Category Archives: US Navy

Never Panic Early: Happy Birthday, Fred

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First off, Happy Friday the 13th!

Today, just five (5) of the 24 astronauts who flew to the Moon during NASA’s Apollo program are still with us.

One such enduring spacefarer is Fred Wallace Haise Jr., born on 14 November 1933 in Biloxi, who will turn 93 years young on Saturday.

Too young for World War II (his pops, Fred Haise, Sr., was a waterlogged mine man who survived USS YMS-84 when she was sunk at Balikpapan in 1945), Fred Jr. had just picked up his Associate’s degree at Perkinston Junior College (on a journalism scholarship!) when he was accepted into the Naval Aviation Cadet Program during Korea.

Cutting his teeth on the humble SNJ, Beech SNB Navigator, WWII-leftover F6F Hellcat, and TV-2 (T-33) jet trainer, Fred earned his wings of gold and served as a Marine fighter pilot, first with the “Hawks” of VMF-533 (F2H-4 Banshees), then with the famed “Death Dealers” of VMF-114 (F9F-8 Cougars), under MAG-24 out of MCAS Cherry Point from March 1954 to September 1956.

He then finished his “hitch” as an all-weather flight instructor on the then-new T-28B Trojan out of NAS Kingsville and checked out on the S2F Tracker, amassing 1,734.2 hours of flying time in his Marine career, leaving the service in 1957 as a captain, spending his last days flying SNBs on the “brig run” from New Orleans to Houston.

Moving to Oklahoma, he earned an engineering degree as a Sooner while spending his weekends flying first F-80C Shooting Stars, then F-86D Sabers, with the ONG’s 185th Fighter Bomber Squadron (137th FBW) out of Will Rogers Airport in Oklahoma City. His outfit notably had its 1959 summer camp at Gulfport, allowing Fred to visit his folks back on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

In September 1959, with his degree finished, “I accepted the offer of employment from ‘Eb’ Gough, the NASA Chief Pilot, as a GS-7 Aeronautical Research Pilot and Engineer, earning $5,430 a year,” and relocated to Cleveland to work out of NASA’s Lewis Research Center as a civilian pilot while remaining in the Air Guard until 1963, flying F-84F Thunderstreaks on the weekends with the 164th TFS out of Mansfield.

In March 1963, he transferred as a research pilot to the NASA Flight Center at Edwards, California, and published several scholarly aeronautical papers.

Haise was then one of the 19 astronauts NASA selected as Group 5 in April 1966 and served as the backup Lunar (LEM) Module pilot for both Apollo 8 and Apollo 11.

He then finally got his “ride” as the LEM pilot for the tense Apollo 13 mission, best known today through the Tom Hanks movie where Haise was portrayed by the late great Bill “Game Over, Man” Paxton.

Slated to be the sixth man to walk on the moon, instead, Haise and his A13 teammates set a spacefaring record flight (248,655 miles from Earth on 14 April 1970) held up as the farthest distance from our planet ever traveled by human beings, a mark that stood for 56 years until the 256,700-mile Artemis II lunar flyby earlier this year.

The crew of the Apollo 13 mission step aboard the USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2), prime recovery ship for the mission, following splashdown and recovery operations in the South Pacific. Exiting the helicopter, which made the pick-up some four miles from the Iwo Jima are (from left) astronauts Fred W. Haise, Jr., lunar module pilot; James A. Lovell Jr., commander; and John L. Swigert Jr., command module pilot. The Apollo 13 spacecraft splashed down at 12:07:44 pm CST on April 17, 1970. Smithsonian ASM WEB11342-2010

Haise then became something of the Charlie Brown with the football figure in 1970s NASA, serving first as backup commander for Apollo 16, then in line to command Apollo 19 before budget cuts canceled the mission. Commander for three of the Space Shuttle Enterprise’s earth-bound glide landings, he was slated in 1979 to command Columbia on STS-2A, the second Shuttle mission, which would have boosted Skylab to a higher orbit for future use. Instead, delays scrubbed the mission, and Skylab decayed and broke up over Australia.

Leaving NASA soon after at age 46, Haise’s only trip off-planet in his 20 years with the agency was the unlucky Apollo 13 (142 hours and 54 minutes), leaving him the sole Enterprise astronaut who never rode a shuttle to space. Columbia was only sent up for the first of her 28 missions two years later in 1981.

