Navy Seeks To Dispose of All Freedom-Class Littoral Combat Ships Now in Service

Posted on by April 8, 2022

USS Little Rock

USNI News reports that the nine Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) currently in Navy service – the youngest of which commissioned in 2020 – have been marked for disposal as part of the Department of Defense’s Fiscal Year 2023 budget proposal.

The ships – USS Fort Worth (LCS-3), USS Milwaukee (LCS-5), USS Detroit (LCS-7), USS Little Rock (LCS-9), USS Sioux City (LCS-11), USS Wichita (LCS-13), USS Billings (LCS-15), and USS St. Louis (LCS-19) – are part of the 24 ships the service has chosen to decommission in FY 2023 for an estimated $3.6 billion in savings.

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Changes at the Helm of the Historic Maine Schooner Lewis R. French

Posted on by April 7, 2022

Congratulations to Captain Becky Wright and Nathan Sigouin who have taken over the helm and the stewardship of the historic Maine schooner Lewis R. French. Launched in April 1871, the French is a National Historic Landmark and the oldest commercial sailing vessel in the U.S.  

From the schooner’s website:

Captain Becky Wright and Nathan Sigouin take great pride in owning a vessel as wonderful as the Lewis R. French.

Captain Becky

Becky grew up in the woods of New Hampshire, taking trips to visit family on the Maine Coast. Starting as a young teenager she began reading every bit of material on traditional sailing she could get her hands on, from Chapman’s Piloting and Small Boat Handling to the writings of Patrick O’Brian and C.S. Forester.

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Congratulations to Glaciologist Dr. Heïdi Sevestre on Winning Inaugural Shackleton Medal

Posted on by April 6, 2022

Congratulations to glaciologist Dr. Heïdi Sevestre on winning the inaugural Shackleton Medal for the Protection of the Polar Regions. Dr. Sevestre, a pioneering climate activist, expedition leader, scientific researcher, documentary maker, and lobbyist, receives a prize of £10,000 as a contribution towards her ongoing work in the polar regions and the very first Shackleton Medal.

An international jury of polar experts – chaired by Prof. Lewis Dartnell – debated the shortlist and decided the winner at the Royal Geographical Society in London. 

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Update: Containers to be Unloaded From Seriously Stuck Ever Forward in Chesapeake Bay

Posted on by April 5, 2022

On March 13th, the container ship Ever Forward missed a turn in the Craighill Channel in the Chesapeake Bay, not long after leaving the Port of Baltimore, and ran up on a mudbank just outside the channel while traveling at a speed of 13 knots. The ship had a draft of 42 feet when it hit the bank, in water only 24 feet deep, burying its bow and much of the hull up to 18 feet deep in the muddy bottom.

Now, 23 days later, after dredging around the ship and several failed attempts to pull the ship free by six tugs, the 1,095-foot long Ever Forward remains seriously stuck. The salvors working with the Coast Guard have now decided to lighten the ship by using floating cranes to unload a portion of the reported 5,000 containers onboard.

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Back From the Dead: Snake Island Border Guards & the Russian Warship

Posted on by April 4, 2022

On February 24, 2022, the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian naval vessel Vasily Bykov ordered the 13 Ukrainian border guards on Snake Island in the Black Sea to surrender. The border guards replied, “Russian warship, go f*** yourself“. The warship shelled the island in response and the soldiers were reported to have been killed. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced he would “posthumously” award the soldiers on Snake Island with the highest Ukrainian honor, the Hero of Ukraine.

Then on March 7, 2022, Ukrainian sources claimed that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had attacked Vasily Bykov using a shore-based multiple rocket launcher system off the coast of Odessa, stating that the ship had been heavily damaged or even sunk.

Call it the fog of war. While both accounts had a basis in fact, neither the deaths of the Ukrainian border guards nor the sinking of the Vasily Bykov turned out to be true.

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US Navy Naming Replenishment Oiler for Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Posted on by April 3, 2022

Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro has announced that the US Navy will name a replenishment oiler now on order in honor of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The new ship will be the eighth of the John Lewis Class and will be referred to as the USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“As we close out women’s history month, it is my absolute honor to name the next T-AO after the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She is a historic figure who vigorously advocated for women’s rights and gender equality,” Del Toro announced.

