With US help, ship crew defeats pirates

U.S. sailors boarded a North Korean-flagged vessel to help crew members wounded in a battle with pirates off the coast of Somalia, the Navy said Wednesday. American ships were also tracking a hijacked Japanese tanker in Somali waters after sinking two pirate skiffs tied to it.

With permission from the North Koreans, the Navy boarded the ship with a small team of medics, security personnel and an interpreter, the military said. The Koreans already had regained control of the vessel and detained all pirates.

The Navy medics treated three pirates and three Korean sailors for gunshot wounds. Another pirate was dead. The Korean sailors were taken aboard the American destroyer and treated there for two hours before returning to their ship. The pirates remain detained on the Korean vessel.

US warships monitoring hijacked Japanese tanker off Somalia

US warships are monitoring a Japanese tanker which was hijacked by pirates last weekend off the coast of Somalia, a piracy watchdog said Wednesday.

“The pirates are still in control of the ship. They are believed to be armed,” Noel Choong, the head of the International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB’s) Malaysia-based Piracy Reporting Centre, told AFP.

The vessel with 23 Korean, Filipino and Myanmar crew sent out a distress call that was relayed to the IMB last Sunday after pirates boarded the ship.

Choong said US warships in the area were observing the tanker which was in Somali territorial waters.

Astute submarine takes first underwater tests

The Royal Navy’s newest and most advanced nuclear submarine, ASTUTE, is taking her first dive for an underwater test of her systems.

The ‘Trim and Basin Dive’ is taking place in Devonshire Dock, Barrow, over two days, and involves submerging ASTUTE in a dive hole large enough for the 100M-long, 7400 tonne boat. The dive is the first time that the submarine has been fully submerged, and provides the opportunity to test the submarine’s underwater stability and systems.

25 of her crew are on board alongside BAE Systems technicians to carry out the tests. Tests include trials of various boat systems and equipment including the mechanism that releases an emergency buoy, the emergency escape tower, and various hydraulics and electrical systems.

Nigeria: Minister Tasks Navy On Niger Delta, Bunkering

The Nigeria Navy must tackle hostage takers and oil bunkerers in the Niger Delta region for the nation to achieve socio-economic development, says defence minister, Yayale Mahmud Ahmed.

The minister made the statement yesterday during the opening ceremony of the second Chief of Naval Staff Annual Training Conference, (CONSTRC) in Sokoto.

“The Nigeria Navy is constitutionally charged with maintaining security in the region (Niger Delta) as it positions itself well to carry out this function.

effectively by curbing incidences of hostage taking, sea piracy and illegal bunkering in the nation,” he said.

Nigerian militants attack navy vessel, kill one

Nigerian rebels killed a naval officer and wounded at least six others in dawn raid on a navy ship in the oil producing Niger Delta, security sources said on Wednesday.

The raid on NNS Obula on the Pennington River came just hours after the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) freed six foreign workers it seized on Oct. 26 from an offshore oil facility operated by Saipem, a unit of Italy’s Eni, and SBM Offshore.

The navy gunboat was assigned to guard the EA offshore oilfield operated by Royal Dutch Shell in the state of Bayelsa, but was not at the field when the attack occurred, security sources said.

Nearly 7,500 sailors to deploy as part of carrier strike group

Nearly 7,500 sailors will leave their East Coast homeports Monday when the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman’s strike group deploys.

The Navy announced the regularly scheduled deployment “in support of maritime security operations” on Wednesday.

The Truman, the guided missile destroyers USS Oscar Austin and USS Winston S. Churchill, the guided missile cruiser USS San Jacinto and the submarine USS Montpelier will leave from Norfolk.

The guided missile cruiser USS Hue City and guided missile destroyer USS Carney will head out from Mayport, Florida, and the fast combat support ship USNS Artic will depart from Earle Naval Weapons Station in New Jersey.

Navy Jet Drops Dummy Bomb On Warehouse

A Navy fighter jet has managed to drop a dummy bomb onto a warehouse in Virginia Beach, Virginia. No one was hurt.

A Navy spokesman says the 10-pound practice bomb scraped a warehouse’s concrete exterior wall, causing “extremely minimal damage.”

The F/A-18C Hornet was returning to Oceana Naval Air Station after a training mission at a Navy bombing range in North Carolina. The Navy says it dropped the bomb as it was landing. The jet was undamaged and landed safely.

