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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
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The Undersea News

03 Mar 2024

Houthis Blame UK and US for Glitch in Red Sea Undersea Cables

USS Mason (DDG 87) has shot down Anti-Ship Ballistic Missiles (ASBM) launched into the Gulf of Aden from Iranian-backed Houthi controlled areas of Yemen. Source: US CENTCOM

The Houthi Transport Ministry in Yemen said on Saturday there had been a "glitch" in undersea communication cables in the Red Sea as a result of actions by U.S. and British naval vessels.The actions "endangered the security and safety of the international communications and the flow of information," the ministry said in a statement, reported by the Houthi-run Saba news agency, without giving details."Any glitch in these cables as a result of the militarization of the Red Sea by U.S.

02 Mar 2024

Bulk Carrier Rubymar Sinks After Being Struck by Houthis it the Red Sea

On March 2 at approximately 2:15 a.m. (Sanaa time), Rubymar, a Belize-flagged, UK-owned bulk carrier, sank in the Red Sea after being struck by an Iranian-backed Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile on Feb. 18. The ship had been slowly taking on water since the attack. (Photo: U.S. Central Command)

The UK-owned Rubymar, attacked by Houthi militants last month, has sunk in the Red Sea, Yemen's internationally recognized government said on Saturday, warning of an "environmental catastrophe" from the ship's cargo of fertilizer.The vessel is the first lost since the Houthis began targeting commercial shipping in November, forcing shipping firms to divert vessels on to the longer, more expensive route around southern Africa.The Iranian-backed Houthis, who control the north of Yemen and other large centers…

19 Jan 2024

US Plugs in First Large Offshore Wind Farm as Developers Play Catch-up

(A GE Haliade-X turbine stands in the Vineyard Wind 1 project area south of Martha’s Vineyard. (Photo: Worldview Films, courtesy Vineyard Offshore)

The U.S. offshore wind industry reached an important milestone on January 2 when Vineyard Wind 1, the country’s first large scale project, supplied first power to the Massachusetts grid.“As the nation’s first utility-scale offshore wind farm this is a fairly momentous event,” Ken Kimmell, Chief Development Officer for Avangrid, the Iberdrola subsidiary co-developing the project with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), told Reuters Events.The turbine will be joined by 61 additional turbines to provide 806 MW of power to the grid by the end of the year…

14 Jan 2024

Australian Court Lets Santos Build Barossa Pipeline

Source: Santos

Australia's Santos can proceed with construction of an undersea pipeline vital to its $4.3 billion Barossa gas project after a court on Monday ruled in favor of the oil and gas firm in a dispute with an Indigenous man looking to pause the work.Work on the pipeline, which will connect the Barossa gas field to a processing plant in the northern Australian city of Darwin, was paused by court order in November after a suit by a member of an Indigenous group regarded as traditional…

02 Jan 2024

NOMARS Puts New Officers in Charge

(Credit: DARPA)

DARPA’s NOMARS program aims to revolutionize naval operations by designing a ship that can operate autonomously for extended periods at sea without an onboard crew.One project at the forefront of maritime innovation is the development of a vessel called “Defiant,” a project of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The Defiant is referred to as a NOMARS vessel – “No Manning Required Ship.”The project’s been underway at least since January 2020, when DARPA held a “proposers day…

08 Dec 2023

OpEd: Shipping Seeks Safe Waters in Era of Deadly Geopolitics

© xmagics / Adobe Stock

As tankers, car-carriers and other merchant vessels pass through the Malacca Strait, unlit fishing boats criss-cross the shipping lanes at night, making it one of the most challenging sea areas of the world to transit, even during peacetime.Should a major war ever come to Asia, those challenges could be magnified spectacularly, with hundreds of vessels abruptly leaving the international waters in the middle of the Strait for what they hope might be the relative safety of the national territorial waters of nearby neutral nations.The Strait – between Thailand…

04 Dec 2023

AUKUS Defense Ministers Agree to Bolster Security

Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Richard Marles, United States Secretary of Defence, the Hon Lloyd J. Austin III, and United Kingdom Secretary of State for Defence, Grant Shapps.

