Shipyard News

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Lots of developments on the shipyard beat in the past week or so…

Welcome, Bob!

Saturday saw the christening at Bollinger Shipyards in Pascagoula (Escatawpa) of the future Pathfinder-class oceanographic survey vessel  USNS Robert Ballard (T-AGS 67), with the principal address delivered by the famed Dr. Robert Ballard (CDR, USNR, Ret), the ship’s namesake.

The 353-foot/5,000 ton AGS is equipped with just about every precision survey tool you can think of, and the class is vital in making hyper-accurate charts of the sea floor, something especially important for modern submarine warfare.

Speaking of which…

NoDak Undocks

The storied Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, last week  undocked the early Virginia-class attack submarine USS North Dakota (SSN 784), “marking a significant milestone in its maintenance and modernization availability.”

NoDak, commissioned in 2014, the first of eight Virginia-class Block III boats, has been under overhaul since April 2023. The work was scheduled to take 33 months and was cleared in just 34, which is great when it comes to SSN overhauls.

Virginia-class attack submarine USS North Dakota (SSN 784) undocking at Portsmouth, wrapping up a 34-month overhaul. (U.S. Navy photo by Branden Bourque)

Vermont wraps first SMP in Australia

In a quiet development from down under, the Virginia-class hunter killer USS Vermont (SSN 792) arrived at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia late last October and soon underwent something that is a first for both the class and the Royal Australian Navy– a four-month submarine maintenance period (SMP) by a blended American and Australian maintenance team without a sub tender alongside for support.

It’s the first time that was done outside of the U.S. and is an important milestone for the AUKUS SSN program, which will, eventually, see the RAN operating 774s.

Garden Island, HMAS Stirling, Western Australia, Australia (Nov. 10, 2025) – A bilateral team of U.S. Navy Sailors and civilians of the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard Dive Locker, and Australian members of Clearance Dive Team 4, dive under the hull of the USS Vermont (SSN 792) in support of a planned submarine maintenance period (SMP). The bilateral team completed multiple jobs, including installing patches under the hull to allow access to main ballast tank three. The maintenance period showcased Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility’s ability to conduct maintenance in Western Australia and its training of Australian maintainers to support the establishment of Submarine Rotational Force – West as early as 2027 as part of AUKUS Pillar I, the trilateral security agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The AUKUS Integration & Acquisition Program Office is the U.S. Navy office responsible for executing the trilateral partnership to assist Australia in acquiring conventionally armed, nuclear-powered attack submarines while setting the highest nuclear stewardship standards and continuing to maintain the highest nonproliferation standards. (U.S. Navy Photo by Cmdr. Erik Wells)

Austal finishes the last EPF, keeps up with EMS, and ATS

The vessel that got Austal’s Mobile, Alabama yard on the map, the 16-vessel Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport, is wrapping up with the launching last week of the future USNS Lansing (EPF 16), capping a program that began in 2010.

The 337-foot vessels are big enough to land a CH-53K King Stallion on their aft deck and can schlep 412 troops around the theatre at 43 knots or, with a 20,000 sq ft mission bay, can fill a Swiss army knife of support roles– all with a crew of 41.

Austal says that, once delivered, the production efforts on EPF 16 will shift to final outfitting and system activation to support future USNS Bethesda (T-EMS-1), the first of three EPF Flight II medical variants, getting underway for sea trials. The white-painted EMS series will have four operating rooms and 124 medical beds, separated into acute care, acute isolation, ICU, and ICU isolation spaces.

Austal, in the same week, also successfully launched the future Navajo-class rescue and salvage ship USNS Solomon Atkinson (T-ATS 12) into the Mobile River, some 75 percent complete.

The future Navajo-class rescue and salvage ship USNS Solomon Atkinson (T-ATS 12)

The 263-foot/5,100-ton T-ATS will provide ocean-going towing, salvage, and rescue capabilities to support fleet operations. T-ATS will be a multi-mission common hull platform capable of towing U.S. Navy ships and will have 6,000 square feet of deck space for embarked systems. The large, unobstructed deck allows for the embarkation of a variety of stand-alone and interchangeable systems. The T-ATS platform will combine the capabilities of the retiring Rescue and Salvage Ship (T-ARS 50) and Fleet Ocean Tug (T-ATF 166) platforms. T-ATS will be able to support current missions, including towing, salvage, rescue, oil spill response, humanitarian assistance, and wide-area search and surveillance. The platform also enables future rapid capability initiatives, such as supporting modular payloads with hotel services and appropriate interfaces.