Japan pulls navy ships from ‘war on terror’

JAPAN’S two largest parties failed to agree on continuing a naval mission in the Indian Ocean, dealing a setback to the Government which has pledged to support the US-led “war on terror”.

With legislation allowing support for the “anti-terror” mission expiring Thursday, Japan’s refueling on Monday of a Pakistani destroyer was likely to be the country’s last contribution to the military effort for the time being.

The suspension comes amid growing opposition to the “war on terror” across countries which are part of the coalition, which is battling a deadly insurgency by remnants of the extremist Taliban regime ousted in 2001.

Cole bomber still jailed

The United States said it had confirmed that a man convicted over the al Qaeda bombing of the US Navy ship Cole in 2000 was still in prison in Yemen despite reports of his release.

US officials were troubled by reports last week that Jamal Badawi had been released from prison, saying he should remain in jail and putting on hold plans to give the country a $20.6 million grant.

“We were able to physically confirm today the presence of Jamal Badawi at a prison in Aden,” said US State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos. Earlier, the State Department said it did not know where Badawi was.

Badawi, whose death sentence had been commuted to 15 years in prison over the attack that killed 17 US sailors in the southern port of Aden, is one of 23 inmates who escaped from a jail in the Yemeni capital Sanaa in 2006.

Indian Navy to receive technology to prevent ship detection

Indigenous warship technology for evading detection by enemy ships and submarines will be handed over to the Indian Navy in Vishakapatnam on Wednesday.

A. Sivathanu Pillai, chief controller (R&D) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), will hand over the products to Vice-Admiral D.S.P. Varma, chief of materials at the Naval Headquarters.

The Vishakapatnam-based Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL) has developed the technologies.

‘These technologies are aimed for use in modern warships under design and construction. NSTL has nurtured these technologies in the recent past and is progressing strongly towards self-reliance in this critical arena,’ a defence ministry release said Tuesday.

Hijacked Ship Crew Overpowers Pirates

The crew of a ship hijacked from Somalia overpowered their attackers Tuesday and regained control of the vessel, officials said.

About two dozen crew members of the North Korea-flagged vessel were able to fight off the eight gunmen who had seized the vessel late Monday, and the crew was piloting the ship back to the war-battered city’s port in Mogadishu, said Andrew Mwangura, program coordinator of the Seafarers Assistance Program, which independently monitors piracy in the region.

He said first reports that the vessel was from South Korea were incorrect, and that the crew numbered about 22, instead of nearly twice that number as earlier reported.

Shared intelligence accounts for SL Navy’s successes

The availability of real time maritime intelligence from South and South East Asian countries has been a key factor in the Sri Lankan navy’s recent stunning successes against the intrepid and innovative naval wing of the LTTE.

“Both ASEAN and SAARC are now highly sensitive to maritime terrorism seeing it as a common threat, and intelligence is shared,” an informed source told Hindustan Times explaining the Sri Lankan Navy’s successful hits against the LTTE’s Sea Tigers in the past year.

The Sri Lankan naval spokesman, Commodore DKP Dassanayake, had said that in the past 13 months, the Navy has destroyed 8 large LTTE vessels, 11 multi-day trawlers and six to seven small boats off the North, North Western and Southern coasts of the island.

In their continuing effort to manipulate the politics of Lebanon, it looks like Syrian intelligence has stooped to creating counterfeit U.S. documents to incite anti-American sentiment prior to November’s elections. This just in from the New Kerala:

The people of the Akkar region in north Lebanon have been busy discussing the veracity of local news indicating that the US may be planning to build a military base in their area.

Worries increased after former pro-Syrian MP Nasser Kandil appeared on television Sunday revealing a document he claimed was issued by the Bureau of Dangerous Zones, which is affiliated to the US Department of Defence.

Kandil said the document announced the starting of “preparatory construction to set up a military base for NATO and US forces in the area of Qeliat” in northern Lebanon.

The Bureau of What???? What’s the website address for that?

Either Syrian intelligence has lost some…intelligence…in the recent past, or they’re getting so desparate to influence events in Lebanon they’re getting very sloppy. Something tells me this will be easier to debunk than documents related to the President’s National Guard service.

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U.S. angered by release of mastermind behind attack on USS Cole

The United States is dismayed over what officials said was Yemen’s failure to cooperate in the war against Al Qaida.

The Bush administration expressed disappointment with Yemen’s decision to release the man regarded as the mastermind of the Al Qaida attack on the USS Cole in Aden in 2000.

