Category Archives: rants

Final LCS delivered as Frigate Program tanks

Posted on by 6 comments

Littoral Combat Ship 31, the future USS Cleveland, was delivered to the Navy on 26 November from Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Wisconsin, closing out the line.

While all 19 of the more successful Indianapolis-class variants have been delivered and commissioned (albeit with two early hulls laid up), and are increasingly being used in a minesweeper role, the 16 Freedom-class variants, of which Cleveland is the final hull, have been much less successful, and five of her sisters have already been retired.

Cleveland launched in April 2023 and has spent the past 31 months fitting out. By comparison, the last Indy, USS Pierre (LCS-38), only needed 14 months between christening (18 May 2024) and delivery (11 July 2025). Pierre’s entire construction period, from keel laying to commissioning, spanned 29 months.

Following commissioning in Cleveland, Ohio, in early 2026, LCS 31 will be homeported in Mayport, Florida, with her 10 active sisters.

When commissioned, LCS-31 will be the fourth U.S. Navy vessel named for the Ohio city after two cruisers (C-19/CL-21 and CL-55), which served in WWI and WWII, respectively, and LPD-7, a Cold War era amphibious transport dock commissioned in 1967 and disposed of in a 2024 SINKEX.

Fincantieri, meanwhile, is continuing to work on the first (and last) two hopelessly behind Constellation class frigates, while the other four on contract will be canceled.

The Navy has agreed to take the blame for the program’s mismanagement, even going so far as to indemnify Fincantieri while the shipyard “is expected to receive new orders to deliver classes of vessels in segments that best serve the immediate interests of the nation and the renaissance of U.S. shipbuilding, such as amphibious, icebreaking, and other special missions.”

Wow.

Buy ROK FFGs?

Perhaps we should just order some frigates off the shelf from Korea, where the third Chungnam-class (FFX) Batch-III frigate, the future ROKS Jeonnam (FFG-831), was launched at SK Ocean Plant in Goseong, Gyeongnam, on 25 November.

Small, 3,600-ton (4,300 full load) ships that run 423 feet oal, they run a CODAG setup that allows a 30 knot speed and 8,000nm range at 16 knots– ideal for convoy and patrol work. They run a phased-array four-sided AESA radar/IRST mast, carry a 5″/62 MK45 gun, have a VLS (64 K-SAAM, 8 land attack) system, all the ASW goodies (hull-mounted active sonar, towed passive, VLA, 324mm tubes), a hangar for an embarked helicopter, and a CIWS.

Why can’t we have nice things?

Jeonnam’s sister, the ROKS Gyeoungbuk (FFG-829), gives a better view of the class. If we could just whistle up 40 of these. Bulk contract. Single source. Roll it!

Can the next SECNAV please just get the names right?

Posted on by Leave a comment
Just going to drop this little gem from DOD here:
 
The Department of Defense is honored by the Navy’s naming of two future Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers as the future USS William J. Clinton (CVN 82) and the future USS George W. Bush (CVN 83), as announced today by President Biden.
 
Can we please stop naming carriers after professional politicians and presidents?
 
Especially living presidents.
 
Especially these two guys.
 
Clinton all but destroyed the military while W carries the responsibility for taking the “war on terror” way too far in terms of conventional forces vs insurgents for pitifully little return except a lot of empty chairs around the table at Christmas and a National Guard left gutted. I mean at least if they would have used Jimmy Carter, that would be marginally understandable as at least he was a WWII USNA mid and early Nuclear Navy whiz kid in the Rickover days. But wait, we already have a submarine named after him…
 
Let’s just go back to the 1920s-70s practice of naming carriers via recycling historic warship names (Lexington, Yorktown, Saratoga, Ranger, Wasp, Hornet, Hancock, Oriskany, Essex, Kearsarge, Boxer, Ticonderoga, Kitty Hawk, etc.) with a long history and naval tradition to draw from. Wouldn’t it be great to tell the tale of these past ships and their battles at a commissioning ceremony rather than relate a canned anecdote on a former resident of the White House that is still controversial enough in modern memory that half the crowd is going to groan?
 
