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Merchant ships need guns to fight pirates. Seven months ago, Somali pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama and held its captain hostage. Pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama again this week but were repulsed because the Maersk Shipping Line put armed guards on its ships. Pirates successfully attacked another unarmed ship on Monday, leaving 28 members of its crew dead. On Tuesday, 36 crew members of a Spanish ship were released only after pirates were paid a $3.3 million ransom. But when the pirates got within 300 yards of the Maersk Alabama, the ship tried evasive maneuvers and its security team successfully...

ABOARD USS CHOSIN AT SEA, Nov. 19, 2009 – USS Chosin, home-ported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, has assumed the role as flagship for the counter-piracy efforts of Combined Task Force 151 after arriving in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations as part of a regularly scheduled deployment. "We're extremely well equipped to support this mission," said Navy Capt. Timothy Smith, the ship’s commanding officer. "An Aegis-class cruiser has an awful lot of capabilities to search and identify, perform command and control operations, collect intelligence and maintain communications related to counter piracy." Early in the deployment, the Chosin crew sighted...

MANAMA, Bahrain, Nov. 18, 2009 – The U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama’s security team repelled an attack from suspected pirates this morning 560 nautical miles off the northeastern coast of Somalia, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command officials reported. Four suspected pirates in a skiff came within 300 yards of the Maersk Alabama and used small-arms weapons in an attempt to board the ship. The ship’s security team responded with evasive maneuvers, long-range acoustic devices and small-arms fire, causing the suspected pirates to break off their attack. The acoustic devices emit a high-pitched sound that can be painful to human ears. "Due to...

In conjunction with the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), U.S. Pacific Fleet ships and crews successfully completed a series of exercises to test the second generation Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) weapon system, Aegis BMD 4.0.1. This set of four exercises, designated FTX-06 Events 1-4, involved the tracking and simulated engagements of a variety of ballistic missile targets launched over the past several months from the Kauai Test Facility, co-located on the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF), Barking Sands, Kauai. The Aegis BMD system is a critical component of the nation’s overall Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS). FTX-06 Event 1, conducted...

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — As South Vietnam crumbled under advancing North Vietnamese forces 34 years ago, 5-year-old Hung Ba Le and his family escaped and eventually found refuge on a U.S. Navy ship. This week, he returns to the land of his birth for the first time. And it is a U.S. Navy ship — the guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen that he commands — that will take him there. On April 30, 1975, Saigon’s fall was imminent. Le’s father, a South Vietnamese navy officer, had just assumed command of the Nha Be Naval Support Activity Base after learning the...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7, 2009 – A new Navy ship named in honor of the courage displayed by New York City’s residents during and after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks received its official commission today. The USS New York is commissioned in New York, Nov. 7, 2009. The Navy ship was named in honor of the courage displayed by New York City's residents during and after 9/11. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Dan Meaney  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The USS New York recalls “the searing memories of Sept. 11” as well as “the bravery of...

Shortly after noon Saturday, a command rang out at Pier 86 in Manhattan: "Bring the ship to life." With that, crew members in dress blues ran to stand at attention at the rails, radar antennas on the America's newest warship began to turn, black smoke poured from three funnels, sirens rang and the horn blared. And the USS New York - docked across the water at Pier 88 - became part of the active U.S. Navy fleet. It was a ceremony evoking emotion, pride and patriotism and full of references to Sept. 11 - hardly surprising given that the 684-foot...

I created a web site that focuses on the brand new classes of warships that the US Navy is currently building for the 21st century. It includes a lot of specifications, history, and good pictures of each class. The logo and links to the various ship classes are included below. (Picture intesive links) Just click on each of the Pictures or names of the vessels and they will take you to the page for that vessel at the site : http://www.jeffhead.com/usn21 These vessels are critical to our ability to maintain our unassailable edge in the near to mid-term future. Other...

Catherine Herridge - FOXNews.com - October 30, 2009 Obama Administration Eyeing Navy Brig in South Carolina for Gitmo Detainees, Sources Say Sources tell Fox News that one scenario is that a "handful" of detainees who are already in the military courts at Guantanamo could be brought stateside as a "trial run" to test the system. The Navy brig in Charleston, S.C., is "very much in play" as an option to transfer Guantanamo Bay detainees for military commission hearings in the U.S., multiple sources tell Fox News. Some sources describe the Naval Consolidated Brig -- which has housed at least two...