The Big O Comes Home

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A half-century ago this very day,

Aerial photograph showing USS Oriskany (CV-34) on the day of her return to Alameda from her 18th and final deployment on 3 March 1976, seen just six months before she was decommissioned. Note that among the aircraft on her deck are two cocooned F-4 Phantoms and a Grumman A-6 Intruder– jets that were never operationally deployed on any Essex-class carrier.

U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo No. 1996.488.196.032

Laid down a month before D-Day, the “Big O” in the above image was coming off her last deployment (from 16 September 1975 to 3 March 1976) and capped her almost 26-year career, logging her 200,000th arrested landing during that final cruise with Carrier Air Wing 19 (CVW-19).

Besides her shakedown cruise with CVG-1, a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean with CVG-4 in 1951, and an around-the-Horn deployment to her new homeport in California in 1952, all of her future runs would be West Pac cruises, with her first being a combat deployment off Korea with CVG-102 from 15 October 1952 to 18 May 1953, where 7,001 sorties lifted off her deck. Her Korean War cruise saw her with two squadrons (VF-781 and 783) of F9F-5 Panthers, one of F4U-4 Corsairs (VF-874), and one of AD-3/-4 Skyraiders (VA-923), along with smaller dets.

Oriskany with F4U Corsairs of VF-874 aboard off Korea in 1952. I challenge you to find a more beautiful warplane of the 1950s!

Oriskany also made seven “fighting” deployments to Vietnam between 1965 and 1973, the first three with CVW-16 and the last four with CVW-19.

These were all typically with two squadrons of F-8C/E/J Crusader “gunfighters” while her punch came at first from two squadrons of A-4E Skyhawks and an A-1H/J Skyraider squadron, with those three VAs later replaced by three of A-7A/B Corsairs after 1969. These squadrons, of course, were augmented by dets of EKA-3 Whales, E-1B Stoofs, UH-2 Sea Sprites, SH-3 Sea Kings, and RF-8G photo birds.

She conducted one of the longest American carrier deployments of the Cold War on her 5 Jun 1972 – 30 Mar 1973 Tonkin Gulf cruise, chalking up 298 days.

Cold War Kodachrome classic: An air-to-air right side view of an F-8 Crusader aircraft as it intercepts a Soviet Tu-95 Bear-A/B bomber near the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany (CVA-34), 25 May 1974, over the Pacific. Note the carrier in the distance. Photo by LT Fessenden, DNSC8506071, 330-CFD-DN-SC-85-06071, via NARA.

When she was mothballed, she was the last member of her 24-strong class on active fleet service, leaving her older sister USS Lexington (CV-16/AVT-16) to soldier on as a training carrier in the Gulf of Mexico for another 15 years.

Struck from the Navy List in July 1989– kept in reserve as a possible mobilization asset and later as a source of parts for Lady Lex, Oriskany was stripped and scuttled as an artificial reef off Pensacola in 2006, some 56 years afloat.

Oriskany received two battle stars for Korean service and ten for Vietnamese service.

Comte deGrasse runs again!

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The future SNA De Grasse (S638), the fourth of six planned 5,200-ton Suffren-class (Barracuda type) SSN built for the French Navy, launched last May 2025 and began her first (Alpha) sea trials last week, with delivery to the Marine nationale expected later this year.

NAval Group Cherbourg

NAval Group Cherbourg

Le Mardi 24 Février 2026 à Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. Prises de vues au drone de la sortie du SNA De Grasse. Le Mardi 24 Février 2026 à Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. Le sous-marin nucléaire d’attaque nouvelle génération (SNA NG) de type Suffren De Grasse sort de sa période de construction chez le constructeur industriel Naval Groupe pour commencer avant sa mise en service une période d’essais techniques en mer.

Le Mardi 24 Février 2026 à Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. Prises de vues au drone de la sortie du SNA De Grasse. Le Mardi 24 Février 2026 à Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. Le sous-marin nucléaire d’attaque nouvelle génération (SNA NG) de type Suffren De Grasse sort de sa période de construction chez le constructeur industriel Naval Groupe pour commencer avant sa mise en service une période d’essais techniques en mer.

