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PORTLAND, Maine (AP) _ The Navy has changed course and decided to push for construction of a third DDG-1000 destroyer that would be built at Bath Iron Works, Sen. Susan Collins said Monday. The Maine Republican said Navy Secretary Donald Winter informed her of the decision that comes one month after the Navy said it was scrapping the Zumwalt destroyer program once the first two are built. The Navy said at the time that it was opting instead to build more of the current-generation DDG-51, or Arleigh Burke, destroyers. Collins quoted Winter as saying that in addition to seeking...

As predicted by The Nav Log, the Navy has finally admitted that the new, gigantic (14,000 ton) DDG-1000 guided missile destroyer and CGN-X new guided missile cruiser are just too expensive and technically problematic to build as replacements for the existing Burke DDGs and Ticonderoga CGs. The Navy is reportedly in the process of dropping both programs. Latest estimates per copy of the DDG-1000 are $5 billion + each per the Congressional Budget Office. Ouch. A dozen Spruance-class destroyers – built in the 70s and 80s and dogged by a reputation as being difficult to sail and maintain – were...

U.S. Must Learn European Immigration Lessons by James Zumwalt “Change” is less a word than a mantra in the current US presidential campaign. But, just as important as knowing when to call for change is knowing when to recognize it is already happening -- even though it may not help a candidate’s agenda to do so. Changes now taking place in Europe -- which some US presidential candidates either appear to be overlooking or ignoring -- may well overcome their promises and platforms. At first blush, changes taking place in tiny Denmark may not seem of much import to the...

Close Enough to Shoot by James Zumwalt Many years ago a fascinating television drama was aired depicting human psychology in the face of terror and intimidation. Two cars were driving at night on a lonely stretch of a two-lane highway. A family on vacation in the first car was soon approached from behind by a fast-moving second car, driven by two young teenage hooligans, determined to cause trouble. Occupants in the second car immediately began harassing those in the first for no reason — tailgating the car, overtaking it suddenly and then cutting it off after pulling ahead. Wanting more...

Any student of history knows the failure to learn its lessons leaves a nation likely to repeat its mistakes. On Feb. 23, 1998, an event occurred that went ignored by the United States. Not until September 11, 2001 would its importance become clear -- and, thus, from the vantage point of hindsight, a "lesson learned." For it was then that a little-known terrorist named Osama bin Laden declared war against the U.S. For those who heard it, the declaration must have sounded as ludicrous and nonthreatening as Prime Minister Count Mountjoy's declaration of war against the U.S. in the movie...

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Navy has announced April 7 that the first DD(X) destroyer will be designated DDG 1000. As the lead ship in the class, it will also be named in honor of former Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Elmo R. “Bud” Zumwalt, Jr. Developed under the DD(X) destroyer program, Zumwalt is the lead ship in a class of next-generation, multimission surface combatants tailored for land attack and littoral dominance, with capabilities designed to defeat current and projected threats as well as improve battle force defense. Compared to current U.S. Navy destroyers, the Zumwalt-class destroyer will triple both...

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Navy has announced April 7 that the first DD(X) destroyer will be designated DDG 1000. As the lead ship in the class, it will also be named in honor of former Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Elmo R. “Bud” Zumwalt, Jr. Developed under the DD(X) destroyer program, Zumwalt is the lead ship in a class of next-generation, multimission surface combatants tailored for land attack and littoral dominance, with capabilities designed to defeat current and projected threats as well as improve battle force defense. Zumwalt was appointed Chief of Naval Operations in 1970. As the youngest...

Mouza Coutelais-du-Roche Zumwalt, 83, who partnered with her husband during his lengthy Navy career to make conditions better for military families and later joined him in building up a national bone-marrow registry, died Aug. 25 of congestive heart failure at her home in Arlington. From the time she married naval officer Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr. in Shanghai in 1945 (after knowing him for three weeks) until the admiral's death in 2000, Mrs. Zumwalt engaged in the delicate role of supporting her husband's work from behind the scenes. She was the consummate military spouse, dedicating her time to hosting military officials...

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry shows no remorse for the damage he inflicted on his country, its allies in Southeast Asia and America's armed forces while he was a Navy lieutenant and a leader of the radical Vietnam Veterans Against the War in 1971. I recall that time vividly. I will never forget Kerry's scandalous conduct. As a Pentagon official under two presidents, I made 10 inspection trips to Vietnam between 1968 and 1973. It was part of my beat. The Military Logistics Chiefs, my staff and I covered Vietnam thoroughly from the North Vietnam border to the Mekong Delta....

