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On a clear, sunny day in April 2014, two F/A-18s took off for an air combat training mission off the coast of Virginia. The jets, part of my Navy fighter squadron, climbed to an altitude of 12,000 and steered towards Warning Area W-72, an exclusive block of airspace ten miles east of Virginia Beach. All traffic into the training area goes through a single GPS point at a set altitude — almost like a doorway into a massive room where military jets can operate without running into other aircraft. Just at the moment the two jets crossed the threshold, one...

A US Navy admiral begged the Cuomo administration to send patients to the nearly-empty hospital ship docked on the Hudson River during the height of the pandemic — but his pleas were met with politics and paranoia, The Post has learned. With city medical facilities packed with critically ill COVID patients in the spring of 2020 — and just days after the infamous edict by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to send COVID patients to nursing homes, which critics say resulted in thousands of deaths — the Trump administration sent the USNS Comfort, a 1,000-bed ship, to relieve hospitals of patients with...

US Congressman Mike Gallagher, a Republican member of the House Armed Services Committee, delivered a stark warning to American citizens yesterday in response to a new report by the Heritage Foundation that ranked the US Navy “very weak” in terms of capacity and under immense strain to maintain readiness.

(UPI) -- A sailor accused by the Navy of setting fire to and destroying an amphibious assault ship was acquitted Friday by a military judge. Ryan Sawyer Mays, 21, was found not guilty by Capt. Derek Butler of starting the fire that destroyed the $1.2 billion USS Bonhomme Richard. "I am so grateful that this is finally over. It's been a long two years," Mays said outside the court building, flanked by his wife, parents and defense team, according to USNI News. "I've been waiting a long time." The Navy had accused Mays of starting the fire because he was...

An American contractor held hostage in Afghanistan for more than two years has been released in exchange for a convicted Taliban drug lord jailed in the United States, the White House said Monday, announcing a rare success in U.S.-Taliban talks since the militant group took power a little more than a year ago Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran who had spent more than a decade in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor, was abducted in January 2020 and is believed to have been held since then by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network. He was traded for Bashir Noorzai, a Taliban associate convicted...

Residents of several cities in the Rostov region reported a powerful explosion. Citing eyewitnesses, local publication 161.ru noted that the distance between some of the witnesses was nearly 125 miles. The sound of the explosion was heard by 161.ru readers in Rostov-on-Don, Azov, Taganrog, Novoshakhtinsk, Shakhty, Novocherkassk, Aksay, and Yeysk. According to eyewitnesses, "fences trembled in some places" after the explosion and car alarms went off in Rostov-on-Don. Near the village of Peshkovo (about 30 miles from Rostov-on-Don), witnesses noticed three or four sources of black smoke. Baza, citing eyewitness accounts, videos and photos on social media, reported that an...

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Three weeks before he faced sentencing, the Malaysian defense contractor at the center of one of the biggest bribery investigations in U.S. military history made an escape as stunning and brazen as the case itself: U-Haul trucks were seen at his home in a tony San Diego neighborhood before Leonard Glenn Francis, known as “Fat Leonard,” snipped off his ankle monitor and disappeared. Nearly a dozen U.S. law enforcement agencies were searching for Francis on Tuesday. But officials acknowledged he may already be in Mexico, and possibly on his way back to Asia. ... officers found...

I discussed the Igor Danchenko indictment here, laying out some of the more eye-raising parts of the facts and charges against Christopher Steele’s primary sub-source. Taking a closer look at the Danchenko indictment, there is a curious question presented by the FBI to Danchenko in June 2017. A question that indicates the FBI might have known more about the true sources to the Steele Dossiers sooner than they have let on. FBI Questions about Danchenko source Charles Dolan On June 15, 0217, the FBI interviewed Danchenko regarding the Dossiers (labeled “Company Reports” in the indictment). Here’s the line of questioning...

by Joshua Ford | 24NewsThe unveiling of a new Florida license plate by Governor DeSantis has liberals and leftist organizations up in arms.Liberals are constantly willfully misinterpreting traditional American and patriotic flags and symbols to try to associate them with “right wing extremism.” One such victim of this misinterpretation is the iconic Gadsden Flag.This iconic flag dates back to the time of the revolution and has been seen as a symbol of freedom, defiance in the face of oppression, and American patriotism ever since.Now, Governor Ron DeSantis has released a new Florida license plate which prominently features the Gadsden flag...

NAPLES, Italy -- On July 8, 2022, an F/A-18 Super Hornet assigned to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 1, embarked aboard USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), blew overboard due to unexpected heavy weather in the Mediterranean Sea. The carrier was conducting a replenishment-at-sea, which was safely terminated through established procedures. All personnel aboard the ship are accounted for. One Sailor received minor injuries while conducting operations during the unexpected heavy weather. The Sailor is in stable condition and expected to make a full recovery. USS Harry S. Truman and embarked aircraft remain full mission capable. Details and the cause of...

