I’m off on extended leave until around the 5th, so posting will be light to nonexistent. It’s my last chance to really get any time off for the next 18 months, so I’m taking heavy advantage of it.

I dream about this.

Harry Connick, Jr., said it all, so I’ll let his words communicate all that matters to me this Christmas season:

I pray on Christmas
That the Lord will see me through
I pray on Christmas
He’ll show me what to do

I pray on Christmas
He’ll help me understand
And I pray on Christmas
He’ll take me by the hand

I pray on Christmas
That the sick will soon be strong
I pray on Christmas
The Lord will hear my song

I pray on Christmas
That God will lead the way
And I pray on Christmas
He’ll get me through another day

I pray on Christmas
All our problems gonna be worked out
I pray on Christmas
God’ll show us what love’s about

I pray on Christmas
To do Your will each day
And I pray on Christmas
That I’ll be with You in heaven some day

I pray on Christmas
Oh, the sick will soon be strong
I pray on Christmas
The Lord will hear my song

I pray on Christmas
That God will lead the way
And I pray I really pray on Christmas
He’ll get me through another day

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Trackposted to Stop the ACLU, Is It Just Me?, The Midnight Sun, Rosemary’s Thoughts, guerrilla radio, 123beta, Stix Blog, Right Truth, Stuck On Stupid, The Amboy Times, Big Dog’s Weblog, Chuck Adkins, Conservative Cat, Adeline and Hazel, Nuke’s, Allie is Wired, third world county, Faultline USA, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, Right Voices, and Stageleft, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Lest I get too far behind….

Navy probe of weld problems expands

All vessels constructed or serviced by Northrop Grumman Newport News since 2000 will be included as part of an ongoing probe of welding errors on submarines and aircraft carriers, the U.S. Navy said Wednesday.

The Navy will complete an initial assessment of critical welds on all interior, non-nuclear pipes in at least 17 vessels affected later this month. The investigation also will be expanded to include other surface ships that have been serviced by the yard in the past seven-plus years. Included in the investigation are at least seven aircraft carriers, six Virginia-class submarines, three Los Angeles-class subs and a Navy cruiser.

Depending on what the Navy and the shipyard find in a complete analysis of potential long-term problems associated with faulty welds due next spring, further actions could be required, including replacing some of the joints and conducting routine monitoring or testing of welds, said Katie Roberts, a Navy spokeswoman.

Navy marks ‘Great White’ launch

The U.S. Navy celebrated the centennial of the launching of the 16 battleships of the Great White Fleet in Norfolk, Va.

U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt pushed for the creation of the fleet, which he intended as a show of U.S. maritime power, the Newport News (Va.) Daily Press reported Sunday.

Saturday was the 100th anniversary of the day the ships — and their more than 14,000 sailors — set off on a 43,000-mile odyssey to six continents to impress potential rivals and allies with American naval might. 

Russian naval air exercises in Atlantic disrupting civilian flights, pilots warn

Air operations carried out by a Russian naval task force sailing from the North Atlantic to the Mediterranean represent a potential threat to the safety of civilian flights in the area, an international pilots’ group warned Friday.

The squadron consisting of the carrier Admiral Kuznetsov and two Udaloy-class destroyers represents the most ambitious Russian naval deployment since the 1991 Soviet collapse. During its three-month tour it is due to be joined in the Mediterranean by units of Russia’s Black Sea fleet.

When it sailed across the North Sea last week, the Kuznetsov conducted air operations close to Norway’s Gullfaks offshore oil field “without communication with any air traffic or other agency,” said a statement issued by The International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations to its members.

It warned civilian pilots that similar operations below 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) could occur anywhere along the fleet’s route “without prior notification.” They could also result in communications loss due to interference from military transmissions, the group said.

Navy grounds anti-submarine planes

The U.S. Navy has grounded 39 of its surveillance, anti-submarine planes due to concerns about possible structural failures in the wings.

Ten of the four-engine propeller planes are currently deployed overseas, and Navy spokesman Cmdr. Jeff Davis said they will return to the U.S. for repairs and it has not yet been determined how or if they will be replaced.

“We are acting early, based upon engineering analysis and fleet inspections, to ground these aircraft before a problem arises,” said Davis.

The Navy has a total of 161 of the P-3C Orions, and their average age is 28. It will take 18-24 months to repair each of the planes, for a total of about three years to complete the process. Those that cannot be repaired will be pulled from service.

Japanese vessel tests antimissile system 

A Japanese naval vessel shot down a ballistic missile Monday over the Pacific Ocean, the first US ally to successfully carry out such a test. Japan plans to install the US-built interceptor system on four of its warships, in addition to land-based missile systems to defend itself from possible attack from neighboring North Korea.