Japanese naval forces successfully shot down a medium-range missile off Hawaii in a test of Tokyo's missile defense weaponry, the US military said on Wednesday. A Japanese destroyer detected, tracked and knocked out the missile in mid-flight with an SM-3 interceptor rocket, the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) said in a statement. The missile was launched on Tuesday at 6:00 pm Hawaii time (0400 GMT) at a missile range site off Kauai in Hawaii and at 6:04, an SM-3 interceptor was fired in response, the MDA said. "Approximately three minutes later, the SM-3 successfully intercepted the target approximately 100 miles...

George P. Bush, or "P" as he's known to some, is thought to be the biggest hope for a fourth generation of Bush family political leaders, with some suggesting that he might run for statewide office in Texas at some point in the next four to eight years. But, as The Daily Beast points out today, any future George P. Bush political ambitions will have to be put on hold as his Navy Reserve unit is set to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan in the coming weeks. Lt. Junior Grade Bush, 33, joined the Navy Reserve in 2007 as...

The U.S. Navy conducted successful test flights Sept. 3 and 4 of two Trident II D5 Fleet Ballistic Missiles (FBMs) built by Lockheed Martin. The Navy launched the unarmed missiles from the submerged submarine USS West Virginia (SSBN 736) in the Atlantic Ocean. The Trident II D5 missile now has achieved 129 consecutive successful test flights since 1989 - a record unmatched by any other large ballistic missile or space launch vehicle. "These successful missile tests again demonstrate the readiness and reliability of the entire Trident II D5 Strategic Weapon System," said Melanie A. Sloane, vice president of Fleet Ballistic...

<p>The Navy's need for speed is being answered by a pair of warships that have reached freeway speeds during testing at sea.</p> <p>Independence, a 418-foot warship built in Alabama, boasts a top speed in excess of 45 knots, or about 52 mph, and sustained 44 knots for four hours during builder trials that wrapped up this month off the Gulf Coast. The 378-foot Freedom, a ship built in Wisconsin by a competing defense contractor, has put up similar numbers.</p>

Navy sea trials of LCS Independence are completeDailyTech previously published an article noting the United States Navy was planning on testing its Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) in trials after an aborted attempt and months of delay. During testing, the General Dynamics-created Independence had an average speed of 44 knots, with a top speed of 45 knots.  The ship, which was tested in the Gulf of Mexico, endured 25-knot winds and eight-foot waves. Previously, engineers expected the ship to top 44 knots -- during testing in July, engine issues stopped maximum speed tests before Independence could reach 44 knots.  Exact engine...

AUSTRALIA'S military chiefs favour the US over Europe in a planned $4 billion naval combat helicopter buy that is generating high-level concern among senior government ministers and local defence industry leaders. In a classified submission sent to defence ministers John Faulkner and Greg Combet, the military chiefs have opted for the US Navy's MH-60R Seahawk as the best choice for the Royal Australian Navy's new rotary wing anti-submarine warfare platform. The military chiefs favour an early decision on the Sikorsky MH-60R, arguing that it represents a cheaper, risk-free solution for Australia compared with its competitor, the European NH90 naval frigate...

Navy officials handed a career-ending letter of censure yesterday to the chief who oversaw the prolonged hazing and sexual taunting of members of a Navy dog-handling unit in Bahrain. Senior Chief Petty Officer Michael Toussaint was removed from supervisory duties overseas with the Naval Special Warfare Command and will work in an administrative post at a base in Norfolk, Va., until his forced retirement in January, said Cmdr. Elissa Smith, a Navy spokeswoman. Toussaint is on leave and has refused all interview requests, said Cmdr. Greg Geisen, a spokesman for the Coronado-based Naval Special Warfare Command. The Navy began investigating...

CORONADO — The USS Ronald Reagan and three warships in its strike group returned to San Diego today following a five-month deployment that included air strikes in support of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and operations against pirates off Somalia. Thousands of family members lined the docks at Naval Air Station North Island to greet the arrival of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and at Naval Base San Diego to welcome home the crews of the guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville and the guided-missile destroyers USS Gridley and USS Howard. There are more than 5,000 sailors and aviators on the four ships, which...