Fred went on to work for Grumman for 17 years during the F-14 Tomcat and X-29 era, wrapping his flight career with over 9,300 hours, including 6,200 hours in jets.

I recently met Fred at an event dedicating a walkway at the Biloxi Lighthouse in his honor, built around a statue that sort of looks like him in 2022.

Even in his 90s, he is still quite a talker and held a room full of people captivated and, frequently, rolling with laughter.

In 2022, Haise published his autobiography, Never Panic Early, about his life and experiences in the Apollo program. It is an excellent read.

‘AVTN-68’ Completes First Cat and Trap Evolution

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Since switching homeports in an epic way from Bremerton to Norfolk this summer, with elements of CVW-17 aboard just in case she was needed off Cuba or Venezuela, the 51-year-old USS Nimitz has shifted gears to training, a sort of unofficial re-rate to AVTN-68, leaving her old Carrier Strike Group 11 behind on the West Coast.

Last month, her sister, USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), left Norfolk for Newport News Shipbuilding to begin her multi-year Refueling and Complex Overhaul (RCOH) midlife maintenance and modernization phase, which is expected to run until November 2031-ish.

That left HST’s regular air group, the historic Carrier Air Wing 1, without a deck to call home and Carrier Strike Group 8 without its namesake carrier.

Enter Nimitz, who, along with the “Gladiators” of Fleet Replenishment Squadron VFA-106, hosted CVW-1 squadrons and the budding aviators of Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA) Air Wings 1 and 2 for a week of underway carrier evolutions with CSG-8.

A T-45C Goshawk, attached to Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA) Training Air Wing 2, approaches the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) for landing during student naval aviator carrier qualifications in the Atlantic Ocean, Nov. 4, 2026. Nimitz is underway in the U.S. 2nd Fleet area of operations in support of Commander, Naval Air Force Atlantic training and readiness. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Alyssa J. Boling)

Aircraft conduct flight ops onboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) while underway in the Atlantic Ocean, October 28, 2026. Nimitz is currently underway in the Atlantic as a part of Carrier Strike Group 8. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Recruit Adam Sytkowski.)

During the overall underway, Nimitz supported 103 sorties, 442 arrested landings, and 152 touch-and-goes, ranging from assorted Rhinos and Hawkeyes to T-45Cs, a platform that is sadly on its way out.

Slated to remain in service until at least March, when the “99 percent complete” JFK comes online, the Queen of the Fleet will likely have a few more training flights in the next four months.

Armistice Day in the Bay, 1936 edition

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In honor of Veterans Day, which was Armistice Day from 1918 to 1954, here’s a short Warship Wednesday.

Remember, today isn’t about saving 20 percent on select bedding or a free buffet at the local hog trough.

Below we see, some 90 years ago today, on 11 November 1936, a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier and four battleships at anchor beside San Francisco’s Bay Bridge.

Official caption: “Navy’s Men ‘O War in Shadow of Bay Bridge. Infrared films penetrated a deep haze to catch this picture of five of Uncle Sam’s fighting ships at anchor in the shadow of the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge, recently opened to traffic. The picture was taken on the San Francisco side of the great bridge.”

Acme News picture via the San Francisco Public Library, local identifier AAD-2295.

Pictured are the Lexington-class flattop USS Saratoga (CV-3), recognizable by the vertical stripe she carried on her huge 16-funneled stack between Fleet Problem IX in early 1929 and March 1941, when she picked up the first of three camo schemes she would carry during WWII, a simple Measure 1 Dark Gray (5-D) on vertical surfaces, with Light Gray (5-L).

In the foreground is a New York-class battleship, either NY herself or USS Texas, recognized by the distinctive tripodal mainmast, single funnel, and five twin 14-inch main gun turrets. As NY was off the East Coast at the time, this must be Texas.

The middle and background battlewagons are Colorado– (USS Colorado, Maryland, and West Virginia) or visually similar Tennessee– (Tennessee and California) class, as distinguished by their tripod or lattice cage masts and twin funnels.

A postcard of the above, from a slightly different vantage point, was published shortly after, with Sara and three BBs.

Stanley A. Piltz postcard of Saratoga and the newly opened San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, November 1936

Passing through the Bay that week, under the incomplete Golden Gate Bridge, included USS Arizona (BB-39), followed by USS Nevada (BB-36), Maryland (BB-46), and Texas (BB-35) at a minimum. They also had Sara, her sister Lexington, and the newly completed Ranger (CV-4).