JOHN FORBES KERRY SILVER STAR CITATION REVISIONS - FULL TEXTS "The Incredibly Shrinking Silver Star" NOTES Zumwalt Original Hyland Revision Lehman Revision HEADING: Aside from the differences in the issuing authority and minor punctuation, Kerry's middle name is shortened in the final revision to the initial "F." which more resembles Kerry's hero, John F. Kennedy. COMMANDER UNITED STATES NAVAL FORCES VIETNAM The President of the Unites States takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star Medal to JOHN FORBES KERRY LIEUTENANT JUNIOR GRADE UNITED STATES NAVAL RESERVE for service as set forth in the following: CITATION COMMANDER IN CHIEF UNITED...

Kerry citation a 'total mystery' to ex-Navy chief August 28, 2004 BY THOMAS LIPSCOMB Former Navy Secretary John Lehman has no idea where a Silver Star citation displayed on Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's campaign Web site came from, he said Friday. The citation appears over Lehman's signature. "It is a total mystery to me. I never saw it. I never signed it. I never approved it. And the additional language it contains was not written by me," he said. The additional language varied from the two previous citations, signed first by Adm. Elmo Zumwalt and then Adm. John Hyland,...

John Kerry has recruited private investigators to dig up dirt on the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth in a last ditch bid to discredit the group in retaliation for damaging his image as a Vietnam War hero. The Kerry investigators are "compiling incriminating dossiers on the members of the veteran group," reports the New York Daily News. One target of the Kerry dirt diggers is Swift Boat activist James Zumwalt, son of illustrious Adm. Elmo Zumwalt, whose file was shared with the News on Wednesday. According to the report, "a group of Democrtic loyalists" plan to paint Zumwalt as a...

Sen. John Kerry called a member of the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth over the weekend to try to reason with him over the group's attacks on his record. But fellow Democrats aren't hesitating to try far more aggressive tactics. A group of Democratic loyalists is compiling incriminating dossiers on the members of the veteran group - and they sent us a preview of what might be in store for Swift Boat activist James Zumwalt, son of illustrious Adm. Elmo Zumwalt - and it isn't pretty. Zumwalt "attempted to kill himself with an overdose of prescription drugs," after the murder...

May 06, 2004, 8:27 a.m. Overspun Defense Why two of John Kerry’s critics were defending him in 1996. By Jim Geraghty The Kerry campaign clearly didn't want Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to go unanswered this week. A candidate who had rocketed to the Democratic nomination on a war-hero biography and by referring to his service in Vietnam in almost every answer to every question, including ones on animal rights, didn't need a boatload of his former commanders declaring him "unfit to be commander in chief." So after Swift Boat Veterans for Truth made their presentation at the National Press...

Can John Kerry hold on to his lead? Harold Wilson, that British politician more canny than admired, usefully reminded his audience that things can change very quickly in politics. "A week is a long time," he said, in politics, and we have seen this over and over in the American scene these past months. After all, only nine weeks ago former vice president Al Gore blessed the insurgent campaign of Howard Dean and most pundits thought the race was over. All that was needed was the anointing of the former Vermont governor as Democratic party standard-bearer to take on US...

[The source URL above will most likely expire.] Adm. Elmo Zumwalt, chief of naval operations in Vietnam, prophesied that John Kerry's career there would come back to haunt him.The prophesy has come to pass.On May 4, a remarkable, though underreported, press conference took place at the National Press Club in Washington announcing the formation of a new group: Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Its mission: To set the record straight about Sen. John Kerry's service in Vietnam and the accusations he made against his fellow soldiers after returning to the states. Swift boats — small, mostly aluminum vessels — were...

The events of February 28, 1969 that lead to Senator John F. Kerry being awarded the Silver Star is analyzed. Action by Lt.(jg) Kerry on the 28th of February can be broken into two distinct combat engagements, which I will refer to as events A and B.Event A consisted of a three swift boats whose mission was to insert some 70 VN Marines (Kerry tells of 70 VN's, while Zumwalt mentions 30 VN troops per boat in the first Silver Star citation) for the purpose of sweeping an area where small arms fire were encountered by the same three...

The events of February 28, 1969 that lead to Senator John F. Kerry being awarded the Silver Star is analyzed. Action by Lt.(jg) Kerry on the 28th of February can be broken into two distinct combat engagements, which I will refer to as events A and B.Event A consisted of a three swift boats whose mission was to insert some 70 VN Marines (Kerry tells of 70 VN's, while Zumwalt mentions 30 VN troops per boat in the first Silver Star citation) for the purpose of sweeping an area where small arms fire were encountered by the same three...

