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igh above one of the most hotly contested regions in the world, CNN was given a rare look Friday at the Chinese government's rapidly expanding militarization of the South China Sea Aboard a US Navy P-8A Poseidon reconnaissance plane, CNN got a view from 16,500 feet of low-lying coral reefs turned into garrisons with five-story buildings, large radar installations, power plants and runways sturdy enough to carry large military aircraft. During the flight the crew received six separate warnings from the Chinese military, telling them they were inside Chinese territory and urging them to leave. "Leave immediately and keep out...

Sailors load a Harpoon anti-ship cruise missile on to the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Olympia (SSN-717) on July 3, 2018. US Navy Photo JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM – The Navy may once again arm its attack submarines with the Harpoon anti-ship cruise missile, after a sub-launched Harpoon performed well during a sinking exercise this month in the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2018 exercise. Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Olympia (SSN-717) fired a Harpoon at the ex-USS Racine (LST-1191) during the first of two SINKEX events in RIMPAC this month. That shot marked the first time a Harpoon...

Full title (shorted for posting) A leaked photo shows that China is building a supercarrier that could rival the US' Nimitz-class carriers -- China has grand ambitions for a world-class navy, and is reportedly building two more aircraft carriers with enhanced capabilities that would make them among the world's most powerful navies. But it's unclear what China ultimately intends to do with them. Is it for prestige? To project power? To protect its interests overseas? We asked two naval experts to find out more.

Fifty years after the Battle of Hue, one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War, a Marine is being recognized for his brave actions. Retired Sgt. Maj. John Canley received a phone call from President Donald Trump earlier this month in his home in Oxnard, California. Trump told Canley that he was receiving the Medal of Honor for his work in early 1968. The White House will be making an official announcement once the date for presenting the award is confirmed. Canley has previously received the Navy Cross, two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart for his heroism. In...

A memorial to slain Navy SEAL and Medal of Honor recipient Lt. Michael P. Murphy was smashed to pieces at a New York lake, outraging locals and veterans. A police report was filed Thursday with Suffolk County Police who said in a statement they were investigating “a recent act of vandalism” at Lt. Michael P. Murphy Memorial Park in Lake Ronkonkoma, where Murphy once worked as a lifeguard. A granite stone at the park was inscribed with the fallen SEAL’s image and part of his Medal of Honor citation. A police photo posted to Facebook showed the smooth circular stone...

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...

Two U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers sailed through the Taiwan Strait separating mainland China from the island of Taiwan, a message likely to stoke more tensions between Washington and Beijing amid an ongoing trade war. The American destroyers Mustin and Benfold, both based in Japan, transited the strait from south to northeast beginning at roughly 9 pm ET Friday night and will conclude mid-afternoon Saturday around 5 p.m. ET, according to three U.S. defense officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the media. The development was first reported by Taiwan News. (please...

A study of U.S. Navy statistics from Fox News tells a story of two presidential administrations, at least in terms of Iranian provocations of the U.S. military. (Snip) Iranian vessels pestered American naval ships only 14 times in 2017, Trump’s first year, and that number has fallen to an incredible zero occurrences of Iranian aggression so far in 2018.

Type 218SG submarines. (Photo: MINDEF/Facebook) SINGAPORE: More than 30m under the waters around Singapore, where light hardly penetrates the murky depths, noise is perhaps the last thing you would expect. But the Republic of Singapore Navy’s (RSN) latest submarine, the Type 218SG, hears and senses a cacophony of chatter. Not of people, but of the 2,000 ships that sail through the Singapore Strait every day. “Many of the boats in the world are not designed for such environments: Warm, shallow, noisy, crowded,” RSN’s head of naval operations Cheong Kwok Chien told Channel NewsAsia in an exclusive interview on Saturday (Jun...

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...

June 21, 2018 explosion of an SM-2 Block IIIA over the German frigate FGS Sachsen (F 219) New video and photos released this week show the extent of the damage on a German frigate following an apparent missile explosion last week during a training event off the coast of Norway. FGS Sachsen (F 219) was operating with FGS Lübeck (F 214) near the Arctic Circle when it attempted to fire a Standard Missile (SM) 2 Block IIIA as part of the exercise, the service said in a release. The footage, presumably shot from Lübeck, shows an explosion after just departing...