Talk about a proper fleet!

Battleships of the U.S. Fleet entering San Francisco Bay, 10 November 1936. Note the unfinished Golden Gate Bridge. NH 63348

A total of 12 battleships were assigned to the Pacific Battle Force at this time, divided across four battleship divisions (BATDIVs):

Battleships Assigned to the Pacific (November 1936)

Division Battleships Main Battery
Battleship Division 1

USS Pennsylvania (BB-38)

 

USS Arizona (BB-39)

 

USS Nevada (BB-36)

 14-inch guns
Battleship Division 2

USS Tennessee (BB-43)

 

USS California (BB-44)

 

USS Oklahoma (BB-37)

 14-inch guns
Battleship Division 3

USS Idaho (BB-42)

 

USS Mississippi (BB-41)

 

USS New Mexico (BB-40)

 14-inch guns
Battleship Division 4

USS Colorado (BB-45)

 

USS Maryland (BB-46)

 

USS West Virginia (BB-48)

 16-inch guns

Burke Repair! Get Your (Overseas) Burke Repair!

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NORFOLK, Va. (May 16, 2026) – Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mahan (DDG 72) returns to Naval Station Norfolk, May 16, 2026, following a historic 11-month deployment to U.S. 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Fleets as part of the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group. During their historic deployment across four fleets, the crew of Mahan conducted 19 replenishments-at-sea and executed 25 sea and anchor details. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist David Smalls, III)

The U.S. Navy has 75 active Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, 10 under construction, and 13 more on order, for a planned total of 99. Without a doubt, they are the backbone of the Fleet, which only has about 115 active surface combatants of all types (DDG, LCS, CG).

However, on the current 36-month OFRP block, each of these active ships needs to undergo a 6-8 month Selected Restricted Availability (SRA/DSRA), including a dry-docking every five years or so, and shorter 2-4 weeks-long Continuous Maintenance Availabilities (CMAV).

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 36-Month OFRP Cycle Rotation │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
├── 1. Maintenance Phase (Approx. 6–7 Months)
│ • Selected Restricted Availability (SRA)
│ • Drydocking Selected Restricted Availability (DSRA)
│
├── 2. Basic Training Phase (Approx. 4–5 Months)
│ • Systems integration, unit-level certifications
│
├── 3. Integrated Phase (Approx. 2–3 Months)
│ • Strike Group integration exercises (COMPTUEX)
│
├── 4. Deployment Phase (7–8 Months standard)
│ • Overseas combatant command deployment
│
└── 5. Sustainment Phase (Remaining months)
• High-readiness surge state; routine pierside repairs (CMAVs)

Then, with old ships at mid-life, an 18-24 month DDG MOD 2.0 Modernization is on the table, followed by at least a final SLEP at the 30-year mark. Keep in mind that Burke herself is 35 years old and still going strong. 

It looks something like this when you put it together:

Timeline / Ship Age Maintenance Milestone Primary Focus & Scope
Years 5–10 First Major DSRA Structural hull inspection, tank preservation, shaft pulling, sonar dome maintenance, and Baseline Aegis software/hardware upgrades.
Years 15–20 Mid-Life Mid-Period Availability (MPA) Major machinery overhaul, generator refurbishments, habitability upgrades, and combat system patch updates.
Years 20–25 DDG MOD 2.0 / Modernization Overhaul Comprehensive mid-life modernization lasting 18 to 24 months. Includes structural retrofits, installing modern combat systems (e.g., Aegis Baseline 9/10), SEWIP Block III electronic warfare suites, upgraded SPY radar arrays, and major hull/mechanical refreshes.
Years 30–35+ Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) Deep structural hull/piping repairs, main reduction gear re-alignments, and system overhauls to extend operational readiness beyond the original 35-year design life out to 40+ years.

Now multiply that by 75 hulls (soon to be 99), and you get the idea of why the Navy has maintenance backlogs.

While only two shipyards make Burkes (Ingalls at Pascagoula and Bath in Maine), just three East Coast yards (BAE Systems Norfolk, General Dynamics NNS, and BAE Systems Jacksonville), and four West Coast yards (General Dynamics NASSCO, BAE Systems San Diego, Continental Maritime of San Diego, and Vigor in Seattle) do almost all the maintenance work.