AUKUS defense ministers have reaffirmed their resolve to bolster security and stability and ensure that the Indo-Pacific remains a region free from coercion and aggression.A statement was released after Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III hosted Richard Marles MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Australia, and Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Defence, United Kingdom, at the Defense Innovation Unit Headquarters in California on December 1.AUKUS is a trilateral security partnership for the Indo-Pacific region between Australia…

04 Dec 2023

UK, Finland, Estonia Practice Subsea Infrastructure Protection in Baltic Sea

(Photo: Estonia Ministry of Defense)

The navies of Britain, Finland and Estonia were practising subsea infrastructure protection in the Baltic Sea region on Monday together with the Finnish Border Guard, Finland's Defence Forces said in a statement.In early October a gas pipeline linking Estonia and Finland was damaged along with three telecommunications cables in the area, which is known for its dense seabed infrastructure.Finland and Estonia suspect the gas pipeline and cable incidents are linked, and believe a Hong Kong-flagged container carrier caused the damage by dragging its anchor along the seabed.

29 Nov 2023

Royal Navy to Help Defend Undersea Cables

Source: UK Government

A Royal Navy task force of seven ships will deploy with allies early next month to jointly patrol areas with vulnerable undersea critical infrastructure, following an unprecedented agreement by ministers of the 10 Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) nations.The UK contribution to the deployment will include two Royal Navy frigates, two offshore patrol vessels and mine countermeasures vessels, as well as a Royal Fleet Auxiliary landing ship – supported by a Royal Air Force P-8 Poseidon…

16 Nov 2023

Remaining Titan Submersible Debris Salvaged

Source: Phoenix International

Phoenix International Holdings, under the direction of the U.S. Navy’s Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV), have recovered the remaining debris of the Titan submersible from the North Atlantic seafloor near the RMS Titanic shipwreck.Work was performed using Phoenix’s Remora remotely operated vehicle (ROV). This 20,000 ft rated vehicle, designed and built by Phoenix, was used to map, locate, and recover Titan submersible debris at a depth of 12,500 feet. This was a follow…

26 Oct 2023

Europe's Offshore Wind Power Goal Hits New Snag: Security

Nysted wind farm - Credit: Plenz - Own work - CC BY 3.0 DEED via Wikimedia Commons

As Europe turns to renewable sources to diversify energy supplies away from Russian oil and gas, a peaceful marine scene conceals a billion-dollar security headache.Rising above the Baltic Sea less than 10 km (6 miles) off the coast of Denmark, 161 wind turbines spin slowly. They supply around 4% of the country's power, sent to shore through two cable connections.The turbines have no barriers or surveillance."Our technicians are only here until five o'clock in the afternoon, then they go home…

18 Oct 2023

Converted OSV Enters Service in the UK as an Underwater Surveillance Ship

RFA Proteus (Photo: UK Royal Navy)

A converted offshore support vessel has taken on a new life as a dedicated underwater surveillance ship for the U.K.'s Royal Navy.Christened during a ceremony in London on October 10, RFA Proteus will be operated by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary as a launchpad for remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROV) and a home to a suite of specialist capabilities similar to those found in the offshore oil and gas industry.The ship, built in 2017 as a subsea construction vessel named Topaz Tangaroa, was acquired by the U.K.