Le Mardi 24 Février 2026 à Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. Prises de vues au drone de la sortie du SNA De Grasse. Le Mardi 24 Février 2026 à Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. Le sous-marin nucléaire d’attaque nouvelle génération (SNA NG) de type Suffren De Grasse sort de sa période de construction chez le constructeur industriel Naval Groupe pour commencer avant sa mise en service une période d’essais techniques en mer.

Le Mardi 24 Février 2026 à Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. Le sous-marin nucléaire d’attaque nouvelle génération (SNA NG) de type Barracuda De Grasse sort de sa période de construction chez le constructeur industriel Naval Groupe pour commencer avant sa mise en service une période d’essais techniques en mer.

This is all very appropriate for the 250th anniversary of the events of 1776 here in the states as she carries the name of Lt. Gen (of Navy) François Joseph Paul, Comte de Grasse, Marquis of Grasse-Tilly, KM — best known for his crucial victory over the Royal Navy at the Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781 which sealed Cornwallis’s fate at Yorktown which in turn helped secure U.S. independence.

The French formerly celebrated De Grasse with an improved La Galissonnière class AAA cruiser in service from 1956 to 1973 and a Tourville-class frigate that served from 1975 through 2013.

Over here, we have also saluted the good Admiral de Grasse with a Great War-era patrol boat (ID-1217), a WWII Crater-class cargo ship (AP-164/AK-223), and the beautiful Pascagoula-built Sprucan USS Comte de Grasse (DD-974), which was active from 1978 to 1998.

The French and U.S. tin cans of the same name cruised together off Yorktown in 1981, on the Bicentennial of the Battle of the Chesapeake.

A starboard beam view of the destroyer USS COMTE DE GRASSE (DD-974) and the French destroyer De GRASSE (D-612) underway near Cape Henry on their way to Norfolk. The ships participated in the joint U.S./French bicentennial celebration at Yorktown, Va.

A starboard beam view of the destroyer USS COMTE DE GRASSE (DD-974) and the French destroyer De GRASSE (D-612) underway near Cape Henry on their way to Norfolk. The ships participated in the joint U.S./French bicentennial celebration at Yorktown, Va. Photo 330-CFD-DN-SC-82-02122 in the National Archives

Nice to see the name return to the sea.

Perhaps the French will send the new De Grasse over here this year, or perhaps in 2031, the 250th of Chesapeake/Yorktown.

Uno Reverso

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Not going to get into it in too much detail, as I am sure you guys are getting a firehose of this information right now on Epic Fury, or as I like to call it — Praying Mantis II — but I did see this interesting and important footnote to military history.

Saturday’s attack was the Pentagon’s first use of one-way (i.e., “kamikaze”) drones in combat, with CENTCOM’s Task Force Scorpion Strike admittedly using SpektreWorks FLM-136 Low-cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System one-way attack UAVs as part of a sweeping 4,000 items-of-ordnance blitz.

Of some hilarity, the $35K (or less) LUCAS is an unlicensed reverse-engineered knock-off of the Iranian HESA Shahed 136, which has given the Navy so much heartburn in the Bab el Mandeb in the past couple of years and has been extensively captured in Ukraine.

And that is a bit of delicious irony.

(Nov. 23, 2025) Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drones are positioned on the tarmac at a base in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) operating area, Nov. 23. The LUCAS platforms are part of a one-way attack drone squadron CENTCOM recently deployed to the Middle East to strengthen regional security and deterrence. (Courtesy Photo)

(Nov. 23, 2025) Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drones are positioned on the tarmac at a base in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) operating area, Nov. 23. The LUCAS platforms are part of a one-way attack drone squadron CENTCOM recently deployed to the Middle East to strengthen regional security and deterrence. (Courtesy Photo)

One of the first publicized launches of the 10-foot LUCAS was via RATO from USS Santa Barbara (LCS 32) while operating in the Arabian Gulf last December. She is one of three Independence-class ships, including USS Canberra (LCS 30) and USS Tulsa (LCS 16), that are currently forward-deployed to Bahrain with new MCM mission modules, replacing the legacy Avenger-class ships that have served in Task Force 55 for over 30 years

A Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) successfully launches from the flight deck of the Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Santa Barbara (LCS 32) while operating in the Arabian Gulf, Dec. 16. Task Force 59 operated the LUCAS drone, which is part of Task Force Scorpion Strike, a one-way attack drone squadron recently deployed to the Middle East. (Cpl. Kayla Mc Guire)

So it may be doubly interesting to see just from where those LUCAS UAVs were launched.