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Holland America Cruise Ship Volendam to Provide Housing For Ukrainian Refugees

Posted on by April 2, 2022

Cruise Industry News reports that Holland America Line‘s Volendam will be used to accommodate Ukrainian refugees as part of an agreement announced by Netherlands and City of Rotterdam government officials.

According to a press release, the ship will dock in Rotterdam for three months to provide a temporary home for approximately 1,500 Ukrainians, part of a larger commitment from the Netherlands to accommodate 50,000 people who fled the war in their homeland.

“We are in a unique position to accommodate the immediate need for food and housing, so we felt it was very important to work with the City of Rotterdam and charter this ship,” said Gus Antorcha, president, of Holland America Line. “Our company was founded in Rotterdam around the mission of helping immigrants find a better life. So today we’re proud to be a small part of a similar mission for Ukrainians who have tragically been displaced.”

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More Than a Decade of Women Serving on US Navy Submarines

Posted on by March 31, 2022

Women in Submarines Class of 2021

On the last day of Women’s History Month, it is worthwhile celebrating more than a decade of women’s service on US Navy submarines. In 2010, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates lifted the ban on females serving aboard US submarines. A year later, the first female officers began reporting for duty on Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines.

The United States was not the first nation to allow female submariners. Indeed, the US was at least the sixth country to allow women to serve in the Silent Service.  Norway was the first in 1985, followed by Denmark in 1988 and Sweden in 1989. Australia followed suit in 1999 while Germany and Canada allowed women onboard in 2001 and 2002 respectively. 

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Toronto’s 161st Annual Top Hat Ceremony Celebrates the First Ship of Spring

Posted on by March 30, 2022

PortsToronto Assistant Manager of Harbour Operations Helen Oel “crowns” Captain Dorde Perovic of the MV Chestnut during the Port of Toronto’s 161st annual Top Hat Ceremony. (CNW Group/PortsToronto)

Some watch for the first robin to signify the arrival of Spring. In the Port of Toronto, Canada, the coming of spring has been marked by the arrival of the first ocean-going ship of the season; an arrival that has been celebrated for the last 161 years by the crowning of the ship’s captain with a top hat. This year, PortsToronto “crowned” Captain Dorde Perovic of the MV Chestnut with an antique top hat – first presented in the spring of 1861– at the annual Top Hat Ceremony.

As reported by Yahoo, appropriate precautions were taken to ensure that this longstanding tradition could safely take place given ongoing, albeit reduced, public health restrictions. Captain Dorde Perovic participated in the ceremony from the bridge of the MV Chestnut while PortsToronto Assistant Manager of Harbour Operations, Helen Oel, remained on the dock wall.

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China and Solomon Islands Draft Secret Security Pact, Raising Concerns in the Pacific

Posted on by March 26, 2022

The New York Times reports that a leaked document has revealed that China and the Solomon Islands are close to signing a security agreement that could open the door to Chinese troops and naval warships flowing into a Pacific Island nation that played a pivotal role in World War II.

The agreement, kept secret until now, was shared online Thursday night by opponents of the deal and verified as legitimate by the Australian government. Though it is marked as a draft and cites a need for “social order” as a justification for sending Chinese forces, it has set off alarms throughout the Pacific, where concerns about China’s intentions have been growing for years.

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Great Barrier Reef Suffers Unprecedented Sixth Mass Coral Bleaching Event

Posted on by March 26, 2022

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has been hit with a sixth mass coral bleaching event, the marine park’s authority has confirmed, with aerial surveys showing almost no reefs across a 1,200km stretch escaping the heat, as reported by the Guardian.

The confirmation from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) marks an alarming milestone for the ocean icon, with 2022 going down as the first time mass bleaching has happened in a cooler La Niña year which scientists had hoped would be a period of recovery for corals.

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Conger Ice Shelf in Eastern Antarctica Collapses in Extreme Heat Wave

Posted on by March 28, 2022

Reuters reports that an East Antarctica ice shelf almost the size of Los Angeles disintegrated this month following a period of extreme heat in the region, according to scientists. Satellite images show the 1,200 square-kilometer Conger Ice Shelf collapsed completely on or around March 15.