“The United States is dismayed and deeply disappointed in the government of Yemen’s decision not to imprison [Al] Badawi,” National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. “This action is inconsistent with a deepening of our bilateral counterterrorism cooperation.”

U.S. warship sinks two pirate skiffs

A U.S. Navy warship fired on and sank two skiffs used by pirates Sunday to hijack a merchant vessel off the coast of Somalia, U.S. officials said Monday.

The destroyer USS Porter enters port at Souda Bay, Greece, in 2006.

The USS Porter responded to a distress call from the merchant vessel carrying benzene, the officials said. Sunday’s shooting took place in international waters, they said.

At the request of Somalia’s government, a second U.S. warship, the destroyer USS Arleigh Burke, is now shadowing the merchant ship inside Somali waters, the officials said.

Japan completes ‘anti-terror’ mission amid scandal

Japan on Monday carried out what was likely its last refuelling mission for now to support the “war on terror,” as a government bid to extend the naval deployment stalled amid scandal and difficulty.

Legislation expires on Thursday allowing Japanese vessels in the Indian Ocean to support ships and jets of the US-led coalition in Afghanistan, a policy priority for Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.

A Japanese supply ship refuelled a Pakistani destroyer shortly after 1100 GMT on Monday, a defence ministry spokesman said.

He declined to say it was the last mission, but Japanese media said it was the last refuelling assignment scheduled before the legislation expires.

Ex-commander of vessel settles charges

The former commander of the famed USS Constitution in Charlestown privately settled a series of charges against him last week, a resolution that a Navy spokesman says is not public.

Thomas C. Graves, 43, of Marblehead, was relieved as commander in May of the vessel dubbed Old Ironsides after several crew members complained about his treatment of them.

In the most egregious charges, Graves was accused of assaulting a petty officer and asking another crew member to lie about the incident to authorities.

Navy spokesman Michael Giannetti said Graves originally had the opportunity to choose a private proceeding to deal with the charges, but elected not to.

Japan, Chinese Protesters Clash at Sea

Japanese patrol vessels fired water cannon Sunday at a boat carrying Chinese activists who were protesting Japanese claims to territory in the East China Sea, the activist group said.

A boat carrying the protesters arrived near the five disputed islets — known as the Diaoyu Islands in China and Senkaku in Japan — on Sunday evening, according to the activists’ group, the Hong Kong-registered China Federation of Defending Diaoyu Islands.

Defense Minister Says Germany in for the Long Haul in Lebanon

Defense Minister Jung said in Beirut on Monday, Oct 29, that Germany would maintain its long-term commitment to Middle East peace as part of a UN maritime force patrolling the Lebanese coast.

Visiting German navy personnel heading the UNIFIL force off the Lebanese coast, Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung vowed that Germany would stay involved in the Middle East until peace is achieved. The mandate of the German army is closely linked to the progress of the peace process, he added.

Germany heads the international UN maritime force charged with patrolling the waters off Lebanon to prevent weapons being smuggled to Hezbollah guerrillas by sea. The force was created in accordance with the UN-brokered cease-fire that ended last year’s fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.

Iran militia seen capable of disrupting Gulf waterway

A senior Iranian commander said on Monday “martyrdom-seeking” militia would be able to disrupt oil shipping routes in the strategic Gulf, noting such “a small operation can have a big outcome”.

The suggestion of possible suicide attacks in the Gulf comes amid growing tension over Iran’s nuclear programme. The United States has not ruled out using force if diplomacy fails to end the row while Iran has vowed to respond to any attack.

“The area of Persian Gulf and strategic Strait of Hormuz is such that a small operation can have a big outcome,” Brigadier General Ali Fahdavi told a rally of the Basij religious militia, Fars News Agency reported.

Top U.S. Navy Acquisition Official Resigns

Delores Etter, the U.S. Navy’s senior acquisition official, submitted her resignation Oct. 5 after a year of turmoil and embarrassment over cost growth in one of the service’s most prominent shipbuilding programs.
…
Etter, a member of the electrical engineering faculty at the Naval Academy, was sworn into the RD&A position in November 2005. She followed a high-powered predecessor, John Young, who has been nominated as the Pentagon’s top acquisition executive.

Etter, as expected, was heavily interested in the research portion of her portfolio, but it was in the acquisition arena that she faced her severest challenges. In early January she revealed that the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program was experiencing severe cost overruns. The first LCS, under construction by Lockheed Martin, was far over its touted $220 million building price. The service has yet to issue a revised cost for the ship — which is nearly a year behind schedule — but Navy officials admit the price is approaching $400 million and may go higher. The competing General Dynamics LCS design also is expected to be over budget.

