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For almost 75 years, the stern of the destroyer USS Abner Read lay somewhere below the dark of the Bering Sea off the Aleutian island of Kiska, where it sank after being torn off by an explosion while conducting an anti-submarine patrol.

The Seattle Times published an opinion piece entitled "Time to Retire the Blue Angels," which argued that the U.S. Navy demonstration team should not fly at Seattle's annual Seafair exposition. The author, Patrick Pilcher, wrote that he found the display "in poor taste," that the air show was a waste of money and a "display of military muscle-flexing that seems a bit outdated." Pilcher also believes that flying the jets is insensitive, since they "can be a reminder of the terror of death raining from the sky in the form of cluster bombs or other weapons" for "many recent immigrants...

For nearly four years the FBI investigated the international theft of STEALTH defense technology from a small Florida marine company that invented an ingenious way to help protect Navy ships and nuclear ballistic submarines from being detected on enemy radar and sonar. And on the eve before the case was go to a Grand Jury, the case was closed by then-FBI Director Robert Mueller and then-Attorney General Eric Holder. “This was the original pay-to-play scheme and it involves Mueller, Holder, (James) Comey and (Hillary) Clinton,” said Steve Morton, inventor and owner of a rare robotic ship and submarine stealth painting...

The Navy's first female admiral, retired Rear Adm. Alene B. Duerk, died Saturday at the age of 98, the service branch announced Wednesday. Duerk, born in Defiance, Ohio, in 1920, joined the Navy as an ensign in 1941 after completing nursing training at the Toledo Hospital School of Nursing in Ohio, the Navy said in a news release.

After almost a year of deliberation, Kitsap County has unveiled a draft of an ordinance that seeks to limit drone activity near the five Naval Base Kitsap installations in the county. “The Navy appreciates the effort in Kitsap County to develop this draft ordinance," said Naval Base Kitsap commanding officer Capt. Alan Schrader. "As the number of (drone) sightings increase in and around Naval Base Kitsap, this ordinance will allow the Navy and local officials to have the authorities needed enforce and comply with FAA and Department of Defense rules to ensure base security." The Federal Aviation Administration banned the...

The U.S. Navy announced new hair rules for female sailors his week, saying they can now wear dreadlocks, ponytails and styled buns while in uniform. The Navy's announcement came in a live broadcast on its Facebook page on Tuesday with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson and Chief of Naval Personnel Adm. Robert Burke, The Huffington Post reported. Richardson said the naval branch enlisted a team of six female sailors to help devise the new grooming standards, which he noted were also based on feedback from the sailors' peers. “If you’ve got a recommendation, we just demonstrated that that...

The U.S. Navy dedicated one of its guided missile destroyers to Sen. John McCain on Thursday. The ship is one of the of two destroyers that were involved in fatal accidents last year in the Pacific. “Today, we add the story of Senator John S. McCain to the spirit of the mighty vessel which already carries the legacy of his father and grandfather,” Navy Secretary Richard Spencer said of the honor in a press release. “As a warrior and a statesman who has always put country first, Sen. John McCain never asked for this honor, and he would never seek...

WASHINGTON NAVY YARD – The former commander of USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) has pleaded not guilty to charges he committed criminal acts leading up to the collision of the guided-missile destroyer, in a Tuesday arraignment.Cmdr. Bryce Benson is now set to face a general court-martial on charges of negligence and hazarding a vessel, after entering his plea during a brief hearing before a military judge today. The trial is set for Jan. 28.Benson was in his stateroom asleep when merchant ship ACX Crystal collided with Fitzgerald on June 17, 2017, off the coast of Japan. The collision resulted in the...

For all the concessions President Obama offered Iran for his "nuclear deal" – $150 billion, for instance – Iran treated the U.S. with contempt, harassing and even taking into custody U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf. The adage that weakness is provocative was proven true (via the Daily Caller): During the final years of the Obama administration, Iranian gunboats regularly harassed U.S. ships, with three dozen such interactions occurring in 2016. The worst incident occurred in January 2016, when the Iranians captured two U.S. Navy riverine patrol boats and 10 sailors.

Four months after the Pearl Harbor attacks, Kapitanleutnant Reinhard Hardegen decided that Americans should see for themselves what war with Adolf Hitler's Germany was going to look like. He began with Florida sunbathers. On April 11, 1942, Hardegen's submarine, U-123, torpedoed the tanker SS Gulfamerica off Jacksonville. He maneuvered U-123 around the flaming wreck and surfaced between the SS Gulfamerica and the beach. He sank it with U-123's deck gun. Hardegen later wrote in his log: "All the vacationers had seen an impressive special performance at [President Franklin D.] Roosevelt's expense. A burning tanker, artillery fire, the silhouette of a...

