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Drugs were in the room where two former Navy SEALs were found dead aboard the Maersk Alabama, a ship that was the focus of a 2009 hijacking dramatized in the movie "Captain Phillips," a company spokesman said Thursday. Police from the African island nation of Seychelles have given no cause of death for Mark Daniel Kennedy, 43, and Jeffrey Keith Reynolds, 44. The Americans were security contractors who were found dead Tuesday in a cabin on the ship while berthed in Port Victoria in the Indian Ocean. "We are saddened by the tragedy and our thoughts are with the family...

Rejections by India and more recently Brazil – combined with the looming end to a multi-year procurement deal for the US Navy – mean that the pressure is mounting on Boeing to secure extra orders for its versatile Super Hornet. As things stand, the last F/A-18E/F or EA-18G Growler will roll off the line in St Louis, Missouri before the end of 2016, with the USN and Royal Australian Air Force the buyers so far. As you can read in my colleague Jon Hemmerdinger’s report on the situation, that’s not a major problem for the manufacturer for now, but Washington...

For the past decade, armor protection has dominated U.S. combat vehicle programs. Now, maneuver officials are breaking with that tradition, abandoning armor for highly transportable, all-terrain vehicles. The Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Ga., recently reached out to the defense industry to see if it could build the new Ultra Light Combat Vehicle -- a new effort to equip infantry brigade combat teams with go-anywhere vehicles capable of carrying a nine-man squad. Lawmakers recently cut most of the funding for the U.S. Army's Ground Combat Vehicle -- a move that has all but killed the high-profile acquisitions effort....

The Navy Is Already Working On A Submarine That Won't Be Ready Until 2030 Kris Osborn, Military.com Feb. 4, 2014, 8:54 PM QUONSET POINT, R.I. -- Over the next several years, General Dynamics Electric Boat plans to add several new buildings to its facility here, double its workforce, and invest about $150 million -- all as preparation for the construction of the Navy's next-generation nuclear-armed submarine. Early prototyping is already under way at Electric Boat for the Ohio Replacement Program (ORP), a high-tech, 560-foot long, nuclear-powered submarine. Navy leaders have announced plans to build 12 ORPs, with the first one...

Chinese Navy (PLAN) 2014 Growth and Modernization Update (The Rising Sea Dragon in Asia 2014 Update) 2013 was another very busy and very significant year for the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), or simply the Navy of the People's Republic of China. Again it cannot emphasized enough how important the building program, the training activities, and the deployments that have all gone on in this last year are to the to the future of the PLAN and its ability to project power, defend and assert its influence, and, as a blue water fleet, to carry that influence across the seven...

The U.S. Navy is about to cut in half the number of aircraft carriers it keeps ready for combat. Starting in 2015, just two American flattops will be on station at any given time, down from three or four today. The change is spelled out in a presentation by Adm. Bill Gortney, head of Fleet Forces Command. The U.S. Naval Institute published the presentation on its Website on Jan. 24. The new “Optimized Fleet Response Plan” represents an effort to standardize training, maintenance and overseas cruise schedules for the Navy’s 283 front-line warships, in particular the 10 nuclear-powered carriers. The...

Power Shift: Despite the White House's much-lauded pivot to the Pacific, the Navy's Pacific commander warns that an increasingly hostile and assertive China threatens U.S. air and sea superiority in the region. If jaws didn't drop, they should have last week when Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III, chief of U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM), said: "Our historic dominance that most of us in this room have enjoyed is diminishing, no question." U.S. naval and air superiority, particularly in the Pacific, has been taken for granted. But as Obama administration budget cuts and the effects of sequestration take their toll, our position...

The United States will deploy at least two warships into the Black Sea off the coast of Sochi, Russia, to respond to a potential terror attack during the upcoming Olympics, top officials said on Monday. The positioning of the ships would also enable the rapid evacuation of Americans in the event of an attack, CNN reported. The State Department would take the lead if evacuations became necessary. The ships will have helicopters that could fly Americans out of the country if needed. There are also aircraft on standby in Germany that could be at Sochi in about two hours if...

Sickened by service: More US sailors claim cancer from helping at Fukushima By Perry Chiaramonte Published December 20, 2013 FoxNews.com When the USS Ronald Reagan responded to the tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011, Navy sailors including Quartermaster Maurice Enis gladly pitched in with rescue efforts. But months later, while still serving aboard the aircraft carrier, he began to notice strange lumps all over his body. Testing revealed he'd been poisoned with radiation, and his illness would get worse. And his fiance and fellow Reagan quartermaster, Jamie Plym, who also spent several months helping near the Fukushima nuclear power...