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 two...

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, right, wears a lei as they greets guests at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam, Hawaii, Friday, Nov. 3, 2017. (Image: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - President Donald Trump will stop in Hawaii after returning from his historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the White House announced Monday. Trump is scheduled to depart from Singapore on Tuesday night, and will visit a military base on Guam before arriving on Oahu. The president is expected to arrive in the islands on Tuesday afternoon and is not expected to leave Joint Base...

The USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned ship in the Navy, sits in Boston, revered by sailors and history buffs. The second-oldest ship, the USS Pueblo, floats at a river dock in Pyongyang, still a hostage more than 50 years after North Korea seized it in a January 1968 raid in the frigid waters of the East Sea off the Hermit Kingdom’s northeastern coast. Calls from the surviving crew to bring the ship back have amounted to naught. The Colorado legislature, protective of the ship named after one of its cities, also weighs in every year with a resolution calling for...

Chinese government hackers have stolen a massive trove of sensitive information from a US Navy contractor, including secret plans to develop a new type of submarine-launched anti-ship missile, the Washington Post reported Friday. Investigators told the newspaper that breaches were executed in January and February by a division of the Chinese Ministry of State Security, operating out of the Chinese province of Guangdong. The contractor, which was not named in the report, works for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, based in Newport, Rhode Island. It conducts research and development for submarines and underwater weapons systems. According to the Post, hackers...

Chinese government hackers have compromised the computers of a Navy contractor, stealing massive amounts of highly sensitive data related to undersea warfare — including secret plans to develop a supersonic anti-ship missile for use on U.S. submarines by 2020, according to American officials. The breaches occurred in January and February, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. The hackers targeted a contractor who works for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, a military organization headquartered in Newport, R.I., that conducts research and development for submarines and underwater weaponry.

CHINESE warships have confronted US Navy vessels today in what has been described as a “serious incident”. The tense naval drama unfolded after the American warships sailed near South China Sea islands claimed by China. The presence of the US warships was slammed by Beijing just as President Donald Trump seeks to make peace with North Korea to avoid a serious war breaking out. The operation in the South China Sea was the latest bid to counter what Washington condemns as brazen efforts to take control of the strategical important seas. The hotly contested region is also rich in fossil...

USS Harry S. Truman has been pursued around the Med by a group of Russian frigates led by warship Yaroslav Mudry. Video of the incident shows a Russian vessel in the distance shadowing the carrier and its destroyer escort. Footage was shared by ITV as a team of news reporters visited the US warship. The vessel is the US’s main weapon against ISIS as it launches strikes on their positions in Syria. War tensions have flared however after the US, France and Britain launched airstrikes against Vladimir Putin’s pal Bashar al-Assad. USS Harry S. Truman – the 116,000-ton vessel –...

A Navy SEAL who led a rescue operation to retrieve a fallen teammate on a treacherous mountain peak in Afghanistan will receive the Medal of Honor, the White House announced Monday. Retired Master Chief Special Warfare Operator Britt K. Slabinski will receive the nation’s highest military award on May 24, the White House said. Slabinski is credited with rallying a team of SEALs for a counter-assault on al-Qaeda fighters, who had pinned down another SEAL, Petty Officer 1st Class Neil Roberts, during a firefight in the early morning hours of March 4, 2002. Roberts had been ejected from a Chinook...

Washington (AFP) - A top US navy admiral announces the re-establishment of the US 2nd Fleet -- a Cold War command disbanded in 2011 -- to patrol the North Atlantic and face a resurgent threat from Russia. The chief of US Naval Operations, Admiral John Richardson, made the announcement during a change of command ceremony Friday in the Atlantic naval port of Norfolk, Virginia. "Our National Defense Strategy makes clear that we're back in an era of great power competition as the security environment continues to grow more challenging and complex," said Richardson, according to a navy statement. "That's...