Chinese coast.

SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — The commanding officer of a Navy squadron attached to the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson became the 22nd Navy skipper fired this year after Navy officials lost confidence in his ability to command, the service announced. Cmdr. Jonathan Jackson, commanding officer of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 134, was fired Thursday by Rear Adm. Thomas Shannon, commander of Carrier Strike Group 1, after an investigation revealed Jackson had violated the Navy’s sexual harassment policy by “creating and condoning an intimidating, hostile and offensive work environment,” according to a Navy news release.

Honduras will inaugurate a new naval base on Guanaja Island next month. The base, which was financed by the U.S., will be used to support joint U.S.-Honduras counternarcotics efforts.

Teaming up with the Department of Agriculture (which has a cheery Rotary Club ring to it), the Navy has purchased 450,000 gallons of biofuel for about $16 a gallon, or about 4 times the price of its standard marine fuel, JP-5, which has been going for under $4 a gallon. You won’t be surprised to learn that a member of Obama’s presidential transition team, T. J. Glauthier, is a “strategic advisor” at Solazyme, the California company that is selling a portion of the biofuel to the Navy. Glauthier worked – shock, shock – on the energy-sector portion of the 2009...