The Navy’s four public yards prioritize nuclear ships (CVNs, SSBNs, SSGNs, and SSNs) and have no bandwidth for DDGs.

Forward-deployed tin cans get a shorter refresh at Navantia (five Rota-based FDNF Europe destroyers in 6th Fleet) and via SRF-JRMC (10 7th Fleet DDGs of DESRON 15 at Japanese yards such as Sumitomo and Mitsubishi). Don’t be surprised to see 7th Fleet tin cans in South Korean yards at some point in the near future as well.

With that being said, there are changes afoot to help alleviate the maintenance burden on CONUS yards.

Navantia recently started including drydocking in its maintenance schedule, the first since the 2014 arrival of FDNF-E destroyers.

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) sits in dry dock at Navantia Shipyard in Cadiz Oct. 8, 2026. The evolution marks the first dry docking of a U.S. Navy warship in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations since the arrival of Forward Deployed Naval Forces-Europe destroyers and expands forward-deployed maintenance capability and readiness generation. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jett Morgan)

Likewise, the Forward Deployed Regional Maintenance Center (FDRMC) recently completed a week-long pier-side voyage repair period in Mombasa, Kenya, aboard the destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71), marking the first U.S. Navy ship maintenance availability in Mombasa in recent years. Ross is part of the George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group and had been deployed for six months when it swung by Mombasa.

A rough Ross arriving in Mombasa, 5 September 2026. 260905-N-NO901-1002

A more trim Ross leaving Mombasa, 10 September 2026. 260910-O-N0901-1001

With 350 military and civilian personnel based out of Naples, FDRMC is a globe-trotting group able to roam around 5th and 6th Fleet areas and use friendly ports for short repairs. Such groups will be invaluable in any Pacific war (or continued Middle East war with Bahrain vorboten), and more should be stood up. Pronto.

Speaking of which, Austal USA launched AFDM 15 this summer, the U.S. Navy’s first Auxiliary Floating Dry Dock Medium built in more than 40 years. The dock can service DDGs, CGs, LCSs, & LSDs, etc.

The Navy had 14 such AFDMs during the Cold War, but now AFDM-15 is the only one, with no more on order.

As Salamander says, that is a crime, and at least four should be bought, as a minimum.

CVN-65 Begins Her Final Cruise

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Operation Sea Orbit: On 31 July 1964, USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) (bottom), USS Long Beach (CGN-9) (center) and USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25) (top) formed “Task Force One,” the first nuclear-powered task force, and sailed 26,540 nmi (49,190 km) around the world in 65 days. Accomplished without a single refueling or replenishment, “Operation Sea Orbit” demonstrated the capability of nuclear-powered surface ships.

The world’s first nuclear-powered flattop and the longest carrier ever constructed (at 1,088 feet oal, later pushed to 1,123 feet, some 31 feet longer than a Nimitz and 17 feet longer than a Ford) is now on her way to be deconstructed slowly in Mobile Bay through the end of the decade, under the oversight of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She will disappear while docked at Modern American Recycling and Radiological Services, LLC (MARRS), where the former SS United States is now tied up, the two ships likely passing each other as SSUS heads for reefing.

The ex-USS Enterprise (CVN-65), formerly CVA(N)-65, was ordered on 15 November 1957 during the Eisenhower administration and commissioned on 25 November 1961, somehow just four years later. She left on her inaugural deployment just seven months later in June 1962. In all, she would complete 25 overseas deployments in her career.

Keep that in mind when you note that Ford took nine years from ordering (2008) through commissioning (2017) and only deployed for the first time six years later (2023).

Big E’s original cost, in 1961 dollars, was $451.3 million. Her $536 million recycling, after more than 55 years of service, will be more expensive once you factor in inflation.

She still looks mighty, even though her last airwing flew off in November 2012 and her last of eight reactors defueled in 2017. It could be argued she is still more effective than Russia’s carrier right now, regardless.

Images from HII as she left Norfolk:

Enterprise CVN 65 Final Departure

Enterprise CVN 65 Final Departure

Enterprise CVN 65 Final Departure

As detailed by HII:

The world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the former USS Enterprise (CVN 65), departed HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division today for the final time, bound for dismantlement.

When CVN-65 launched at NNS in 1960, she ushered in a new era for the U.S. Navy and the world. A technological marvel, Enterprise served our nation for 51 years.