MOUNT PLEASANT -- The aircraft carrier Yorktown played a heroic role in numerous battles for the Navy, from the time it was built in the 1940s until it was decommissioned in 1970. But as the longtime centerpiece of the floating maritime museum at Patriots Point, the inactive warship has been slowly losing a silent, corrosive and very costly war with nature. Officials at the military attraction estimated Tuesday that it would cost more than $100 million to dry dock and repair the ship's deteriorating steel hull. It's money that South Carolina does not have. Patriots Point USS Yorktown naval museums

Every year there are fewer of them, they move more slowly, but their pride and memories of serving on the USS Utah — and surviving its watery death — remain as sharp as if nearly 68 years have not passed. "I still have flashbacks," Clark Simmons, 88, said, maneuvering along the marbled hallway of the state Capitol's fourth floor Wednesday morning, wagging his cane. "Some nights it is worse than others; it just depends on how I feel." He was quiet then for a few moments, gazing at the model of the USS Utah on display as part of an...

Wednesday morning will present an unusual sight off Ford Island in Pearl Harbor: the uncoupling of the battleship Missouri from its mooring opposite the sunken Arizona in the pairing that symbolizes the beginning and end of World War 2. The 887-foot Missouri, the last battleship built by the U.S. and site of Japan's unconditional surrender ending the war, will be headed to drydock at about 7 a.m. if all goes as planned. Officials recommend that people go to the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park next to the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center for public viewing of the historic -...

On 13 October 1775, the Second Continental Congress authorized the raising of the Continental Navy. Today, our Navy celebrates its 234th Birthday. Thank you to all who have served, who currently serve, and who will serve in the future.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said on Thursday that women would soon serve on submarines reversing a long time ban by the Navy. The Department of Defense : Appearing on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” Mabus signaled that the Navy is moving closer to allowing coed personnel on submarines.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7, 2009 – Navy Secretary Ray Mabus yesterday said women soon will serve on submarines, suggesting a reversal of the long-standing ban by the Navy. Appearing on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” Mabus signaled that the Navy is moving closer to allowing coed personnel on submarines. “It will take a little while because you’ve got to interview people and you’ve got to be nuclear trained,” he said, referring to prerequisite steps before a sailor is assigned to a submarine. Officials previously have cited a lack of privacy and the cost of reconfiguring subs as obstacles...

Navy to soon declare unmanned craft operational for patrols Oct. 4, 2009 Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST The Israel Navy plans to begin using unmanned naval craft in the coming months for patrols along the Mediterranean coast, senior IDF officers said on Sunday. Called unmanned surface vehicles, the ships are operated by remote control from a land-based station and are highly maneuverable, allowing them to conduct a wide range of missions, including patrols of the coast, without endangering navy personnel. One system that the navy has already purchased is the Protector, which was developed by Rafael Advanced Systems Ltd....

The U.S. government, encouraged by the high success rate (83 percent) of U.S. Navy Aegis equipped ships using SM-3 missiles to shoot down ballistic missiles, has decided to expand the number of SM-3 equipped ships. Just this year, the navy completed equipping 18 ships with the Aegis anti-missile system, and that number may soon more than triple. This is part of a larger trend. Last year, the navy cancelled its expensive new DDG-1000 class of destroyers, partly because these ships were built to support amphibious and coastal operations, and did not have a radar that could easily be converted to...

To day this day it stands true that there are no women in the Navy SEALs. This has been debated by many “equal rights” groups who claim that this is a sexist law. However, there has never been a woman who could pass the strenuous physical aspects of Navy SEAL training. In fact, there has never been a woman who has qualified to even be considered to enter BUD/S Training. Though this is true of the United States Navy, it’s not true where film is concerned. Specifically for the 1997 Ridley Scott film G.I. Jane, wherein, Demi Moore plays a...

ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 2, 2009 – A physician assistant from the Hawaii Air National Guard’s 154th Wing provided his unit at Hickam Air Force Base with a first-hand account from tsunami-torn American Samoa. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Carissa Maxson of the Hawaii Air National Guard studies the shorelines of Pago Pago, American Samoa, Oct. 1, 2009, while conducting assessments of the area after a tsunami stuck there Sept. 29. Maxson is with the 154th Medical Group's Chemical, Biological, Radiological/Nuclear and Explosives Enhanced Response Force Package. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech Sgt. Cohen A. Young  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image...

Tell us what you think: Navy’s new slogan Link Only. The Navy's suggested slogan: “America’s Navy: A Global Force For Good” My reply: Hell, no! Makes the Navy sound like ACORN with boats. How about: "US Navy: Kicking ass and making America safe for 234 years!" pabianice US Navy (Retired)

Link Only. PC rules!

