Hammerhead News

When it comes to war, the old adage that the best defense is a good offense rings true. Nowhere is this more the case than naval warfare, where initiative can make the difference between victory and defeat. As an integral part of naval warfare, mine warfare – both mine countermeasures and mine laying, or “offensive” mine warfare - will continue to influence naval operations. Yet the latter of these sub disciplines - the “other” mine warfare, as Admiral James Winnefeld, Jr. calls it - has often been missing from mine warfare discussions.

Ecuador's armed forces said on Tuesday that dozens of vessels from a predominantly Chinese fishing fleet that is operating near the Galapagos Islands have turned off tracking systems to prevent monitoring of their activities.Of around 325 ships still fishing in the waters near the ecologically sensitive Galapagos, 149 have at some point in recent months cut off communications, Navy Commander, Rear Admiral Darwin Jarrin told reporters.Some had also changed the vessels' names to avoid supervision, he said."In this period, 149 ships have turned off their satellite systems ...

Ecuador’s navy is conducting surveillance of a massive Chinese fishing fleet that is operating near the protected waters of the Galapagos Islands, amid concerns about the environmental impact of fishing in the area of the ecologically sensitive islands.The navy conducted a patrol mission on Friday that included a flyover of the region where the hulking vessels are fishing, as well as reconnaissance by military patrol ships. A total of 340 vessels are currently in the area, the navy said…

Ecuador is monitoring a large fleet of fishing vessels, many of them Chinese, off the Galapagos Islands and has increased patrolling to ensure the ships do not enter the area of the ecologically sensitive islands, the defense minister said on Thursday.Chinese fishing vessels appear each year near the Galapagos, attracted by marine species such as the hammerhead shark, which is in danger of extinction.A Chinese vessel in 2017 was captured in the Galapagos Marine Reserve carrying 300 tons of marine wildlife.“We are on alert, (conducting) surveillance, patrolling to avoid an incident such as what

While the task to name only five 'Top' yachts of the year, Maritime Reporter & Engineering News' Lisa Overing gives it her best shot in the January 2019 edition.M/Y TIS: “Size Matters”The age-old question of whether or not size matters is typically directed at men. However, since a ship is called she, Maritime Reporter’s top spot for greatest yacht of 2018 is the class of 2018’s largest launch, M/Y TIS, a 111-meter, six-deck superyacht by Lürssen with exterior styling and interior design by Winch Design.In spite of her massive size…

ExxonMobil and the Hess Corporation announced an eighth oil discovery offshore Guyana at the Longtail-1 well, creating the potential for additional resource development in the southeast area of the Stabroek Block. The companies said approximately 78 meters of high-quality, oil-bearing sandstone reservoir was encountered. The well was drilled to 5,504 meters depth in 1,940 meters of water by the Stena Carron drillship on May 25, 2018. The Longtail-1 well is located approximately 5 miles west of the Turbot-1 well and follows previous discoveries on the Stabroek Block at Liza…

The Coast Guard is responding Saturday night after a ferry with 78 people aboard lost power while en route Woods Hole from Martha's Vineyard.    The captain of the Motor Vessel Martha's Vineyard reported the incident to Coast Guard watchstanders at 9 p.m.   The Coast Guard Cutter Hammerhead and a response boat crew from Coast Guard Station Woods Hole are on scene while commercial tow is arranged.    The MV Martha's Vineyard is currently anchored outside Vineyard Haven between the East and West Chop.    There are no reported injuries. The cause of the power loss is being investigated.

Shark fins have been discovered on two Chinese fishing vessels during a joint surveillance conducted by Greenpeace and Guinean fishery authorities. One of the vessels also had illegally altered fishing nets on board, while a third Chinese vessel was caught using illegal nets and fishing for species outside of its license. The two vessels with shark fins on board have been fined with Euro 250 000 each, while the third vessel has been fined with Euro 350 000. The catch of all vessels have been seized by Guinean authorities. Apart from the shark fins, Greenpeace also found numerous carcasses of sharks including hammerhead sharks, an endangered species, and manta rays on board several vessels.

China's biggest shipping and logistics company Cosco has pledged a total ban on transporting shark's fins,  says SCMP. It called the move a "body blow" to the international shark's fin trade. In a letter addressed to the Hong Kong branch of the US-based wildlife conservation group WildAid obtained by the Sunday Morning Post, China Ocean Shipping Company (Cosco Shipping) “pledges to implement” a “no shark fin” policy. Kang Bingjian, a company spokesman, confirmed the letter and the policy change, but could not give a time frame for the move. COSCO Shipping’s commitment follows concerns raised by WildAid and other wildlife conservation groups after Hong Kong Customs officials seized nearly 1 ton of fins from endangered hammerhead sharks…

U.S. A disabled fishing vessel was brought in safely to shore early Monday by U.S. Coast Guard crews aboard the cutters Escanaba and Hammerhead. Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England Command Center in Woods Hole, Mass. received a phone call from the captain of the vessel Challenger Sunday morning, stating a line had fouled their propeller, and they were disabled and adrift 70 miles southeast of Nantucket, Mass. Search and rescue coordinators from the Sector Southeastern New England command center diverted the Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba and Hammerhead to assist.