The Unpleasant Truth Behind the Awarding of John Kerry's Silver Starby The Bandit It is claimed that on February 28, 1969, Lt.(jg) John Kerry, as Officer in Charge of PCF 94 and Officer in Tactical Command of a three-boat mission came under ambush on the narrow Dong Cung River. It is further claimed they Kerry unhesitatingly ordered his boat beached directly in front of the enemy ambushes. The so-called "daring and courageous" tactic surprised the enemy and succeeded in routing a score of enemy soldiers. Furthermore, it is claimed that PCF gunners left their assigned positions to capture "many...

<p>DONG CUNG, Vietnam - For John Kerry in 1969, this was the battlefield, the dark, dense mangrove swamps of the Mekong Delta, with their serpentine waterways and blistering sun and free-roaming bands of Viet Cong guerrillas.</p> <p>Just around the canal's bend, Kerry, then a 25-year-old navy lieutenant, on Feb. 28 earned a silver star for bravery after beaching his Swift boat when it had been ambushed and charging ashore like an infantryman. He killed a Viet Cong with a loaded B-40 rocket launcher -and, his crewmen have said, perhaps saved their lives.</p>

From B. G Burkett's great book, "Stolen Valor," pp. 130-138:The TribunalsOn January 31, 1971, an organization called Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) convened what came to be known as the Winter Soldier Investigation. Some of the major organizers included Jane Fonda, Dick Gregory, Phil Ochs, Graham Nash, David Crosby, and actor Donald Sutherland. For four days in a hotel in Detroit, "veteran" after veteran told grisly tales of horror of using prisoners for target practice and throwing them out of helicopters, of cutting off the ears of dead VC, of burning vil­lages and gang-raping women. Lawyer and activist Mark...

Setting Straight Kerry’s War Record By Thomas Lipscomb The New York Sun | March 1, 2004 Senator Kerry recently wrote a letter to President Bush complaining, “You and your campaign have initiated a widespread attack on my service in Vietnam, my decision to speak out to end that war,” and warning, “I will not sit back and allow my patriotism to be challenged.” In the absence of any evidence from Mr. Kerry of an attack from the Bush campaign, Mr. Kerry seems to have originated his own doctrine of “pre-emption.” How valid are his concerns? No one denies Mr. Kerry’s...

Following is an email I sent to gary Thursday, February 26, 2004 You should try to interview Gerald Nicosia, the author of "Home to War, a History of the Viet Nam Veterans' Movement." Crown Publishers, NY, NY. The book attempts to paint Kerry in a positive light, but from a leftists prospective. In doing so it reveals several interesting things: Kerry received notice that he would be drafted, so he "enlisted in the Navy, to see for himself what was going on and at the same time to stay out of combat". Pg 70, para 3. There is also a...

Senator Kerry recently wrote a letter to President Bush complaining, “You and your campaign have initiated a widespread attack on my service in Vietnam, my decision to speak out to end that war,” and warning, “I will not sit back and allow my patriotism to be challenged.” In the absence of any evidence from Mr. Kerry of an attack from the Bush campaign, Mr. Kerry seems to have originated his own doctrine of “pre-emption.” How valid are his concerns? No one denies Mr. Kerry’s four bemedaled months in “Swiftboats” or his seven-months’ service as an electrical officer on board the...

A Little Sunshine for Winter Soldier, John Kerry By Thomas Lipscomb February 28, 2004 -- Presidential candidate John Kerry recently wrote a letter to President Bush complaining that “you and your campaign have initiated a widespread attack on my service in Vietnam, my decision to speak out to end that war” and warning "I will not sit back and allow my patriotism to be challenged." In the absence of any evidence from Kerry of an attack from the Bush campaign, Kerry seems to have originated his own doctrine of “preemption.” How valid are his concerns? (Photo links to its source,...

"Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, told me — 30 years ago when he was still CNO —that during his own command of U.S. naval forces in Vietnam, just prior to his anointment as CNO, young Kerry had created great problems for him and the other top brass,by killing so many non-combatant civilians and going after other non-military targets.‘We had virtually to straitjacket him to keep him under control,’"

Harold Wilson, that British politician more canny than admired, usefully reminded his audience that things can change very quickly in politics. "A week is a long time," he said, in politics, and we have seen this over and over in the American scene these past months. After all, only nine weeks ago former vice president Al Gore blessed the insurgent campaign of Howard Dean and most pundits thought the race was over. All that was needed was the anointing of the former Vermont governor as Democratic party standard-bearer to take on US President George W. Bush in November. Overnight Senator...