Japan has stepped up military cooperation with the US since North Korea test-fired a long-range missile over Japan in 1998. Monday’s test is a reminder of tensions in Northeast Asia, including the flash point of Taiwan, over which China claims sovereignty and which it has targeted with hundreds of missiles. Analysts say Japan’s interceptor missiles could be used to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack.

In Monday’s test, an Aegis-equipped Japanese warship, the JS Kongo, tracked and intercepted a target missile fired from a US naval base in Hawaii, the Associated Press reported. The target was fired at 12:05 p.m. local time and shot down about 100 miles above the ocean at 12:11 p.m., according to the US Missile Defense Agency.

Taiwan president pushes for naval build-up

Taiwan’s President Chen Shui-bian on Tuesday pressed for a build-up of the island’s seaborne defences, warning of a possible Chinese blockade during a trip to a naval base.

Taiwan is moving slowly towards acquiring eight new submarines from the United States after gaining parliamentary approval for a two billion dollar (61.54 million US) “assessment fee” last week.

“Since Taiwan is surrounded by ocean, its external trade relies largely on shipping. Should China launch a naval blockade, Taiwan’s lifeline would suffer severe impact,” Chen said at Tsoying, southern Taiwan’s main naval base.

Brazil May Work With France on Nuclear Submarine

Brazil may team up with a French company to build a nuclear-powered submarine, part of plans to rearm the country’s military, Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said.

France is the most likely candidate to help Brazil develop military ship-building techniques to create submarines that can be fitted with a Brazilian-designed naval nuclear reactor, Jobim told reporters at the Angra dos Reis nuclear power station outside of Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil is seeking new warships to protect its expanding offshore oil reserves, resources that have transformed Brazil from an oil importer into an oil exporter, Jobim said. State- controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA said in November its Tupi offshore field may hold as much as 8 billion barrels of oil, one of the largest finds in the last 20 years.

India-PGCC joint naval exercise to be conduced in near future

Indian Navy has proposed holding multilateral naval exercises with the Navies of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC).

This was stated by the naval officials in a press conference during the visit of two Indian naval warships INS Brahmaputra and INS Tabar to the UAE. This visit is a part of a tour to foster maritime goodwill with the Persian Gulf states.

According to an All India Radio Report (AIR), Indian Ambassador to the UAE, Talmiz Ahmed said “These visits are part of the historic maritime linkages that we have with the Persian Gulf for centuries.” 40 Indian naval ships have visited the Persian Gulf region as part of goodwill mission in the last three years, while Fujairah has seen visited by 11 ships, he added.

Spanish Warships For Venezuela

December 22, 2007: While Venezuela is buying billions of dollars worth of weapons from Russia, it still has a two billion dollar contract with Spain to build eight warships. Four are 2,300 ton corvettes, and the other four are 1,500 ton coastal patrol boats. The deal was agreed to in 2005, but the contracts were not signed until last year.

These ships are basically for the Venezuelan coast guard, and the two ship types are similar to U.S. Coast Guard ships. However, it’s expected that the Venezuelan ships will be more heavily armed, with anti-ship missiles from West European or Russian sources. Same with anti-aircraft missiles. The ships are to be delivered within four years.

New Maritime Strategy Plan Meets Congressional Doubts

The top four-star leaders of the U.S. Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy heard the first widespread congressional reaction Dec. 13 to their newly unveiled maritime strategy report — and lawmakers were skeptical across the political aisle.

Members of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), almost to a person, repeated calls for greater and better shipbuilding, but also noted historical acquisition problems there. And they remained apparently unclear — despite a 16-page multicolor brochure titled “A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower” — on how the services would better integrate.

“It’s a nice, really slick brochure — at the end of the day, it didn’t do so much for our country,” HASC seapower and expeditionary forces subcommittee chairman Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) told the chief of naval operations and the commandants of the Coast Guard and Marines.

But the admirals and general — who requested the hearing to discuss the strategy — defended the document, asserting that it establishes overarching maritime domain awareness (MDA) philosophy, particularly for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) of the world’s oceans, coasts, rivers and ports.

U.S., Japan tighten missile-defense ties

The U.S. and Japanese navies have worked out common rules for their advanced warships designed to shoot down enemy ballistic missiles, the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet said on Friday ahead of a milestone test.

more stories like thisUnderscoring growing missile-defense ties, Jon Yoshishige, a spokesman for the Pearl Harbor, Hawaii-based fleet, said areas of cooperation included “operational activities.”