The Coast Guard is responding to a fishing boat taking on water 130 miles east of Nantucket, Massachusetts, Saturday. At about 12:45 a.m., the fishing vessel Athena’s crew reported to Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England watchstanders in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, that the Miss Shauna, a 51-foot fishing boat with seven people aboard, was taking on water through a hole in the boat’s engine room. The Coast Guard established communications with the crew of the Miss Shauna, and they reported their pumps were keeping up with the flooding, but the rate of flooding was increasing. An HC-144A Ocean Sentry aircraft crew and an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod, Massachusetts, launched with pumps for the boat.

U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) rescue crews assisted a fishing vessel in distress by air-dropping de-watering pumps after the 53-foot Canadian flagged vessel Island Cruiser collided with the 120-foot converted ferry vessel Esperanza June 26, 2014. Watchstanders at Sector Southeastern New England received notification that the Island Cruiser was being towed by the Esperanza and the tow broke causing the collision and resulting in a hole above the water line on its port quarter. After the collision, the onboard pumps on the Island Cruiser could not keep up with the flooding. Rescue crews from Air Station Cape Cod launched an MH-60 Jayhawk Helicopter with two additional pumps aboard. The pumps were dropped and the vessel reported that the flooding was being controlled.

figures. According to the study conducted by Quest Offshore Inc., the Gulf offshore oil and gas industry supported more than 240,000 jobs across the country while contributing more than $26 billion to the nation’s GDP in 2010. "The Gulf offshore oil and gas industry supports tens of thousands of jobs outside the Gulf of Mexico," said Randall Luthi, president of NOIA. But offshore industry-related jobs are down from 2008, the study shows, due in part to the poor economy, the deepwater moratorium, and the continuing slow pace of new drilling permits in the gulf. More than 60,000 jobs have been lost in the Gulf States alone since 2008, according to the study.

Bollinger Shipyards appointed Charles "Skip" Bowen as Program Manager for the FRC “Sentinel” Class Patrol Boat building program at Bollinger’s Lockport facility. Bowen joins Bollinger following a 32 year career with the United States Coast Guard, culminating with the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard, from 2006 to 2010. As the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard, Skip served as a senior advisor to the Commandant of the Coast Guard. His various duties included service on the senior Flag level Leadership Council…

Billy Guice, Vice President of Sales and Marketing of Rigdon Marine Corporation (RMC), announced the christening and delivery of the Hammerhead, the first of four proprietary FSV (fast supply vessels) the company is building. Mrs. Shelley Puckett, wife of Mike Puckett, a Vessel Manager for RMC, christened the 181-ft. FSV prior to its deployment in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The Hammerhead is a 181x 34-ft., 7,200-hp, DP-1 FSV, which features a capacity of 1,001 barrels of liquid mud, 664 barrels of rig water, and a cargo deck capacity of 400 metric tons. The state of the art FSV will include a 250 hp drop-down azimuthing bow thruster, and a cargo discharge capacity of 500 gallons per minute (GPM) of liquid mud, 300 GPM of rig water, and 300 GPM of fuel oil.

How much water has flowed under the bridge since 1938? Well, for starters, the bridge itself - in this case, the Verrazano-Narrows - wasn't even built yet. We had no PCs, no CDs, no LPs, not even TVs in 1938. Manhattan's shore ended at West Street, which bristled with steamboats and their docks. Hundreds of daily arrivals brought people and cars and horse-drawn wagons across the North River, from the Garden State and the terminals of powerful railroads. Containerization, like cartridgization and cassetization, were yet to be thought of, and so were containerports. So was the strip of the Kill known as gasoline alley, and events it would sponsor - the Exxon/Mobil blast a year and a half ago…

Pictured are Rigdon's Hammerhead and Alioth crew boats on the left and two Tidewater crewboats to the right. Following hard on the heels of the recently delivered M/V Gayla Graham, C&G Boat Works has multiple vessels in all stages of construction with still more on the order books. The firm’s 12-acre yard in Mobile, Ala., is packed with vessels. Four crewboats are currently lined up along the riverside in various states of completion with several more hulls coming together in the fabrications sheds behind them. Scheduled for delivery in October are the M/V’s JoLynn Tide and the Cheryl Tide. These are numbers 10 and 11 in a series of the 175 x 34-footers for Tidewater Marine. These vessels are classed as Sub-Chapter L with smaller passenger capacities but larger cargo capacities.

ISE has received a contract from Fugro Chance Inc. to update their Hammerhead ROV with current technologies. The ROV frame with 5000 meter foam pack has been delivered to ISE, and will be outfitted with an ISE 150HP propulsion system, ISE control system and an electric power system. The propulsion system will include two redundant 75 hp hydraulic power units, hydraulic control units, proportional valve packs, thrusters control units, and eight thrusters. The electric power system will include a power distribution unit, power tray, and ground fault monitor on the surface; and a termination can, transformer can and deboost transformer on the ROV. The ISE control system will consist of a fiber-optic command, control and data distribution system running ISE’s ACE control software.

The maritime industry makes local headlines when something goes wrong, but the headlines on February 21 went national. In a spectucular eruption of flame and smoke, the like of which New York had not seen since 9/11, an estimated million gallons of gasoline erupted from a barge near the southwestern tip of Staten Island. The barge captain and mate were killed in the 10 A.M. explosion, and a nearby worker at the ExxonMobil facility suffered third-degree burns. The New York Times the next day showed a plume of dense black smoke over the city, but reported that the calamaty had been quickly controlled. Almost certaiinly it was not the work of terrorists and, being a gasoline fire, The Times reassured, it could burn itself out without leaving a slick to endanger the birds.