Sure, sure, the Navy made the obvious choice of naming CV-42 after FDR just after he died in office during wartime, and CV-67 after JFK under the same circumstances. But the rest probably shouldn’t have a carrier with the possible exception of the Mt. Rushmore presidents.
 
I mean, I like Ike as much as the next guy, but he was a Soldier. Name an Army Fort after him (which they only just did). Truman? Same story. Reagan? Come on. Stennis and Vinson? Are you kidding? George H.W. Bush at least was a naval aviator in WWII (and honorary submariner) but I’d wager he probably could have gotten a NAS or Field named after him with the same reverence. Plus now you will have TWO flattops named Bush, a tactical snafu waiting to happen that will linger for the next half-century. 
 
If a carrier has to be named for a person, why is there no USS Richard Halsey Best, whose dive bomber squadron sank two Japanese flattops on the same day during Midway? Best had to be medically retired that same year due to damage to his lungs caused by breathing bad O2 during the battle. His lungs never recovered entirely from that day. The smack talk and moto speeches of crewmembers of the USS Best writes itself. 
 
Or how about a flattop named for the Cajun “Lucky Pierre” Bordelon, the only U.S. Navy ace in the Korean War– who accomplished this feat in a piston-engine Corsair! He is also the only Navy “night ace,” earning all of his victories in darkness. A career Naval Aviator with 15,000 hours on his books and a former Eagle Scout with two Silver Stars and a Navy Cross to his credit, he is an all-American hero who has been forgotten by the Navy. 
 

The only U.S. Navy Korean fighter ace, Lt. Guy Bordelon, smiles at the nameplate on “Annie-Mo”, his Vought F4U-5N Corsair fighter in which he shot down five enemy aircraft during the Korean War. Bordelon was assigned to composite squadron VC-3 Blue Nemesis, which was deployed to Korea on the aircraft carrier USS Princeton (CVA-37) from 24 January to 21 September to Korea as part of Carrier Air Group 15 (CVG-15). 80-G-653594

 
And with that,

Let’s drag out the Navy Naming Convention Soapbox

Current Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro is on his way out with the change in administrations in Washington and, with all due respect to the office, it can’t come soon enough when it comes to naming conventions.

He has been grossly off-key from the typical conventions over the past four years.

Del Toro made the distinction that the upcoming first Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine, USS Columbia (SSBN 826), will not honor the previous 10 Columbias in current and past naval service but will specifically the first-named “District of Columbia,” which some have pointed out that is as another step in the plan to turn DC into the 51st state, but, hey…

In other submarine missteps– departing from 77th SECNAV Kenneth J. Braithwaite returned to traditional “fish” names for fleet submarines (or hunter killers in modern parlance), something the Navy did from 1931 through 1973. Hence, we will soon have USS Barb (SSN 804), Tang (SSN 805), Wahoo (SSN 806), and Silversides (SSN 807), all after the numerous esteemed fleet boats that previously carried those marine creatures’ names, and the country’s next frigate will take the name of one of the country’s original six frigates, USS Constellation— Del Toro named the future Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine SSN-808 USS John H. Dalton, after Clinton’s hatchetman SECNAV. You know, the guy who snuffed out the Sprucans decades before their time, slaughtered the Navy’s cruiser and frigate force, and canceled the scheduled Service Life Extension Program on USS America (CV-66), forcing the mighty carrier to be decommissioned in 1996 and ultimately scuttled at sea rather than keeping her in the line through 2010 as previously planned.

Another Clinton SECNAV hatchet man will see his name on USS Richard J. Danzig (DDG-143), courtesy of Del Toro. Danzig’s only tie to the Navy was as its politically-appointed boss, and he was not a good one at that.