From construction through inactivation, the skilled shipbuilders of HII are proud to have supported the entire lifecycle of this mighty aircraft carrier.

To the generations of shipbuilders, suppliers, and sailors who are forever part of the CVN-65 legacy: thank you for your dedication to the mission. That legacy will live on in the next Enterprise, CVN-80, under construction right now at NNS.

Sometimes you find yourself in a real live shooting war, declared or no

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USS Reuben James in the Panama Canal in happier times, 19-N-10982. National Archives Identifier 496085338

Some 85 years ago this week, just after 0530 on 31 October 1941, the “Red Devil” boat, German Type VIIC submarine  U-552, Kptlt. Erich Topp, commanding, was less than a week out of St. Nazaire, France, on her sixth war patrol. By that point in the war, Topp, 27, had already sunk 18 enemy ships. He had just joined five other boats of Wolfpack Stosstrupp, combing the North Atlantic for convoys.

And he found one off Iceland.

Stumbling across slow-moving (8-knot) Allied Convoy HX-156, with 43 ships, Topp fired two torpedoes that punched into the port side of an enemy destroyer.

As noted in the Official War History of the humble Wickes-class “four piper” USS Reuben James (DD-245):

A lookout on the escort commander’s ship, USS Tarbell (DD 142), reported that there had been a large flash followed by a deep explosion on the port quarter of the convoy in the direction of Reuben James. Immediately, all escort vessels were called by radio. Everyone answered with the exception of James.

At the time of Topp’s attack, HX-156, sailing from Halifax for Liverpool, was being shepherded by the American tin cans, USS Benson, Hilary P. Jones, and Niblack, along with the aforementioned Reuben James and Tarbell as CTU 4.1.3 under CDR R.E. Webb, with a scheduled handover to British escorts on 1 November.

The U.S. Navy, on FDR’s orders, had only just begun escorting Allied convoys from Canada to a Mid-Ocean Meeting Point south of Iceland (around 58° North and near 35° West) the previous month, with the first being HX-150 which sailed from Halifax on 16 September 1941, with U.S. Navy destroyers USS Dallas, Eberle, Ellis, Ericsson and Upshur replacing Canadian coastal escorts HMCS Algoma, Annapolis and Brandon the next day, then handing over to HMS Arrowhead, Badsworth, Blankney, Camella, Celadine, Churchill and Honeysuckle on the 25th, the convoy arriving in Liverpool unscathed on the 30th.

The follow-on HX-151, 152, 153, and 154 all followed the same template.

HX-156 almost made it without a hitch as well.

The thing is, almost isn’t good enough when torpedoes are concerned.

James, suffering from magazine explosions, broke in two. The forward section sank immediately with all hands while the stern remained afloat for five minutes. When the stern sank, at least two unsecured depth charges exploded, killing some survivors in the water. Niblack picked up 36 men (one of whom later died of wounds), and Jones found ten more.

Among those lost were James’s skipper, Texas-born LCDR Heywood Lane Edwards (USNA ’26)— who wrestled in the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam– along with the destroyer’s entire wardroom. Of the 159 souls aboard, 113 perished outright.

The senior-most survivor was the only member of the Goat Locker to make it, the injured Chief Machinist’s Mate (AA), William H. Bergstresser, 35.

Bergstresser told the NYT about his ship’s loss when the crew returned to Brooklyn, something the country allowed because it was still under peacetime rules.

James was the first American warship lost in WWII, lost in the shuffle when Pearl Harbor hit six weeks later.

Ultimately, 86 American “tin cans,” counting both DDs and DEs, were lost in the conflict.

James’s slayer, U-552, almost survived the war, scuttled at Wilhelmshaven three days before Dönitz surrendered what was left of the Third Reich.

As for Topp, after September 1942 he spent the rest of his Kriegsmarine career in a series of training assignments, passing on his experience. By that time, he had sunk 36 ships for nearly 200,000 tons across 12 patrols. He escaped the fate that caught 583 fellow U-boat skippers and survived the war.

He surrendered to the British in Norway in May 1945, later joined the West German Navy, and retired as a rear admiral in December 1969. He retired with the Großes Verdienstkreuz, adding it to his wartime Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.

He later became an industrial consultant for, among others, the submarine maker Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, where he had some input on the Type 209. He died on dry land the day after Christmas 2005, aged 91.

Some are luckier than others.

