What is a Riverine Command Boat?

Yesterday, two US Navy Riverine Command Boats (RCBs) with a combined crew of ten sailors were apprehended by Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats. One or both of the RCBs had suffered a mechanical failure and had drifted into Iranian waters. The Iranians released … Continue reading

Update: US Navy Deploys Laser Weapon on USS Ponce in the Persian Gulf

Last February, we posted that the US Navy planned to deploy its first laser weapon on one of its oldest ships. The new laser weapon has now been deployed on the 43 year old USS Ponce, an Austin-class amphibious transport dock, for field … Continue reading

Happy Birthday US Navy, Not to be Confused with Navy Day or the Founding of the Navy

Happy 239th birthday to the United States Navy! On Friday, October 13, 1775, the Continental Congress voted to fit out two armed sailing vessels to cruise to attempt to seize arms and stores from Royal Navy transports. The rebel forces were … Continue reading

USS Freedom Limping Toward Singapore – The US Navy’s Sorry LCS Saga Continues

The USS Freedom, the first of the US Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), is on her way to Singapore. The press has reported that the ship is intended to show the US’s commitment to counter China in the region. Before … Continue reading

Update: USS Guardian – Will Be Broken Up But Why Was it Near the Reef in the First Place?

The Navy has announced that the minesweeper, USS Guardian, which ran up on Tubbataha reef in the Philippines Sula Sea two weeks ago, will be cut up in place and hauled away.  The reason given is that the approach will “involve … Continue reading

Navy’s Scary Anti-Bath Salts PSA – How Serious is the Navy’s Designer Drug Problem?

In February 2001, we posted about the problem that the US Navy has been having with the “synthetic marijuana” often referred to as “spice.”  Since then the Navy has discharged over 200 sailors for use of the “spice.”  Earlier this month, … Continue reading

“Superstorm” Sandy Sending Ships out to Sea and to Harbors of Refuge

Tropical Storm Sandy returned to hurricane strength on Saturday morning as it heads toward the U.S. northeast coast.   The US Navy as ordered 24 of the larger ships in southeastern Virginia bases, including the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, out to sea to avoid the storm. … Continue reading

The Navy’s MMOWGLI (Massive Multiplayer Online Wargame Leveraging the Internet)

The US Navy’s newest strategic weapon may be a Massive Multiplayer Online Wargame.  If it works for HALO and gears of War, why not the Navy?  The project is a joint effort between the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) and Institute … Continue reading

Damn the Right Whales, Full Speed Ahead? Judge Hears Case on Navy & Right Whales

The US Navy wants to install a $100 million offshore training range, which would include an undersea array of cables and sensors for training warships, submarines and aircraft about 50 miles off the Atlantic coast of southern Georgia and northern Florida.  Environmentalists … Continue reading