Dalton and Danzig, who were SECNAVs from July 22, 1993, to January 20, 2001, oversaw the destruction of the “600 Ship Navy” (which peaked at 594 warships in September 1987) managing the force’s constriction to just 316 vessels by the end of the Clinton era, a blow that the USN has been struggling to bounce back from for the past quarter century. There is zero reason for a new submarine and destroyer, built through billions of dollars in public treasure with the purpose of speeding into harm’s way, to be named for these guys.

Del Toro also ordered the Soviet-style, almost Orwellian memory holing, of the cruiser USS Chancellorsville— in the last few months of the ship’s life– to USS Robert Smalls (CG 62), which doesn’t do the latter naval hero any favors. In my opinion, as the Ticos are all named after battles, the cruiser should have gotten a more politically acceptable Virginia battle name such as USS The Wilderness or USS Fort Henry, and Smalls should have gotten a new destroyer to keep his name on the Navy List for more than just the self-serving span of Del Toro’s tour.

This month, in an effort to clear his desk while packing up the office, Del Toro has had a few hits and misses:

The future Bethesda-class expeditionary medical ship USNS Portsmouth (EMS 3) was announced during a ship naming ceremony at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth on Jan. 8. (Win)

The newest Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, the future USS Robert Kerrey (DDG 146), was named after the MoH recipient– the first Navy SEAL to be so honored– former Senator and former Nebraska governor. (Win)

The first two T-AGOS ocean surveillance ships of the Explorer class, the future USNS Don Walsh (T-AGOS 25) and the future USNS Victor Vescovo (T-AGOS 26), were named after esteemed Challenger Deep mariners. (Win)

Curiously, Del Toro also named the future San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock (LPD 33) USS Travis Manion after a Marine 1stLT who earned the Silver Star, posthumously, in Iraq. He announced this at an event with the Travis Manion Foundation. Yes, of course, Manion was a hero, but destroyers are and always have been named after heroes. LPDs, meanwhile, are all over the place with most named after cities while two– USS Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD-29) and USS John P. Murtha (LPD-26), were named after heroes by Obama’s SECNAV, Ray Mabus.

In another break from the logic of a naming convention, Del Toro ordered that the future Constellation class frigate FFG-69 be named for Joy Bright Hancock, a director of WAVES. Yes, Hancock should have a ship named after her. Perhaps a destroyer in the same class as WWII nursing hero Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123) and computer pioneer RADM Grace Hopper (DDG 70). Especially when you consider all of the other Constellations are named for Revolutionary War heroes and vessels (Constellation, Congress, Chesapeake, Lafayette, Hamilton, and Galvez).

Further flipping the convention, Del Toro recently named the future DDG-145 as the fifth USS Intrepid! Surely the name would be better suited to a future LHD or carrier as the most famous “Big I” was the Essex class warrior flattop that served in WWII and Vietnam as well as provided service during the Space Race and has been a massive recruiting tool for the Navy in New York harbor for the past 50 years.

And I’m not getting into the rampant progressive politics of the John Lewis–class replenishment oilers, whose namesakes in almost all cases never served in the military and would probably be better remembered on postal stamps and the names of federal buildings. Oilers should be named for rivers, as they were for generations. These ships will be manned by overworked and underappreciated civilian mariners (CIVMARs) of which the MSC is in short supply, not budding law clerks and doe-eyed social activists. Heck, John Lewis got out of the peacetime (1961) draft claiming conscientious objector status!

And, hopefully, that’s the last time I will have to drag out this soapbox.

Dragging out that Navy Naming Conventions Soapbox

Posted on by 6 comments

It’s like the Navy’s naming conventions are done with the Magic 8-ball or Ouija board over the past few years. Or perhaps are just hyper-political and just flat-out done for optics. Maybe it’s a blend of all of the above.