Of thick coats and M-1 Carbines…

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Some 75 years ago today.

Here we see M-1 Carbine-armed men of the 1st Marine Division as they capture Red Chinese troops during fighting on the central Korean front near Hoengsong, 2 March 1951. These bundled-up Chicom troops are likely from the People’s 13th Army.

NARA 127-N-A6759

You can’t look at the above image and not think of the well-worn trope of American troops seeing their “puny” .30 cal carbine rounds bounce off the thick coats of NPRK and Chinese troops in Korea during the winter.

I mean, come on, guys.

Video for further myth-busting.

Oh, JPMRC 26-02, you look frozen

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You have to admit, since reforming as the 11th Airborne, the Army Alaska has really upped its game when it comes to getting the word out about what it does and how they train to fight and win in the frozen region just north of Hoth.

Check out these images and videos of U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Air Assault), 11th Airborne Division engaging a simulated opposing force during Joint Pacific Multi-National Readiness Center 26-02 on the Yukon Training Area, Alaska, Feb. 22, 2026.

“The 11th Airborne Division is setting the standard for Arctic readiness, demonstrating the skills and capabilities needed to succeed in this challenging environment.”

Photos by Spc Brandon Vasquez, video by Sgt. Christopher Nicely, 982nd (Airborne) Combat Camera Company.

Doodlebugs over Nassau

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The amphibious assault ship “USS Nassau (LHA 4) cruises in the Gulf of Oman,” during Desert Storm by John C. Roach. with air cover provided by two AV-8B Harrier IIs of Marine Attack Squadron 331 (VMA-331).

(U.S. Navy History and Heritage Command Art Collection)

On 25 January 1985, the “Doodlebugs” became the first fully operational AV-8B Harrier II squadron in Marine Corps service.

The Doodlebugs deployed on the Nassau to the Persian Gulf for Desert Shield and eventually flew 243 sorties, dropping 256 tons of ordnance, during Desert Storm to become the first Marine Attack Squadron to conduct combat operations from a general-purpose amphibious assault ship in the process.

AV-8B Harrier II (VMA-331) aboard USS Nassau (LHA 4) – February 1991. NNAM

While supporting Operation Desert Storm, a Harrier from the squadron was shot down by a “two or more” SA-7s over Safwan, Iraq, on 27 February 1991. The pilot, Capt. Reginald C. Underwood, USMC, was killed in action, a more somber note for the Harrier in Marine service.

The 86 Marine Harriers in theatre flew 9,353 sorties and logged 11,120 hours during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Five were lost during the campaign.

Mission-capable rates averaged 90% throughout the war. Maintenance crews were able to hold five to ten aircraft per squadron in maintenance reserve and still meet the flight schedule. Turnaround times between sorties averaged 20 minutes for gas and arming. The land-based AV-8Bs consistently flew as many as 120 sorties a day, with highs of 160.

Phantom spotting

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I dearly love the old F-4 and, while the last one (of 5,195 made) rolled off the assembly line in 1981 (at that time in Japan), they are still fairly abundant in the wild even 45 years later.

At least 96 and perhaps as many as 150 Phantoms are still in front-line military service (including with Iran, at least for now), while easily another 200-300 are in storage, and about that many are on public display everywhere around the globe.

And I do mean everywhere.

Of note, the only “full-time jet fighter” in Iceland is a former 3rd/4th TFW F-4E-53-MC (72-1407) on display in USAF 57th FIS “Black Knights” livery as a gate guardian to the University of Iceland’s Keilir Aviation Academy aboard the old Keflavik AB.

Transferred to Keflavik in 1992 and largely stripped, it wears 66-0300, the number of the last Phantom to leave Keflavik in November 1985 when the Knights upgraded to F-15s

One of my most frequently seen “Spooks” has been on the gate guard to the USS Alabama Battleship Park for years, McDonnell Douglas F-4C-18-MC Phantom II, USAF registration 63-7487 (AF63/487).

Seen back in 2021.

I know she has been there for a couple of decades, as the local Fox affiliate opened its nightly news feed with almost exactly this shot going back to Hurricane Katrina.

She survived the monster storm that caused the 35,000-ton Alabama herself to list.