The cooperation described in the statement fell short of missile-defense integration, a thorny issue for Japanese concerned about their post-World War Two constitution’s ban on collective defense.

“Operationally, the dialogue between the two navies extends from the four-star level to the ship-to-ship level as crews share common tactics, techniques and procedures for use while under way with the Aegis” anti-ballistic missile gear, Yoshishige said in an email response to questions from Reuters.

Navy denies interest in new force options

The Navy’s top strategist has floated to the chief of naval operations three alternatives to the service’s current 30-year shipbuilding plan that if adopted would radically reshape American naval power.

The three options are contained in a 26-page briefing titled “Three Futures, One Navy, A Portfolio Analysis” by Vice Adm. John Morgan, the service’s strategy chief, which was e-mailed to Adm. Gary Roughead, the chief of naval operations, just before the Thanksgiving holiday.

The force structure options — a 263-ship fleet optimized for major combat operations against a peer competitor; a 534-ship shaping force tailored for coalition and maritime security operations; and a 474-ship balanced force able to perform high- and low-end missions — would replace the current 30-year shipbuilding plan. Each option is based in part on the findings of a 2005 “table top exercise” involving Lockheed Martin, the maker of the Aegis combat system that equips the Navy’s cruisers and destroyers, as well as one of the two builders of the service’s new Littoral Combat Ship.

Japanese navy officer arrested for leaking secret data: police

Japanese police said Thursday they had arrested a senior navy officer over a leak of secret data on the high-tech Aegis combat system, seen as a top line of defence against a possible attack by North Korea.

The government called for increased efforts to protect sensitive data after the arrest of the 34-year-old lieutenant commander in Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force.

Although the leak of the sensitive information is believed to have been contained within the Japanese naval force, it spread to reach rank-and-file officials, including one whose wife is Chinese, causing concern in Washington.

Australian navy may soon track Japanese whalers

Australian navy vessels could be deployed to track Japanese whalers as early as next week to gather evidence for a possible international legal battle.

Labor raised the idea of using the navy to search for evidence of illegal whaling in Australian waters before last month’s election.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd yesterday said he would make an announcement next week on what action the government will take as the whaling season gets underway.

Mr Rudd said: “We take seriously Australia’s international obligations on the proper protection of whales.

Problems discovered with submarine welds

Northrop Grumman Newport News and the U.S. Navy are inspecting welds on all Virginia-class submarines after finding problems with welds in the internal piping sections of those vessels, the Navy and the yard confirmed Monday.

An investigation by the Navy, Northrop Grumman and its shipbuilding partner, Groton, Conn.-based General Dynamics Electric Boat, revealed that inadequate processes at the Newport News shipyard allowed the improper use of a weld material that could lead to cracking of joints and result in leaks, according to a Navy statement.

The Navy and the two yards late last week began a detailed assessment of completed welds through record reviews, additional inspections and testing, said Katie Dunnigan, a Naval Sea Systems Command spokeswoman.

Legal fears left Falklands War ship defenceless: report

A merchant ship that sank during the 1982 Falklands War, killing 12 on board, was not fitted with weapons because the government feared it was illegal to do so, The Times said Tuesday.

The Atlantic Conveyor, a hastily recommissioned container ship carrying helicopters, was hit above the water line by two Argentine Exocet missiles on May 25, 1982, engulfing the vessel in flames and causing explosions.

Citing a previously secret document released under freedom of information laws, the newspaper said the 14,950-tonne ship was unarmed because defence ministry officials in London decided the vessel was not a “high value unit”.

She was not even fitted with “chaff”, where aluminium strips are fired as decoys to distract approaching missiles, and there were not enough British frigates or destroyers to escort and protect her, it added.

“There was controversy in the MoD over the decisions whether or not to arm auxiliaries and whether such a move would be legal,” the document read.

Navy wants more engineers graduating from the Naval Academy

The Navy wants more commissioned officers with technical degrees in science and engineering, and it has directed the U.S. Naval Academy to graduate a specific number of those majors for the first time in years, the academy’s superintendent said Monday.

The Chief of Naval Personnel recently directed the academy and Naval ROTC to have 65 percent of graduates who are commissioned to complete technical academic majors in science, technology, engineering or math, Vice Adm. Jeffrey Fowler told the academy’s Board of Visitors.

Fowler said about 61 percent of the academy’s graduates who go on to the Navy earn those technical degrees, not counting the academy’s Marine Corps commissions. Fowler said the academy will likely need to hire more instructors for the technical fields, but he didn’t think the directive would be hard to reach.