Trump’s Acting Secretary of the Navy, Thomas B. Modly, in early 2020 announced the next Ford-class supercarrier will be named after USS West Virginia Pearl Harbor hero PO3 Dorie Miller. Now don’t get me wrong, Miller should have a ship named after him– a destroyer (he previously had a Cold War-era Knox-class frigate named after him) as those vessels are named after naval heroes. Carriers should have names of presidents (a tradition established with the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945) or historic ships. Yes, I feel that Nimitz should have gotten a destroyer named after him rather than a flattop and both Carl Vinson and John Stennis should not have had any ships named in their honor, except for possibly to grace the hulls of auxiliaries.

Speaking of Pearl Harbor, Moldy was also responsible for bringing the names of the USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma back to the Navy List for the first time since 1942, with the planned USS Oklahoma (SSN-802) and the USS Arizona (SSN-803). While both are state names, matching the convention for the Virginia class these subs will belong to, I’m not sure if the name “Arizona” should ever be re-issued. After all, would you ever expect to see another HMS Hood?

77th SECNAV Kenneth J. Braithwaite, another of Trump’s guys, got a big win in my book when he returned to traditional “fish” names for fleet submarines (or hunter killers in modern parlance), something the Navy did from 1931 through 1973. Hence, we will soon have USS Barb (SSN 804), Tang (SSN 805), Wahoo (SSN 806), and Silversides (SSN 807), all after the numerous esteemed fleet boats that previously carried those marine creatures’ names, and the country’s next frigate will take the name of one of the country’s original six frigates, USS Constellation. Excellent job. This is how you do it. 

Then the “adults” came back to Washington and SECNAV Carlos Del Toro pointed out that the upcoming first Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine, USS Columbia (SSBN 826), will not honor the previous 10 Columbias in current and past naval service but will specifically the first-named “District of Columbia,” which some have pointed out that is as another step in the plan to turn DC into the 51st state, but, hey…

Now enter two additional decisions from Del Toro’s office this week.

The aging Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) will be renamed USS Robert Smalls (CG 62), to comply with the new push to strip any perceived salutes to the old Confederacy from the modern military. Now, as with Dorie Miller, Smalls is a legitimate naval hero and, as such, should have a destroyer named after him. You know, a nice shiny new one that is ordered but not yet named. One that will serve for another 30 years or so. Instead, Chancellorsville/Smalls is set to retire in a couple of years, scheduled to enter mothballs in FY2026, and by most accounts, is in rather poor material condition.

Besides the terrible disservice to Smalls, the rest of the Ticos are named after battles, with Chancellorsville named after Robert E. Lee’s “perfect battle” near that Virginia town. Therefore, even if only in service for the next few years and arbitrarily stripped of her name in official disgust, why not name her after a more Union-friendly Civil War clash such as USS The Wilderness, which was importantly the first match-up between Lee and Grant (and took place in Virginia) and has never been characterized as a victory for either side? How about the USS Fort Henry, the first ship on the Navy List to honor the final Patriot victory in the Revolutionary War— and also at the time of the action part of Virginia, like the city of Chancellorsville.

Now the biggest of the grumbles.

Also coming from Del Toro this week is the word that the future Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine SSN-808 will be named USS John H. Dalton (SSN 808), after Clinton’s hatchetman SECNAV. You know, the guy who snuffed out the Sprucans before their time, slaughtered the Navy’s cruiser and frigate force, and canceled the scheduled Service Life Extension Program on USS America (CV-66), forcing the mighty carrier to be decommissioned in 1996 and ultimately scuttled at sea rather than keeping her in the line through 2010 as previously planned.

In short, Dalton was a total ass in my book. 

We all remember what happened to USS America…

The justification for Del Toro naming a sub after Dalton was that he had served briefly (active duty from 1964-69) in submarines and “as Secretary of the Navy, he took strong and principled stands against sexual assault and harassment and oversaw the integration of female Sailors onto combat ships.”

Gonna put that soap box up for now. I’m sure I’ll need to drag it out again.

