Emergency Refueling of USS Patriot and USS Guardian

Around Thanksgiving, 2007, the government of Communist China refused to let ships of the US Navy enter the Port of Hong Kong.

Because our ships had been visiting the port with regularity, to visit and to refuel, the unexpected denial caught some of them with very low fuel levels. Such was the case with the two mine countermeasures ships Patriot and Guardian.

The USNS Rappahannock was fortunately close enough to help, but had to steam full speed to get there in time, and the refueling took place in winds of approximately 35 knots and seas ten feet high.

The Navy mentions some of the Sailor's involved: "Rappahannock's Boatswain Angel Ortiz, Cargo Boatswain Danilo Santiago and Boatswain's Mates Robert Melendez and John Springfield directed the safe deployment of the gear as Rappahannock took station in front of Guardian and Patriot. Cargo Officer Andrea Liebl maintained a close eye as safety officer while coordinating the transfer of fuel together with Cargo Engineer Rick Rhoades."

Rappahannock then thumbed its nose at the Chinese government by steaming up the Taiwan Straits with the USS Kitty Hawk strike group.

The full story is well worth reading.

USNS Sioux to Raise Crashed Helicopter this January

USNS Sioux, one of four fleet ocean tugs operated by Military Sealift Command, will recover the wreck of a Navy H-60 helicopter. It crashed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego last November, 2007. The recovery will take place this January.

Tugs like the Sioux are 226 feet long and operate all over the world.

The four in the fleet are: USNS Sioux, USNS Catawba, USNS Apache and USNs Navajo.

Pictured is the Catawba raising a helicopter that crashed when trying to land on the deck of the USS Cushing in 2003. Notice that in the video and the picture above the numbers on the helicopter are the same. Everyone on the helicopter survived and all were rescued.

Kearns to Command Destroyer Squadron 31

Destroyer Squadron 31 consists of USS Chafee (DDG 90), USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93), USS Crommelin (FFG 37), USS Hopper (DDG 70), USS Paul Hamilton (DDG 60), USS Russell (DDG 59), USS Reuben James (FFG 57), and USS O'Kane (DDG 77).

The US Navy reports that its new Commander will be Capt. William A. Kearns III, relieving Capt. Stewart on 4 January 2008. Stewart is moving on and up.

US Coast Guard Assists Columbian Navy in Pursuit of Cocaine Submarine

The Navy of Columbia (Armada Nacional) reports that, with the assistance of the US Coast Guard, it pursued a homemade submarine laden with up to twelve tons of cocaine.

Apparently, smugglers sometimes tow the subs behind other ships.

The crew of this one opened the hatches and sank it before it could be siezed.

USS Whirlwind

(WVEC (NORFOLK ABC) reports that Patrol Coastal Crew Kilo returned to the United States after six months on the USS Whirlwind, helping to defend Iraq's oil terminals in the Persian Gulf.

After long and frequent deployments, they are scheduled to go again in 2008.

The ship remains on duty in the Gulf.

USS Carr Leaves Haifa

The USS Carr is in the Mediterranean. It visited the Port of Haifa, Israel, and then departed, a few days before the USS Kearsarge entered port.

The records of the port list the Kearsarge as still in port.

Two Sailors from Port McHenry Die--Update

Update--The Associated Press reports that the bodies of the two Sailor's have been flown to Germany for examination.

One other Sailor was checked into the hospital in Ghana and released. He is reported to have been with the other Sailor's who passed away.

An official from Ghana feels that the circumstances of the deaths were suspicious. The Navy is withholding comment until the investigation makes progress.

Original Story:

In more sad news, two Sailors from the USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43) were found dead in their hotel room in Tema, Ghana, on 2 January 2008.

They were on liberty. Officials on shore and from the USN are investigating.

Fort McHenry is on the East coast of Africa as part of the Africa Partnership Station initiative. It helps to train African personnel in various maritime security roles, as well as performing on-shore public service activities.

The Navy just released the Sailor's names, after notifying family.

They are: "Engineman 1st Class Patrick Brendan Mack, 22, of Warren, Mich., and Engineman Fireman Lonnie Lee Davis Jr., 35, of Riverdale, Ga., died Jan. 1 of unknown causes in a hotel room while on liberty in Tema."

The cause of death has not yet been determined.

USS Hopper (DDG 70) Man Overboard--Sailor Missing

Sad news from the USS Hopper (DDG 70).

The 5th Fleet reports from Manama, Bahrain, that a Sailor was reported missing from the USS Hopper while at sea, January 3rd, 2008, at about 7:30 a.m. A man overboard alarm went out, and the Hopper, USS Port Royal (CG-73), and USS Ingraham (FFG-61) began searching, along with air units.

The Sailor was last seen at 4:30 a.m. on the 3rd.

The Sailor's name is being withheld until the outcome is clear and relatives can be notified.

Battle E Awards for Submarines: USS Key West and Others

The US Navy announced the winners of the Battle E awards for submarines.

The Battle E is given to the submarines that showed the best battle readiness over the course of the last year. The competition is fierce, and continues for a year before awards are given. Crews can wear the decoration on their uniforms, and ships can display the E.