For the past 100 years, Keyport has been home to one of Navy's primary efforts to research, develop and test torpedoes, which earned the small, waterfront community the moniker of "Torpedo Town, U.S.A." Now, Keyport's Naval Undersea Warfare Center is becoming the modern testing ground for a new type of technology that silently operates in the depths — unmanned undersea vehicles, which are known as UUVs. Those unmanned undersea vehicles are essentially "pre-programmed, small submarines," said Cmdr. Scott Smith, commanding officer of the Navy's newly formed Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Squadron 1. The squadron's UUVs range from 10-inch torpedo-shaped tubes to large submersibles more than 80 inches in diameter. Many of...

Over the course of the Cold War, the balance of forces between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Soviet Union changed dramatically. At different points, a war would have played out in far different ways in the major theaters, including Central Europe, the Arctic, the North Atlantic, the Far East and even in space. For the most part, changes to each side’s forces came slowly, with only a few significant shifts due to technological advances.

HHI may be downsizing its shipyards, but not HII. Virginia-based Huntington Ingalls Industries says that over the next five years, its yard at Newport News will need 7,000 new shipbuilders to work on subs and warships for the U.S. Navy, including 2,000 net new positions. HII's Newport News Naval Shipyard needs to recruit enough people to meet its workforce demands for the Ford-class aircraft carrier and Virginia-class submarine programs. The new hires will also support production of Columbia-class ballistic submarines, increased submarine fleet support work and the refueling, overhaul and defueling of Nimitz-class aircraft carriers. The overall hiring need is...

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea’s military has picked Boeing Co (BA.N) to supply the country’s maritime patrol aircraft in a contract worth around 1.9 trillion won ($1.71 billion), a senior company executive said on Monday. The South Korean procurement agency Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said separately that it had decided to buy the P-8 Poseidon aircraft through the U.S. government foreign military sales program. Kang Hwan-seok, a DAPA spokesman, told a media briefing the decision was made after a comprehensive review of legal aspects, cost, schedule and performance. Saab (SAABb.ST) and Airbus (AIR.PA) had also shown interest in meeting...

Italy’s far-right government told aid ships in the Mediterranean Sea not to rescue thousands of refugees in peril on Sunday – despite receiving six separate distress calls from unseaworthy boats. Officials said the vessels – carrying people from North Africa to Europe – were all in Libyan waters and, therefore, Libyan responsibility. The Spanish aid group, Proactiva Open Arms, which had ships in the area, said it had been specifically told not to help. Matteo Salvini, Italy’s interior minister, said in a tweet: "It's right that the Libyan authorities intervene, as they've been doing for days, without having the NGOs...

An anonymous email came in over the transom this morning: Hi, Stacy. During the early weeks after the USS Fitzgerald was speared by a lumbering Philippine container ship, it was noteworthy that the captain and a couple of admirals were publically named, but not the actual officer in charge, the officer of the deck. (OOD) The other person who should have kept the Fitz out of trouble is the person in charge of the combat information center, the Tactical Action Officer. That individual is supposed to be monitoring the combat radar, which can detect a swimmer at a distance of...

Formed in 1954, the PLA navy submarine force released this video to celebrate the birthday of Chinese submarine fleet. There are a lot of living space in these submarines apparently. However, the Chinese did not show their to top secret quantum radar which was rumored to be installed in some submarines already. Thats right, the Chinese have moved on from using sonar to underwater quantum radar, which has 100x more range.Video Here

The collisions were avoidable between USS FITZGERALD (DDG 62) and Motor Vessel ACX CRYSTAL, and between USS JOHN S MCCAIN (DDG 56) and Motor Vessel ALNIC MC. Three U.S. Navy investigations concerning each of these incidents are complete. Command and Admiralty investigations in each case retain legal privilege to protect the interests of the United States Government in future litigation. As Chief of Naval Operations, I have determined to retain the legal privilege that exists with the command Admiralty investigations in order to protect the legal interests of the United States Government and the families of those Sailors who perished....

A FREMM vessel designed by Fincantieri in Sydney’s harbor. PHOTO: FINCANTIERI CANBERRA, Australia—U.S. allies are embarking on a naval shopping spree as territorial standoffs intensify in the Pacific. Contracts valued at about $70 billion are up for grabs from Australia to Canada, as governments update aging fleets to protect shipping lanes and their territorial waters. While defense spending globally had fallen over the past decade, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute expects spending this year to be the highest since the close of the Cold War. Nations in Asia and the Middle East are leading the charge. That is a...

Yesterday brought stunning news of yet another security lapse by our Navy. As reported by The Washington Post, Chinese hackers in the first two months of this year penetrated the computers of an unnamed defense contractor, “stealing massive amounts of highly sensitive data related to undersea warfare” from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, Rhode Island. NUWC (“new-ick”), as it’s called by sailors, handles sensitive and classified projects for the Navy’s submarine force, which just happens to be one of the few areas where the U.S. Navy still holds important advantages over its Chinese rival. As China’s rapidly expanding...