Army Sees Historic Recruiting/Retention Shortfall, Misses Why

Posted on by 2 comments

In a case of not realizing the knife in your back has your own fingerprints on it, the Army posted a rare public-facing document noting its end strength will drop to 445K (against 466K authorized) by the end of FY23 and noted that:

Only 23 percent of Americans aged 17-24 are qualified to serve due to a mixture of poor physical fitness, serious juvenile crimes, or bad ASVAB scores (which fell 9 percent with schools using remote learning during the overly long COVID shutdown).

And the fact that young Americans just don’t want to join.

The Army found three “gaps” are the reason:

Not noted is the fact that the country just came out of a 20-year morass in Afghanistan/Iraq that accomplished little but scarring two generations of Soldiers while hollowing out the reserves and Guard and increasing wait times at the VA by months, at the same time ROTC/JROTC is increasingly asleep at the wheel stateside, recruiting duty is seen by many as a bitter pill that has to be swallowed as its the only way to jump from JNCO to SNCO and actually making the Army a career, all the while toxic leadership is concentrating on meeting BS administrative goals so they can advance, all as the organization downshifts from being operational over the past two decades back to Micky Mouse garrison life. Then you throw the very spooky question marks of Ukraine and China out there, which isn’t going to get the purple-haired kids just interested in finding a way to pay for college off the bench, especially when they know they can get a student loan that will seemingly never have to be paid back.

But that’s just me.

Anyway, the feedback via the 850~ comments on the original post is enlightening.

I mean, I’m just gonna drop this GoArmy ad here: 

Meanwhile, the Marines are smashing their retention goals.

So, contrast the above Army spot with this current Marines recruiting ad: 

Remember Today

Posted on by Leave a comment

It isn’t about the 1,000 sales emails you get this weekend.

“So Many Graves” Arlington National Cemetery, 1995, by Army Artist Sieger Hartgers

 

 
When tomorrow starts without me
And I’m not here to see
If the sun should rise and find your eyes
All filled with tears for me
 
I wish you wouldn’t cry
The Way you did today
While thinking of the many things
We did not get to say
 
I know how much you love me
As much as I love you
Each time that you think of me
I know you will miss me too
 
When tomorrow starts with out me
Please try to understand
That an angel came and called my name
And took me by the hand
 
The angel said my place was ready
In heaven far above
And That I would have to leave behind
All those I Dearly Love
 
But When I walked through Heaven’s Gates
I felt so much at home
When GOD looked down and smiled at me
From his golden throne
 
He said This Is Eternity
And All I promised you
Today for life on earth is done
But Here it starts a new
 
I promise no tomorrow
For today will always last
And Since each day’s the exact same way
There is no longing for the past
 
So When Tomorrow starts without me
Do not think we’re apart
For every time you think of me
Remember I’m right here in your heart
 
Author: David M Romano
 
 

Z-Day, Ukraine…

Posted on by Leave a comment

I grew up reading books like WWIII: August 1985, Red Storm Rising, and Team Yankee as a kid. After all, I was a military brat growing up in a coastal town that was mass-producing destroyers, cruisers, and LHAs as fast as they could hit the water because the Russians– led by Ivan Drago— Were Coming.

Now we have this conflict in Ukraine, the closest thing to a modern near-peer war since 1982, and while it is many things, it is not entertaining.

I don’t have the space, intestinal fortitude, and energy to detail what is already being termed the Russo-Ukrainian War, encompassing an estimated 180,000 Russian ground troops against a mobilized 240,000 Ukrainian army and paramilitary forces.

But I do have some interesting notes that I have noticed while watching a war unfold on my phone in real-time. 

While “official” losses in terms of human life are slim compared to World War daily figures– the Ukrainians claim to have inflicted 800 casualties while suffering under 450 of their own, the images and video coming from the region would seem to belay that as a gross underestimation on both accounts.

According to the Pentagon: 

The assault started in darkness this morning, Ukrainian time, with a Russian missile barrage of around 100 intermediate-range, short-range, and cruise missiles, the official said. Missiles came from land, sea and air platforms.

The Russians used roughly 75 fixed-wing, heavy and medium bombers as a part of their assault. The targets were primarily military bases and air defense nodes.