Panama agrees to host two U.S. naval bases MEXICO, September 27 (RIA Novosti) - Panama will sign before October 2009 a treaty with the United States on the opening of two U.S. naval bases on its territory, a senior Panamanian government official said on Sunday. According to Panama's La Prensa newspaper, a preliminary agreement was reached between Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during recent talks in New York. "The U.S. and Panama will sign before October 30 an agreement on the deployment of two naval bases on the pacific coast of our country to...

Former president and World II naval aviator George H.W. Bush has been honored by some of his neighbors in Kennebunkport. The group unveiled a Navy anchor and a plaque acquired as a way to thank Bush for his service as president and for being a good neighbor.

Female sailors can broaden their role in the Navy by serving on submarines, an activity currently prohibited by the Armed Service, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has advised the Senate Armed Services Committee. According to Defensetech.org, a site run by Military.com, a group boasting a membership of 10 million veterans and active duty forces, Adm. Michael Mullen told senators in a recent survey that he's long been an advocate for improving diversity in the Armed Forces. "I believe we should continue to broaden opportunities for women. One policy I would like to see changed is the one...

Breaking with a tradition that spans more than half a century, the Navy is in the final planning stages to integrate female Sailors into its submarine fleet. Long considered one of the most elite communities in the U.S. Navy, the small, secretive force has been comprised entirely of male officers and crew in large part because of the small living spaces and long endurance missions. The service had examined assigning a small number of females on subs over the last ten years, but found the tight confines and lack of a well-defined career path for female submariners too daunting to...

Women should be allowed to serve aboard America's fleet of nuclear submarines, the nation's top military officer, Adm. Michael Mullen, quietly has told the Senate Armed Services Committee. If the Navy agrees to it, this would be a huge policy change and potentially a significant expansion of career opportunities for female officers and sailors. Women have been barred by Navy policy from submarines, even as the sea service began 15 years ago to integrate females into other seagoing combat roles including aboard surface warships and in fighter jets. Mullen, former chief of naval operations and a career surface warfare officer,...

Happy Birthday, US Constitution! On September 17, 1787, the supreme law of the United States was adopted by its people. Signed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the US Constitution was ratified by conventions in each state, in the name of “The People�. So durable are its words that it is the oldest written constitution in the world. This preordained parchment laid forth the three branches of our government: a bicameral Legislative Congress; an executive branch led by the President; and a judicial branch headed by the Supreme Court. Of the 4,543 words in the Constitution, perhaps none are more powerful or...

A NOAA-led research mission has located and identified the final resting place of the YP-389, a U.S. Navy patrol boat sunk approximately 20 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras, NC, by a German submarine during World War II. Six sailors died in the attack on June 19, 1942. There were 18 survivors. The wreck is located in about 300 feet of water in a region off North Carolina known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic,” home to U.S. and British naval vessels, merchant ships, and German U-boats sunk during the Battle of the Atlantic. NOAA and its expedition partners...

    ~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Naval Air Warfare Center, China Lake, CaliforniaThe Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division (NAWCWD) is an organization within the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), dedicated to maintaining a center of excellence in weapons development for the Department of the Navy (DoN). NAWCWD has two locations in Southern California; China Lake hosting the land test range and Point Mugu hosting the sea test range. Nestled in the quiet Indian Wells Valley at the south eastern foot of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California, China Lake is the premier land range and...

Early explorers dreamed of a safe trade route across the frozen Arctic for hundreds of years. Now as global temperatures warm and ice rapidly melts, the U.S. Navy is weighing the possibility that within decades the Arctic will open into one of the world’s prime shipping lanes. New climate data point to a summer season completely free of sea ice as early as 2030 — about 70 years sooner than previously predicted — allowing ships to move freely for the first time in history, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. By midcentury, the Navy could be faced with...

A U.S. Navy helicopter conducting surveillance off the coast of Somalia was fired upon Wednesday by pirates aboard a Taiwanese-flagged vessel, where some 30 crewmembers are being held hostage, according to U.S. Naval Forces Central Command. The Somali pirates fired what appeared to be a large-caliber weapon at the U.S. Navy SH-60B but didn’t strike it, according to the Navy. No one was injured in the incident and the crew did not return fire, the Navy said. The Taiwanese ship Win Far was seized April 6. Since then, it has been used as a "mother ship" for the launching of...