Looks like AUKUS is getting real(ish)

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The Virginia-class USS Colorado (SSN 788) arrived at Perth’s HMAS Stirling last week for a scheduled month-long Submarine Maintenance Period, marking the fourth SMP in Western Australia since the AUKUS security partnership began.

Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Colorado arrives at HMAS Stirling for a scheduled Submarine Maintenance Period in Western Australia. *** Local Caption *** The United States Submarine Maintenance Period 2026 (USSMP26) marks an important step in Australia’s preparations for the establishment of Submarine Rotational Force-West (SRF-W), which is on track to commence from 2027. The USS Colorado’s visit to HMAS Stirling will demonstrate Australia’s growing ability to sustain US and UK nuclear-powered sub

GARDEN ISLAND, Australia (Oct. 27, 2026) – Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Colorado (SSN 788) arrives at HMAS Stirling, Western Australia on Oct. 27, 2026, for a planned submarine maintenance period (SMP) supporting AUKUS, the trilateral security agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. During the SMP, more than 30 fully trained and certified Australian civilian technicians from ASC Pty Ltd. will perform routine maintenance on a Virginia-class submarine in Western Australia

The previous three boats included USS Hawaii (SSN-776), supported by the USS Emory S. Land (AS-39), from August to September 2024; USS Vermont (SSN-792) without tender support from October to November 2025 and with a blended USN/RAN workforce; and the far-ranging RN Astute-class sub HMS Anson (S 123) from February to March 2026, which integrated local Australian-made components and systems into the boat.

Key activities to be undertaken during Colorado’s upcoming Maintenance Period include:

  • The installation of an Australian-made sail maintenance scaffolding, also known as a ‘racetrack’, which will sit around the submarine during its time at HMAS Stirling –  giving workers safe and rapid access to carry out submarine maintenance work
  • Personnel from Australia, the UK and the US working side-by-side to conduct off-hull capability demonstrations using specialized training equipment and locally produced submarine components
  • Australian personnel conducting in-hull maintenance work, including replacing the thin line towed array and ship repairs
  • Use of the newly upgraded Diamantina Pier at HMAS Stirling, demonstrating Australia’s increased readiness to sustain conventionally-armed nuclear-powered submarines.
  • Australian personnel (supported by US personnel) conducting simulated radiological scenarios that exercise radiation safety practices and procedures, with no radioactive waste being transferred ashore.

This is important as Colorado, a Block III Virginia packing 12 VLS slots along with her torpedo tube-launched weapons, is a fairly new boat, just eight years in the fleet. Based at Pearl, she is slated to be the first boat assigned to the Perth-based Submarine Rotational Force-West (SRF-West) beginning in late 2027. The deployment will last about one year.

The Australians, whose submarine arm dates back to 1914 with HMAS AE1 and AE2, currently operate six aging Collins-class SSKs (the youngest commissioned 23 years ago) and have roughly 850 men in the branch.

They plan to buy purchase three-to-five used Virginias in the early 2030s as a decade-long stopgap measure between the retirement of the Collins-class and the acquisition of five new-built 10,000-ton British-designed/American armed SSN-AUKUS class submarines, which are tentatively set to begin construction at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in South Australia in 2027 (hold your breath) with the first entering service with  Rolls-Royce PWR3+ reactors in “the late 2030s.”

Read that as the RAN will probably run their surplus Ginnys for 20 years without replacement.

Either way, RAN says it has 230 personnel in various stages of the U.S. nuclear-powered submarine training pipeline, with 400 to be on hand by 2030. A retired Australian admiral says a force of 3,000 nuke-qualified submariners will be needed to operate five SSNs, and recruitment will obviously need to step up robustly.

Further, the Brits are putting all their eggs in the SSN-AUKUS basket, intending to buy “up to 12” boats, built at BAE Systems’ Barrow-in-Furness shipyard and Rolls-Royce’s Raynesway facility, to replace their seven hard-used Astutes. Steel cutting for the first British SSN-AUKUS is scheduled for 2027 and operational entry in the late 2030s.

Read that as the Brits will probably get six Ginnys of their own in the 2030s. Perhaps with a Submarine Rotational Force-Atlantic (SRF-Lant) kicking off in the late 2020s with a forward-deployed Ginny at, say, Holy Loch.

I mean, I want AUKUS to work and would love the Brits to have 12 and the RAN to have at least five, but the track record isn’t there.

Hopefully I am wrong.