Dubai -- A US Navy warship fired a warning flare to wave off an Iranian Revolutionary Guard speedboat coming straight at it during a tense encounter in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, officials said Tuesday. The incident on Monday involving the Guard and the Navy comes as tensions remain high over stalled negotiations over Iran's tattered nuclear deal with world powers and as Tehran enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels under decreasing international oversight. Meanwhile, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said Iran now plans to enrich uranium through a second set of advanced centrifuges at its underground Fordo...

Three U.S. Navy leaders, including two serving aboard a destroyer, were ousted late last week, the latest in a recent string of removals by the service. USS Bulkeley commanding officer Cmdr. Devine Johnson and Command Master Chief Earl Sanders were relieved of their duties Friday because of “a loss of confidence in their ability to effectively function as a leadership team,” the Navy said in a Saturday statement. Capt. William Harkin, the deputy commodore of Destroyer Squadron 2, will be temporarily assigned as commanding officer of Bulkeley until a replacement is identified. Master Chief Petty Officer Christy Reed, of the...

Warships from the U.S. Navy sailing off the coast of California in 2019 were swarmed by drones from a nearby Hong Kong cargo ship on multiple occasions, the Navy has revealed. The incidents were all reported between March 30, 2019 and July 30, 2019. Seven different vessels were involved. One of the warships reported in their official memo that the Hong Kong ship was observing them, noting: 'MV Bass Strait likely using UAVs (unidentified aerial vehicles) to conduct surveillance on US Naval Forces'.

-Because their technology is already obsolete Navy will decommission its entire fleet of Freedom-class combat warships Four of the $3.2bn fleet set for scrap heap were commissioned in 2019 and 2020 Anti-submarine system 'did not work out technically', naval operations chief said Ships 'incredibly expensive and [lack] the capabilities we expected': Rep. Smith Added: 'They're not ready to do anything... When they are, they still break down' USS St Louis, launched in August 2020, will serve just three years of 25-year life Scrappings will save $391 million as US Navy plans new shipbuilding program Crews at Naval Station Mayport, Florida...

The US Navy wants to scrap nine of 16 Littoral Combat Ships built by Lockheed Martin Corp. well short of their projected service lives in order to save a projected $4.3 billion in upgrades and maintenance over coming years.

Artist's concept of a ship-mounted laser weapon The US Navy has shot down its first drone representing a subsonic cruise missile using an all-electric high-energy laser. At the US Army’s High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility at the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, the Lockheed Martin Layered Laser Defense (LLD) weapon disabled the engine on a drone, which then parachuted to earth. Sponsored by the US Office of Naval Research (ONR) and conducted in partnership with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Research and Engineering) and Lockheed Martin, the February 2022 test was intended not only to...

March 31 (UPI) — The U.S. Navy announced Thursday that it will name a future ship after the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in honor of her tenure on the nation’s highest court. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro made the announcement in a statement, saying her name with adorn a future John Lewis-class replenishment oiler. “As we close out women’s history month, it is my absolute honor to name the next T-AO after the honorable Ruth Ginsburg. She is a historic figure who vigorously advocated for women’s rights and gender equality.” The T-AO is a new class of replenishment oiler...

Xi is unsure what sanctions China might face if it invades Taiwan Almost a month in, China is still being extremely coy about its attitude towards the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The regime is acutely aware that there are many parallels between the Russian-Ukrainian relationship and the Chinese-Taiwanese one, and that the Russian attempt to conquer Ukraine is failing, or at least stalled. It’s only recently that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began denying that Ukraine is a real nation, but that has been Beijing’s position with regard to Taiwan from the start. For 73 years, ever since the Nationalist regime...

Remember when the story about Hunter Biden’s X-rated laptop broke in October 2020, how everyone in the Deep State including their card-carrying fellow travelers in the Democrat media unanimously dismissed it as “Russian disinformation?” Well, now it turns out that the narrative of Russian disinformation was nothing more than Democrat disinformation. Of course, anyone paying any attention always knew that the laptop was 100% legit — all the crooked Biden deals, the pornographic images of drug-addled Hunter with Russian hookers, and most importantly the references to the 10% kickbacks to “the Big Guy.” But there was an election to win,...

Ukraine claimed today that its forces had shot dead the deputy commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in another significant blow to Vladimir Putin's forces. First rank captain Andrey Paliy, 51, is the only senior naval officer allegedly killed in the war in Ukraine, although Kyiv claims to have slain five army generals. Col Sergei Sukharev, of the 331st Guards Parachute Assault Regiment from Kostroma, was killed on March 18 and Andrei Sukhovetsky, 47, was killed during a special operation by a sniper on March 3. In addition, Major-General Oleg Mityaev, 47, commander of the army's 150th motorised rifle division,...