The circa 1963 warbird served with the 12th TFW and later the 366th TFW in South Vietnam, as well as the 8th TFW out of Ubon RTAB, Thailand, between 1965 and 1970, seeing lots of Southeast Asia service. After that, she saw Cold War duty with the 81st TFW at RAF Bentwaters, the 26th TRW at Zweibrcken Air Base, West Germany, the 52nd TFW at Spangdahlem, and the 401st TFW at Torrejon.

By 1979, she was back CONUS with the 182nd TFS of the Texas Air Guard out of Kelly Field. In her old age, she was converted to a GF-4C ground trainer in 1985 at Sheppard AFB, then retired and eventually shipped in 1991 to join “Big Al” in Mobile.

So it was shocking when I passed by on I-10 and saw that 487 was down from her pedestal and had disappeared.

Now that’s sad.

It turns out that she has been dismounted so that she can be restored, which is awesome.

In the meantime, she is sandwiched next to two very appropriate Vietnam-era airframes.

The first is a circa 1960 Douglas A-4L Skyhawk (BuNo 147787), which had served with VMA-223 and VMA-311 out of MCAB Chu Lai and VA-22 off USS Ranger.

Her second mate on the ground is a circa 1954 MiG-17 Fresco-A (540734) in Vietnam People’s Air Force livery (although she is a former Bulgarian airframe).

Looking forward to seeing 487 refreshed and preserved for future generations.

Speaking of which, the USS Hornet Museum is currently restoring the last Phantom to fly off a Carrier (VF-151 Vigilantes, USS Midway, March 25, 1986).

Bravo Zulu Capt. Williams!

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Capt. Elmer Royce Williams (Ret.), the United States Navy’s most recent Medal of Honor recipient, will celebrate his 101st birthday in April. Capt. Williams was formally inducted into the Hall of Heroes this week for deeds done in Korea some 73 years ago.

Minted as a WWII-era naval aviator at Pensacola in August 1945, he flew F9F-5 Panthers with the “Pacemakers” of VF-781 aboard the USS Oriskany off Korea, chalking up 70 combat sorties.

The most famous of these sorties, on 18 November 1952, included a 35-minute dogfight (not a misprint) that pitted Williams and his wingman against seven MiG-15s in what is believed to be the longest dogfight in U.S. Navy history. He splashed four of these MiGs and, when he landed, ground crews on Oriskany counted 263 holes in his Panther.

The nitty-gritty details of the dogfight were covered up for years so as not to offend the Reds, who may or may not have lost four Soviet Naval Aviation pilots that day (later confirmed to be Captains Belyakov and Vandalov, and Lieutenants Pakhomkin and Tarshinov).

Can you imagine? A half hour of turning and burning against smaller and more maneuverable swept-wing MiGs in an all-gun fight at speeds no WWII pilot had to contend with. To this day, no single U.S. Navy pilot has repeated his one-engagement MiG tally, especially in a gun fight.

Williams earned a Silver Star at the time (later upgraded to a Navy Cross) and, in retrospect, the MoH is certainly in order.

At least he looks happy.

Steel Rain

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“Steel Rain” by Frank M. Thomas depicts the 1st Battalion, 158th Field Artillery (MLRS), Oklahoma Army National Guard, as they send their 227mm M26 rockets into targets in Iraq on the first day of Desert Storm in February 1991, some 35 years ago this month.

National Guard Heritage Painting by Frank M. Thomas, courtesy the National Guard Bureau

With each M26 carrying a massive load of 644 DPICM M77 submunitions, and each M270 vehicle carrying a dozen rockets, the system was so deadly that the Iraqi soldiers called it “steel rain.”

More than 62,000 Army National Guard soldiers were mobilized for Desert Shield, and of these, nearly 39,000 deployed to Southwest Asia. Six ANG field artillery battalions, including 1-158 FA, supported the Desert Storm advance into Iraq.

The battalion, which stood up on 26 February 1920, is still based in Oklahoma as part of the 45th Field Artillery Brigade, although it replaced its MLRS with HIMARS.

They earned eight campaign streamers for WWII from Sicily to Central Europe, four for Korea, one for Desert Storm, and two for GWOT. In addition, the battalion is authorized the French Croix de Guerre with Palm, the ROK Presidential Unit Citation, and an Army Presidential Unit Citation, the latter for Salerno.

The battalion’s Battery B also recently earned the Alexander Hamilton Award for being the best field artillery battery in the National Guard, beating 140 other batteries.

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