Here is video of Somali Pirates firing a "Large Caliber Weapon" at a U.S. Navy Helicopter from the deck of a Taiwanese ship they have been holding hostage since April. More than 30 hostages are being held on board the ship. Fox News' John Scott talks with a Navy Spokesman for the 5th Fleet about the incident. . . . . (Watch Video)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Somali pirates holding a hijacked ship off the coast of Somalia fired at a U.S. Navy helicopter as it made a surveillance flight over the vessel, the first such attack by pirates on an American military aircraft, the Navy said Thursday.

(CNSNews.com) - A terror suspect charged with the attempted murder of two U.S. soldiers -- before a judge ruled that his confession was coerced and inadmissible -- returned home to Afghanistan on Monday, the same day news broke of a policy change in interrogations. After many Democrats and some Republican lawmakers called the Central Intelligence Agency’s interrogation techniques such as playing loud music and waterboarding “torture,” President Barack Obama reassigned interrogation responsibilities from the CIA to the National Security Council – which is run out of the White House, the Washington Post first reported.

    ~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Naval Base Coronado, CaliforniaNaval Base Coronado (NBC) is a consolidated Navy installation encompassing eight military facilities stretching from San Clemente Island, located seventy miles west of San Diego, California, to the La Posta Mountain Warfare Training Facility and Camp Morena, located sixty miles east of San Diego.In 1997, Naval Base Coronado was created, incorporating seven separate Naval installations under one Commanding Officer. Those facilities include: Naval Air Station North Island (NASNI); Naval Amphibious Base Coronado (NAB); Outlying Field Imperial Beach (OLIB); Naval Auxiliary Landing Field San Clemente Island (SCI); Silver Strand...

Being a member of the largest graduating class in the history of the State of Florida means that Scott Speicher's remains were received by large number of my former classmates today. His memorial procession traced through my childhood streets and high school, past the familiar bastions of Naval Bases--familiar but never taken for granted-- and to a final home of rest in his native country. Although I may have had a passing acquaintance with Scott within the walls and classes of my school, I cannot claim a long-past connection with him in the close confines of a small west-side community...

The remains of Navy pilot Michael Scott Speicher have returned to his Florida home, 18 years after his FA-18 Hornet was shot down on the first night of the Gulf War in 1991.

Navy personnel and some civilians line the runway of NAS Jacksonville as the remains of Navy pilot Michael Scott Speicher returned to his northeast Florida home more than 18 years after he was shot down over Iraq.

Defense: President Obama dreams of a world without nuclear weapons. Unless testing and maintenance of our nuclear deterrent is resumed, it will be a world without American nuclear weapons.In his Prague speech this spring, the president spoke of "America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons," ignoring the fact that before 1945 we lived in such a world and it was neither peaceful nor secure. We recently observed the anniversaries of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, actions that brought an abrupt end to the carnage of World War II and arguably...

Speicher Search Details Announced Story Number: NNS090807-14 Release Date: 8/7/2009 4:11:00 PM From the Department of Defense WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Navy announced Aug. 7 additional details regarding the recent discovery of the remains of Navy Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher in Iraq. Speicher was shot down flying a combat mission in an F/A-18 Hornet over west-central Iraq Jan. 17, 1991, during Operation Desert Storm. Acting in part on information provided by an Iraqi citizen in early July, Multi National Force–West's (MNF-W) personnel recovery team went to a location in the desert which was believed to be the crash site of...

Energy: As Russian attack submarines patrol our eastern seaboard, Moscow signs a deal to help Castro's Cuba drill for oil off the Florida coast. In Moscow and Havana, the cry is "Drill, Comrade, Drill!"Two Russian nuclear attack submarines have taken up positions along our East Coast in recent days, another sign of renewed assertiveness by the former communist giant. The move comes as Moscow inks a deal with the communist relic of Cuba to drill for oil we refuse to go after. The submarines are of the Akula class, a counterpart to the Los Angeles class attack subs of the...

Navy pilot Michael "Scott" Speicher was shot down over the Iraq desert on the first night of the Gulf War in 1991, and it was there he apparently was buried by Bedouins, the sand hiding him from the world's mightiest military. For nearly two decades, the family Speicher left behind, from outside Jacksonville, Fla., pushed the Defense Department to find out what had happened to him. On Sunday, the Pentagon disclosed that Marines had recovered Speicher's bones and skeletal fragments — enough for a positive identification. Shot down over west-central Iraq on a combat mission in his FA-18 Hornet on...