Respective ends of eras, in passing

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As the man said, “You can’t take a picture of this, it’s already gone.”

Here we see, in this circa October 1989 U.S. Navy image from the National Archives, a PBR Mark II riverine patrol boat escorts the British patrol submarine HMS Ocelot (S 17) into the Miraflores Locks during the latter’s transit of the Panama Canal.

Photo by PH1 (Sw) J. Elliott, 330-CFD-DN-SN-90-08113, NAID: 6453615

Introduced in the early 1960s for use in the Brown Water Navy in Vietnam’s myriad inshore rivers and streams, the Patrol Boat, Riverine, or PBR, was an Apocalypse Now-icon worthy staple of Operation Game Warden in both its 31-foot MK I and improved 32-foot MK II varieties.

With over 300 produced, most PBRs were handed over to the South Vietnamese by 1972 but a handful were retained for use by USNR small boat units in California and the Canal Zone until circa 1995.

Likewise, Ocelot, one of 13 Oberon-class diesel boats built for the Royal Navy in the early 1960s and the last submarine built for the Royal Navy at Chatham Dockyard, was, in the above image, like the PBR, coming to an end of her career and would be paid off less than two years after the above image was snapped.

HMS Ocelot paying off. Much of her Cold War history is still classified. 

Decommissioned in August 1991 after a 27-year career, she is preserved at Chatham Historic Dockyard.

More Crazy Numbers from CVW-9

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An update to the tally for Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9, embarked aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), which just returned from a 322-day deployment to the Middle East, including over 150 days in a combat zone.

These are individual squadron return snippets:

Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 41, flying the F/A-18F Super Hornet, logged over 4,500 flight hours while executing over 2,400 sorties, including 807 combat sorties. They expended 394,227 pounds of ordnance and successfully destroyed 33 one-way attack unmanned aerial vehicles and anti-ship cruise missiles.

An F/A-18F Super Hornet, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 41, launches from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), Oct. 1, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist ¬¬¬Seaman Cesar Zavala)

Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 133: Flying the EA-18G Growler, the squadron logged 2,284 flight hours across 1,190 sorties, including 720 combat hours.

An EA-18G Growler, assigned to Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 133, prepares to launch from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), Oct. 1, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Angel Campbell)

Airborne Command and Control Squadron (VAW) 117 flew more than 2,939 hours and completed 745 carrier-arrested landings while increasing qualifications and experience throughout the command. An amazing accomplishment for a four-aircraft det.

An E-2D Hawkeye, assigned to Airborne Command & Control Squadron (VAW) 117, prepares to launch from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), Oct. 1, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Angel Campbell)

Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 71: The squadron logged more than 5,800 flight hours across 1,990 sorties, including 1,963 combat hours. The squadron’s maintenance department played a critical role in maintaining the squadron’s operational readiness, completing over 100,000 maintenance hours throughout the deployment to keep HSM-71’s 10 MH-60R Sea Hawks airborne across four warships.

An MH-60R Sea Hawk, assigned to Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 71, takes off from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), Sept. 13, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Cesar Zavala)

Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 14 logged more than 3,000 total flight hours across 1,032 sorties, including 940 combat flight hours. Their aircraft and crews successfully transferred 900 personnel and 750 critical parts for 12 ships and 88 aircraft in a contested combat environment, while maintaining continuous Search and Rescue (SAR) readiness to support CSG-3 and CVW-9 over 300 days at sea. Over 10 months, the squadron defended the carrier during multiple Hellfire engagements against enemy air and surface threats, moved over 14 million pounds of cargo and ordnance, and transported over 900 personnel within the CSG.

An MH-60S Sea Hawk, assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 14, transfers cargo on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) during a vertical replenishment with John Lewis-class replenishment oiler USNS Earl Warren (T-AO-207), Sept. 11, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Shepard Fosdyke-Jackson)

Fleet Logistics Multi-Mission Squadron (VRM) 30, Detachment 2 (three CMV-22B Ospreys). The squadron successfully executed 269 logistics sorties, transporting critical personnel, high-priority cargo, and mail between the carrier, other ships within the strike group, and shore facilities. The high-performing detachment executed eight complex moves, logging 825 flight hours, 269 sorties, and 159 combat flight hours. The squadron delivered 340,069 pounds of cargo, 1,669 passengers, and 85 distinguished visitors. The detachment also completed the first-ever long-range sortie requiring midair refueling, delivering parts over 1,350 miles on 38 occasions.