The March heat wave, with temperatures reaching 70 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) above normal in parts of East Antarctica, was tied to the atmospheric river phenomenon, said Peter Neff, a glaciologist at the University of Minnesota.

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Japanese Singlehander Kenichi Horie, Setting Sail to Cross the Pacific at 83

Posted on by March 29, 2022

Sixty years after his first singlehanded Pacific crossing from Japan to San Francisco, Kenichi Horie is ready to go again. If all goes well, famed Japanese singlehander Kenichi Horie, 83, will set sail today from San Francisco bound for Japan. Horie, known as “Japan’s most famous yachtsman”, became the first person to make a non-stop solo crossing of the Pacific in 1962, at the age of 23.

In 1962, Horie set off from Osaka and arrived in San Francisco 94 days later in his 19-foot plywood boat Mermaid. Traveling without a passport or money and little knowledge of English, Horie was briefly arrested on his arrival in San Francisco. Fortunately, the mayor intervened, saw to his release, and presented Horie with a visa and the key to the city.

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The Dual Discovery of the Whaling Brig Industry and Her Crew’s Fate Link to US Racial History

Posted on by March 25, 2022

Tryworks from whaling brig Industry

The shipwreck in 6,000 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico, 70 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi River, had first been spotted in 2011, by a geological data company scanning an oil lease area. The wreck was logged in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management database and left alone. The wreck was later seen again by an autonomous vehicle in 2017.

In February of 2022, while testing new equipment, SEARCH Inc., a firm that manages archaeological sites and artifacts, partnering with NOAA, identified the wreck as probably that of the whaling brig Industry, built in 1815 in Westport, Massachusetts, and lost in the Gulf of Mexico in 1836.

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Russian Landing Ship Destroyed by Ukrainian Attack in Occupied Port of Berdyansk

Posted on by March 24, 2022

The Ukrainian military claims to have destroyed the Russian Alligator Class landing ship Orsk in the Ukrainian port city of Berdyansk, which Russia captured in late February. 

“The destroyed ship in Berdyansk could carry up to 20 tanks, 45 armored personnel carriers, and 400 paratroopers,” the Ukrainian deputy defense minister, Anna Malyar, said in a statement on Thursday. “This is a huge target that was hit by our military.”

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Ever Given : The Inside Story of the Ship That Broke Global Trade

Posted on by March 23, 2022

One year ago today, the ultra-large container ship Ever Given ran aground, blocking the Suez Canal for six days. The grounding resulted in a traffic jam of roughly 400 ships and cost an estimated $10 billion per day in lost commerce. Here is a short documentary about how and why the accident happened and what was done to free the ship and reopen the canal.

The Inside Story of the Ship That Broke Global Trade

Rediscovered Fossil of 10 Armed Vampire Squid Named after President Biden

Posted on by March 22, 2022

The fossil of Syllipsimopodi is from the Invertebrate Paleontology collections of the Royal Ontario Museum. Photo: Christopher Whalen

NPR reports that researchers say they have found the oldest known relative of octopuses and vampire squids, in a fossil dug up decades ago in Montana.

The official name of the newly discovered species is Syllipsimopodi bideni, named after President Joe Biden, in a nod to what the researchers say is his embrace of science.

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Update: Submarine USS Clamagore to be Scrapped

Posted on by March 21, 2022

The Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum in South Carolina has decided after years of debate to scrap USS Clamagore, a Cold War-era submarine, and save some of its artifacts for an exhibit. 

“Unfortunately, we cannot financially sustain the maintenance of three historic vessels,” Rorie Cartier, executive director at Patriots Point, said in a statement after the vote. “The USS Yorktown and USS Laffey also need repair, and we are fighting a never-ending battle against the corrosion that comes from being submerged in saltwater.”

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Janet MacPherson, Pioneering Female Surfer, Dies at 84

Posted on by March 20, 2022

When Janet MacPherson started surfing around 1955, she was a rarity in a sport dominated by men. In those days, male surfers would sometimes throw rocks at her because they didn’t want a woman on their waves. She overcame the initial resistance to become a surfing icon, known worldwide and revered in her native Malibu in Southern California. Remarkably, she continued surfing for more than 60 years, riding the waves through her 70s and into her 80s. She died on March 5th, at age 84, of cancer in her home on Carbon Beach in Malibu. 

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