The list below is a direct quotation from this Navy web site:

"Commander, Submarine Squadron (SUBRON) 1 (Pearl Harbor)– USS Los Angeles (SSN 688);

SUBRON 2 (Groton, Conn.) – USS Philadelphia (SSN 690);
SUBRON 3 (Pearl Harbor) – USS Key West (SSN 722);
SUBRON 4 (New London) – USS Miami (SSN 755);
Commander, Submarine Development Squadron 5 (Bangor, Wash.) – USS Jimmy Carter (SSN 23);
SUBRON 6 (Norfolk) – USS Scranton (SSN 756);
SUBRON 7 (Pearl Harbor) – USS Cheyenne (SSN 773);
SUBRON 8 (Norfolk) – USS Boise (SSN 764);
SUBRON 11 (San Diego) – USS Topeka (SSN 754);
SUBDEVRON 12 (Groton) – USS San Juan (SSN 751);
SUBRON 15 (Guam) – USS Houston (SSN 713);
SUBRON 16 (Kings Bay, Ga.) – USS Florida (Blue and Gold) (SSGN 728);
SUBRON 17 (Bangor, Wash.) – USS Louisiana (Blue and Gold) (SSBN 743);
SUBRON 19 (Bangor) – USS Maine (Blue and Gold) (SSBN 741)
SUBRON 20 (Kings Bay) – USS Rhode Island (Blue and Gold) (SSBN 740).

The winners in submarine force special categories are: the torpedo retriever Porpoise (TWR 823), homeported in San Diego; the floating dry dock Arco (ARDM 5), homeported in San Diego; the deep submergence research and ocean engineering submarine NR-1, homeported in Groton; the submarine tender USS Frank Cable (AS 40), homeported in Guam; and the submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (AS 39), homeported in Bangor."

Kearsarge Strike Group in Mediterranean Sea

The Kearsarge Strike Group with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (SOC) has made its way through the Suez Canal and is in the Mediterranean Sea.

The USS Kearsarge itself is on a visit to Haifa, Israel.

Some months ago it was helping storm victims in Bangladesh.

The ships in the group are USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), USS Porter (DDG 78), USS Carr (FFG 52), USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44), USS Ponce (LPD 15) and the submarine USS Miami (SSN 755).

The Marine unit, the 22nd MEU (SOC), according to the US Navy, "consists of its Ground Combat Element, Battalion Landing Team, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment; Aviation Combat Element, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 261 (Reinforced); Logistics Combat Element, Combat Logistics Battalion 22; and Command Element."

Let's hope that the weather is nice and that they get lots of port visits in places like Greece, Italy, France and Spain.

USS Carl Vinson Closer to Ready

The USS Carl Vinson has released a video updating its status, now more than half way through its overhaul and refueling, refueling complex overhaul (RCOH).

You can find it on the ship's web page, dated 20 December 2007.

Follow the pathway "news" and then "daily news update."

USS Cushing Flight Deck Crash, All Survive

Navsea, Damage Control, Fire Protection Engineering and CBR-D, has a video web page that shows some crashes of aircraft onto flight decks and various training videos.

This is one of the USS Cushing, a destroyer, in the Northern Arabian Gulf.

A helicopter tries to land on its flight deck and crashes, flipping into the sea. All seven passengers were fortunately rescued. Apparently the tail rotor malfunctions and you can see it stop when the helo comes close to the deck.

There is also a video of an F-18 crashing on a carrier flight deck with some interesting sound commentary from the video person, and an HSL rolling over in high winds on a flight deck.

Unfortunately, most of the videos are undated so we can't know when they occured.

It seems that Cushing was decommissioned in 2005 and may have been sold to Pakistan.

US Navy Deployments

Here are some approximate ship locations, culled from various public access US Navy Web sites. Click the links for photographs. Above is the USS Tarawa.

The USS Ingraham and USS Hopper are deployed with the Tarawa Expeditionary Strike Group. Hopper spent Christmas in Penang, Malaysia.

The USS Reuben James also entered Penang on 30 December, part of the U.S. Seventh Fleet.

USS Cleveland (LPD 7), another part of the Tarawa Group, was off Maldive on 18 December, conducting training with the Maldives National Defense Forces. Cleveland will move between 7th and 5th US Fleets on this deployment.

On 20 December, USS Port Royal (CG 73) left Tanjung-Priok Port in Jakarta, Indonesia.

USS Harry S. Truman and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 3 are somewhere near the Persian Gulf as part of their deployment.

The submarine, USS Norfolk (SSN 714) has left port on a six month deployment, from Norfolk.
It is on independent deployment.

USS Porter (DDG 78) is in the 5th Fleet area of operations.

Los Angeles-class Attack submarine USS Philadelphia (SSN 690) was recently in port in the Middle East as part of the USS Enterprise Carrier Strike Group.

The USS Tarawa (LHA1) recently crossed the Indian Ocean as part of its deployment

USS Carr (FFG 52) is deployed with the Kearsarge group.

USS Germantown (LSD 42) helped an Iranian dhow on 27 December in the North Arabian Sea.

Enterprise Strike Group (ENTSG) has returned to port after a long deployment.