A Chinese naval vessel tried to force a U.S. guided missile warship to stop in international waters recently, causing a tense military standoff in the latest case of Chinese maritime harassment, according to defense officials.The guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens, which recently took part in disaster relief operations in the Philippines, was confronted by Chinese warships in the South China Sea near Beijing’s new aircraft carrier Liaoning, according to officials familiar with the incident.“On December 5th, while lawfully operating in international waters in the South China Sea, USS Cowpens and a PLA Navy vessel had an encounter that required maneuvering...

Past fears that carriers were vulnerable to new technologies weren’t proven right… nor were they proven wrong. Over at The National Interest this week, former Naval Diplomat shipmate — U.S. Marines say there are no former Marines, just Marines; are there former shipmates? — Bryan McGrath wades into the debate over Tom Ricks’s Washington Post column urging the U.S. military to get smaller to get better. Let me wade in as well; the water’s fine. Ricks takes aim at the U.S. Navy’s fleet of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in particular. He cites the expense of CVNs, but Bryan zeroes in mainly...

SNIPPET: "Two U.S. planes have flown radical Muslim preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri and four other suspected terrorists to the United States, hours after Britain's High Court cleared the way for their extradition. The planes departed a Royal Air Force base immediately after the British High Court rejected last-minute appeals by Hamza and the others. The five had raised legal questions about human rights and prison conditions they expected to face in the United States. In rejecting the appeals, the British court cited an “overwhelming public interest” in seeing the extraditions carried out. Hamza is wanted on U.S. charges that include...

<p>It could dive deeper than any other submarine, and when it reached the ocean floor, the one-of-a-kind U.S. navy vessel could roll on wheels with lights illuminating the depths outside its windows.</p> <p>The nuclear-powered NR-1, launched in Groton in 1969, was one of the most secretive vessels in the U.S. undersea force.</p>

President Barack Obama’s Facebook page on Saturday posted a message honoring the dead from Pearl Harbor—accompanied by a picture of Obama descending the stairs next to the Pearl Harbor Memorial. The picture barely fits the name of the Arizona Memorial so it can frame Obama in the foreground. The post's statement reads: Today, with solemn pride and reverence, let us remember those who fought and died at Pearl Harbor, acknowledge everyone who carried their legacy forward, and reaffirm our commitment to upholding the ideals for which they served. President Obama

GREENVILLE, SC — The last surviving member of the crew that rescued John F. Kennedy from an island in the Pacific Ocean during World War II died Wednesday. Greenville native Jack Gardo was 87. He died in his sleep at his home on Farrs Bridge Road, his daughter-in-law Brenda Gardo said. Gardo enlisted in the U.S. Navy when he was 16, two years younger than the legal age, because he wanted to serve his country. In 1943, Gardo’s PT 157 was sent to rescue the survivors of PT 109, which was cut in half by a Japanese ship. The crew...

Two explosions were heard near the US Air Force base located near the Japanese capital of Tokyo. Japanese police and US officials reported that remnants of two IED's (Improvised Explosive Device) had been found in the area. No caualties...

Environmentalism: Forget Navy blue. The U.S. fleet is turning green. That might make the eco-left happy, but it'll be an unnecessary burden for taxpayers with no advantages for the military. Reports tell us that the Navy continues to "invest" in a green-fuels future, paying startups to develop fuels from algae, switchgrass, wood chips, old cooking oil, even household garbage. This program hit the high seas in the summer of 2012, when the Navy launched its Great Green Fleet demonstration. The official line said "alternative fuels, including nuclear power" were to be "used in an operational setting, fueling helicopters and jets...

The crew of the USS Dewey have honored the dying wish of a Pearl Harbor survivor by allowing him on board the latest version of the destroyer he served on in the Second World War. Electrician’s Mate Second Bud Cloud was due to begin hospice care, when his friend Jennie Haskamp reached out to the Dewey's crew and asked if he could see the ship in San Diego. But when they arrived at the dock, the sailors carried the 90-year-old veteran on board and attentively listened as he shared his memories from the war.

The Navy has christened its newest aircraft carrier, which will join the fleet in 2016. The USS Gerald R. Ford is the lead ship in the Navy’s next class of aircraft carriers. It was christened Saturday at the Newport News shipyard where it was built.

The Navy Jack is the ‘don’t tread on me’ flag, one that has earned a revered place in America’s naval history and a beloved place in sailor’s hearts, through its use for over two centuries. This symbol of America’s naval ferocity has spanned our country’s entire existence, flying from the masts of the Continental Navy during the war of independence, to today’s War on Terror. In fact, an amendment to the Navy code called SECNAV Instruction 10520.6 clearly states that as of 31 May 2002 all ships are to fly the flag throughout the duration of the War on Terror....