A CMV-22B Osprey from Fleet Logistics Multi-Mission Squadron (VRM) 30, assigned to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9 embarked aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), returns to its home station at Naval Air Station North Island, Calif., following 10 months of operations in the U.S. 5th and 7th Fleet areas of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Alexander Timewell)

Three key squadrons, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 314, Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 14, and Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 151, have not been published.

I will add them if they pop up.

An F/A-18E Super Hornet, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 14, launches from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), Oct. 1, 2026.  (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist ¬¬¬Seaman Cesar Zavala)

An F/A-18E Super Hornet, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 151, launches from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), Oct. 1, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist ¬¬¬Seaman Cesar Zavala)

An F-35C Lightning II, assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 314, prepares to launch from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), Oct. 1, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Angel Campbell)

Hitchiti’s final mission

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Aerial broadside view of the USS Hitchiti (ATF-103) underway off the coast of Hawaii, 12 January 1970, by Chief Photographer’s Mate T.J. Taylor, National Archives K-81123

Named for a North Florida/South Georgia Creek tribe, the 205-foot Abnaki (Apache)-class fleet tug USS Hitchiti (ATF-103) was built at the Charleston Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. over nine months from August 1943 to May 1944.

Her first of 21 U.S. Navy skippers was LT Harry Alonzo Guthrie, a regular who had volunteered in 1927 and worked his way up through the ranks.

After shakedown in the Chesapeake Bay area, Hitchiti sailed for the Pacific, reaching Pearl Harbor with four tows (AFDL-32, YO-94, YO-95, and YTB-376) on 26 August 1944. She then took part in the Leyte Gulf landings, followed by towing and rescue operations during the hard-fought Iwo Jima and Okinawa campaigns as the Pacific war drew near to the Japanese home islands in the spring of 1945, earning two battle stars (Luzon operation and Okinawa Gunto operation).

Among other notable missions was shepherding the bomb-damaged USS Blessman (DE-69/APD-48) from Iwo Jima, which had been hit by a Japanese Betty while carrying the men of UDT-15, to safety in Saipan. Hitchiti also escorted USS Hazelwood from Okinawa to Ulithi after a kamikaze had stripped most of her superstructure.

Following occupation service, our tug was sent to the West Coast to be laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, San Francisco Group, in 1948.

Reactivated for Korea, she earned three battle stars there (Communist China Spring Offensive 1951, UN Summer Fall Offensive 1951, and Korean Defense Summer-Fall 1952).

Her third war earned her the Vietnam Service Medal with three campaign stars between August 1964 and August 1967. Hitchiti notably pulled LCU–1494 from a beach near Danang and salvaged a Marine Corps LVT at Phu Thuin in December 1965, picked up the mined Coconino County (LST 603) inside the mouth of the Cua Viet River and delivered her to Danang, and towed Summit County (LST 1146) off the beach after patching her and pumping out the engine room.

Besides the above, she had seven back-to-back Westpac cruises which saw her clocking in for roles as diverse as helping with U.S. nuclear testing at Johnston Island in 1958 (Hardtack I) and 1962 (Fishbowl) and conducting a two-month birdlife study on South Pacific islands for the Smithsonian Institute– the latter cataloged in Folders 7-8 SIC 7 and assorted field books in Record Unit 245 National Museum of Natural History, Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program. She also rescued the USS Diodon (SS 349) after the submarine suffered a fire and lost propulsion, and towed the sub to Yokosuka.

Decommissioned a second time, she was transferred to Mexico by cash sale under the Security Assistance Program in September 1979, renamed ARM Chac (R-55), and served the Armada for another 42 years, though with far fewer wars, retiring in June 2021 as ARM Cora (ARE 04).

The mighty Hitchiti/Chac/Cora completed her last mission earlier this month, sinking off Manzanillo as part of the Sistema Arrecifal Artificial de Colima program so her stripped, cleaned hulk can help develop a sanctuary for local marine flora and fauna.

The steel that served for over 70 years under two flags is now an “opportunity to boost biodiversity, strengthen sustainable tourism, and preserve naval history and culture.”

Notably, her first skipper, LT Guthrie, retired in 1955 as an LCDR, ending a 28-year naval career. He went on to work for the Post Office in Santa Cruz, California, and died in 1988 at age 79.

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