The British MOD said:

In the early hours of the morning, President Putin launched a major unprovoked assault on Ukraine, firing missiles on cities and military targets. The invasion came despite weeks of Russian claims that they had no intention of invading.

Then later in a day-end update, remarked that “It is unlikely that Russia has achieved its planned Day 1 military objectives. Ukrainian forces have presented fierce resistance across all axis of Russia’s advance.”

The Ukrainians claim to have knocked out 30 much more modern Russian tanks, 130 assorted military vehicles, and 14 aircraft as well as capturing a handful of Russkis, while the Russians claim to have totally neutralized the Ukraine air defense net, made in-roads into the country from at least five points, and have shot down nine aircraft that managed to get off the ground.

A couple of key takeaways, though, is that the Ukrainian T-64BVs, ancient tanks that were obsolete as far back as Team Yankee, have taken a severe beating.

In another, it looks like the Western NLAWs and Javelins rushed to the country by NATO have taken their toll on Russia’s most advanced combat vehicles, defeating stand-off cages and other countermeasures, leaving lots of broken armor and blunted convoys in their wake. Their recently-withdrawn British, Canadian, and American (Florida National Guard’s Task Force Gator) training cadres are no doubt nodding into their whisky as they watch the footage. 

Ukraine troops have shown off lots of Western-supplied Stinger MANPADS, M141 BDM (SMAW-D), the NLAW, and the Javelin ATGM, seen above their transit cases.

While the Russian VDV and Spets guys are fanatical, a lot of these Russian troops, especially those driving trucks and recovery vehicles without adequate top cover, are likely conscripts. Cannon fodder. I almost feel bad for them. 

Regardless, depictions of Ukraine’s two newest patrons, of our ladies of the top attack, St. Javelin and St. NLAW, are circulating widely.

Further, while the Russians have steamrolled Ukraine’s airfields and at least one (some reports say damaged) SU-27 made an emergency diversion to Romania, there does seem to be a Fulcrum driver that is– and this could be wild propaganda– been holding his own around Kyiv, downing a reported six Russians. The feat would make him the first attributed European air ace since Korea.

They call him the “Ghost of Kyiv,” and there is a ton of buzz and memes floating around about him even if he doesn’t exist.

I can vouch that there is a stirring video purporting to be a low-flying Ukrainian MiG-29 dogfighting with a Russian Sukhoi Su-35 (but looks to me just like two Fulcrums working high-low).

The David and Goliath struggle has been exemplified by the reported lop-sided stand on Snake Island by 13 Ukrainian border guards against the Russian cruiser Moskova, with the words “Russkiy voyennyy korabl’, idi na khuy” now ringing around the globe.

Finally, in a return to low-tech, with both sides fielding much the same kit– after all, Ukrain inherited most of its equipment from the old Soviet Union– the Russians are using an “Invasion Stripe” recognition stripe in the form of a painted-on “Z” despite the fact there is no such letter in the Cyrillic alphabet, something that had been noticed by reporters in Belarus as far back as the 19th.

Either way, if you’re the praying sort, the Ukrainian people could use some.

So I watched The Tomorrow War

Posted on by Leave a comment

Going back to my old Tom Baker Dr. Who days on a black & white 10-inch TV in my room in the early 1980s, I’ve always been a sucker for anything time travel and have used the device in a few different short stories over the years.

So naturally, I had to watch The Tomorrow War, in which the losing military of 2051 catapults back in time to today to gather hastily mustered and invariably untrained conscripts to send forward 30 years, where they will lend their mass to try and defeat some very scary alien creatures that have all but overrun the planet.

Lots of issues. Spoiler alerts ahead.

First, instead of coming to get draftees to serve as cannon fodder in a future in which they are already dead (so as not to bump into yourself in the future), why not just send an intel package back to the current age detailing all that is known about the aliens to include future dates and locations of their initial strikes and biological research/samples to develop an insecticide (yes, they are big bugs) against?