Commanding officer of nuclear sub relieved of duty

The Navy says it has relieved the commanding officer of the nuclear-powered submarine USS Hampton of his duty because of a loss of confidence in his leadership.

Commander Michael Portland was dismissed from his job yesterday after Navy investigators found the ship failed to do daily safety checks on its nuclear reactor for a month and falsified records to cover up the omission.

The sub’s homeport was Norfolk, Virginia, until it was relocated to San Diego earlier this year.

Portland is the fourth commanding officer of a submarine to be relieved of duty this year. The other three include Commander Matthew Weingart of the USS Newport News, after the sub collided with a Japanese oil tanker in the Persian Gulf.

The Power of Three – Work Starts On Carrier Variant Of F-35 Lightning II

BAE Systems has started manufacture of the F-35 Lightning II Carrier Variant (CV). The CV aircraft is the final F-35 variant to start production and means that all three variants of the world’s most advanced fighter aircraft are now being produced concurrently by BAE Systems.

The initial manufacturing on the CV variant is of the first titanium and aluminium frames that will form part of the aft fuselage for the first CV aircraft, which is planned to take to the skies in 2009. The aft fuselage and empennage (vertical and horizontal tails) for each F-35 Lightning II variant are being designed, engineered and built by BAE Systems, using the latest in advanced digital design and manufacturing technology.

BAE Systems’ F-35 Lightning II Managing Director, Tom Fillingham said: “Developing three variants of the same aircraft, at the same time, is a first for the military aircraft industry. We are breaking new ground on the F-35 programme.

Navy launches new vessel

Wellington takes to the seas tomorrow – in the form of an 85 metre-long patrol vessel being launched by the Royal New Zealand Navy.

The Wellington is the third ship to be built as part of Project Protect, the government’s $500 million upgrade of the Defence Force.

Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias will launch the vessel in Williamstown, Melbourne on what Defence Minister Phil Goff called a “an important day for New Zealand”.

The Wellington will join sister ship Otago in patrolling the country’s Economic Exclusion Zone, with a focus on border patrol, counter-terrorism missions and enhancing New Zealand?s presence in the Pacific.

The ship has a core crew of 35, but is equipped to carry 30 extra troops as well as flight and customs personnel.

The offshore patrol vessels are designed for flexibility. At three-quarters the size of an ANZAC frigate, the Wellington and Otago boast a 6000-mile range, are helicopter capable and ice strengthened.

Kazakhstan To Build Up Navy To Protect Oil

Kazakhstan plans to build up its naval force on the Caspian Sea to guard its vast offshore oilfields and diversify arms imports, the Central Asian state’s defense minister said Oct. 24.

Kazakhstan inherited its military force from Russia and it relies on its former Soviet overlord for most of its defense contracts. Any deviation from this tradition would annoy Russia which sees Central Asia as its sphere of interest.

Defense Minister Danial Akhmetov told Reuters in an interview that Kazakhstan sought to significantly expand its small fleet on the Caspian Sea and promote military contacts with countries such as Turkey and Israel.

Planned Italo-Russian Sub Could Shrink to Suit Market

A submarine being developed by Italy and Russia displaces 1,000 metric tons but could take a size cut to better suit market demand, an Italian official said here Oct. 23.

Italian shipyard Fincantieri and Russia’s Rubin have been working on the S1000 submarine, equipped with air-independent propulsion (AIP), since 2004.

Fincantieri has previously stated the submarine would be 40 to 50 meters long with a top speed of 14 knots, a crew of 16, submersion depth of 250 meters and the ability to stay submerged for 10 days using an AIP system powered by fuel cells.
But a Fincantieri official said that plans could now be overhauled to produce a smaller sub in response to soundings from potential customers.

Experts find shipwreck evidence in river

Captured by Confederate sailors in a bloody midnight sneak attack in 1864, the gunboat Water Witch became one of the few Civil War ships to sail under the flags of both the Confederate and Union navies. Archaeologists say they found strong evidence Thursday they’ve located the Water Witch’s wreckage buried under more than 10 feet of mud in the Vernon River south of Savannah.

Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts Divers pushed a 20-foot metal rod through the river mud Thursday and tapped solid wood and metal underneath. It was the same location where an 1865 survey map showed Confederate sailors burned the ship to prevent Union Gen. William T. Sherman’s army from recapturing it.