Even if you go with the so-called “Let’s Kill Hitler Paradox” which erases your own reason for going back in time because if the traveler were successful, then there would be no reason to time travel in the first place, and you still had to go with the standby of getting future-deceased draftees to come to 2051 and fight aliens, at least give said draftees a fighting chance.

In the film, most of the humans face off with the “White Spikes” armed with short-barreled 5.56 NATO weapons, to ill effect. A vet of two past jumps, meanwhile, runs a 12 gauge tactical shotgun to better success while a grizzled old man with an AR10 lays out several in short order.

The guns in The Tomorrow War, have…some issues

The solution? Send these poor devils to the future with 7.62 battle rifles such as the HK G3/HK91, AR10, FN FAL, and M1A1/M14. There are surely a few million in storage or in local gun shops around the world and more could be cranked out very rapidly. 

Yes, they have a learning curve, but not an impossible one. Remember, the conscript millions of NATO infantry trained in the 1960s-80s carried such beasts with, in many cases, only a modicum of instruction.

If they can’t figure it out, give em a shotgun. I can vouch that I have run one-day tactical riot gun courses with great success for novice users.

Anyway, more on my feelings on The Tomorrow War-– which is actually a fairly good if confounding sci-fi film– check out my piece at Guns.com where I talk about the on-screen weapons.

Remember the Reason Today

Posted on by Leave a comment

Keep in mind today the real reason why the mail doesn’t run, public employees have a three-day weekend, and why your mailbox is full of tasteless fliers.

USS Indianapolis (CA-35) commissioning pennant, used 15 November 1932, currently enshrined at the Indiana War Memorial. (Photo: Chris Eger)

11 Months Underway

Posted on by Leave a comment

Ships assigned to the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group sail in formation with Indian navy ships during a cooperative deployment in the Indian Ocean, July 20, 2020. Photo By: Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Donald R. White, Jr. VIRIN: 200720-N-MY642-0207M

From DOD:

The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group is returning after operations in U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and U.S. Central Command areas of responsibility. It was the first carrier strike group to deploy under COVID-19 protocols. By the time the carrier strike group reaches home, the sailors and Marines aboard will have been gone for 321 days.

The Nimitz, the cruiser USS Princeton, and the destroyers USS Sterett and USS Ralph Johnson made up the group. 

Overall, the carrier strike group steamed more than 87,300 nautical miles during its deployment. The carrier launched 10,185 sorties totaling 23,410 flight hours logged.

I’m not sure the value of wearing out ships and crew on year-long deployments when there are no major conflicts underway, but you damned sure don’t see other fleets able/willing to pull off this type of crap, which is a statement of deterrence all its own, I suppose. 

Of note, Nimitz is our oldest active warship in fleet service– and the oldest commissioned aircraft carrier in the world–  slated to celebrate the 46th anniversary of her commissioning in May. Princeton is no spring chicken either, as the early Tico left Pascagoula for the fleet in 1989.

Sir Max Covers the Canceling of Military History

Posted on by Leave a comment

On my bookshelves right now, I have a number of excellent volumes on military history by British historian/correspondent/author Sir Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings, best just known as Max Hastings.

His The Battle for the Falklands is the best I’ve read on the subject and is drawn from first-hand reporting as he was there on the ground dodging Argentine A-4s and was the first civilian in liberated Port Stanley.

Then of course there is Overlord, Bomber Command, The Korean War, et. al.

Sir Max in an opinion piece entitled “American Universities Declare War on Military History: Academics seem to have forgotten that the best way to avoid conflict is to study it.” hits the nail on the head.

The revulsion from war history may derive not so much from students’ unwillingness to explore the violent past, but from academics’ reluctance to teach, or even allow their universities to host, such courses. Some dub the subject “warnography,” and the aversion can extend to the study of international relations. Less than half of all history departments now employ a diplomatic historian, against 85% in 1975. As for war, as elderly scholars retire from posts in which they have studied it, many are not replaced: the roles are redefined.

More here.

« Older Entries