21 Sep 2023

U.S. Revives Cold War Submarine Spy Program to Counter China

Credit: noraismail/AdobeStock

On a windswept island 50 miles north of Seattle sits a U.S. Navy monitoring station. For years, it was kept busy tracking whale movements and measuring rising sea temperatures. Last October, the Navy gave the unit a new name that better reflects its current mission: Theater Undersea Surveillance Command.The renaming of the spy station at the Whidbey Island naval base is a nod to a much larger U.S. military project, according to three people with direct knowledge of the plans:…

21 Aug 2023

Electric Boat Lays Keel for Submarine Tang (SSN 805)

(Photo: General Dynamics Electric Boat)

General Dynamics Electric Boat held a keel laying for the Virginia-class submarine Tang (SSN 805) at its facility in Quonset Point, North Kingstown, R.I.The submarine will be the third ship in the U.S. Navy to carry the name Tang. The first USS Tang was a Balao-class submarine, SS 306, credited as the most successful U.S. submarine of WWII, sinking the most tonnage of any U.S. submarine—33 enemy ships—on five war patrols over the course of just 14 months."This ship represents…

24 Jul 2023

The Need for [U.S. Navy Shipbuilding] Speed

The world's largest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) steams in the Adriatic Sea, June 23, 2023.
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jackson Adkins)

The Navy wants, and needs, more ships; but it can’t build them fast enough.While the U.S. Navy aims to achieve a 355-ship fleet, it is decommissioning older (and some not so old) ships at about the same rate it's adding new ones.A Congressional Research Service report stated that, as of April 17, 2023, the Navy included 296 battle force ships. "The Navy projects that under its FY2024 budget submission, the Navy would include 293 battle force ships at the end of FY2024 and 291 battle force ships at the end of FY2028."But there is progress…

10 Jul 2023

Hairston Named GM of Austal USA Advanced Technologies

Don Hairston (Photo: Austal USA Advanced Technologies)

Don Hairston has been named General Manager of Austal USA Advanced Technologies in Charlottesville, Va. Hairston comes to Austal from L3Harris Technologies where he was vice president and general manager of the C5 Systems Division. He was responsible for leading a $400 million organization that designs and delivers unmanned surface vessels, integrated C5ISR, and maritime controls and cyber solutions to support, defend and protect critical national assets and infrastructure.In…

07 Jul 2023

Inside the Subsea Cable Firm Secretly Helping America Take on China

On Feb. 10 last year, the cable ship CS Dependable appeared off the coast of the island of Diego Garcia, an Indian Ocean atoll that’s home to a discreet U.S. naval base.Over the next month, the ship’s crew covertly laid an underwater fiber-optic cable to the military base, an operation code-named “Big Wave,” according to four people with direct knowledge of the mission, as well as a Reuters analysis of satellite imagery and ship tracking data.The new super-fast internet link to Diego Garcia, which has not previously been reported, will boost U.S. military readiness in the Indian Ocean, a region where China has expanded its naval influence over the last decade.The CS Dependable is owned by SubCom…

06 Jul 2023

Titanic Sub Operator OceanGate Suspends Expeditions After Fatal Dive

(File photo: OceanGate Expeditions)

OceanGate, the U.S.-based company that managed the tourist submersible that imploded during a dive to the wreck of the Titanic, has suspended all exploration and commercial operations, its website showed on Thursday.The company did not elaborate beyond a red banner at the top of its website: "OceanGate has suspended all exploration and commercial operations."OceanGate had planned two expeditions to the century-old Titanic ruins, located in a remote corner of the North Atlantic, for June 2024, its website showed.U.S.

27 Jun 2023

Canadian Safety Regulators Open Probe into Fatal Loss of Titan Submersible

File photo: OceanGate Expeditions

Canadian safety officials on Friday opened an investigation into the undersea implosion of a tourist submersible that killed all five people aboard while diving to the century-old wreck of the Titanic, raising questions about the unregulated nature of such expeditions.A debris field from the submersible Titan was found at the bottom of the North Atlantic on Thursday by a robotic diving vehicle deployed from a Canadian search vessel, ending an intense five-day international rescue effort.Fragments of Titan…

22 Jun 2023

Titanic Sub Pieces Found on Ocean Floor; No Survivors

(Photo: OceanGate Expeditions)

The five people aboard a missing submersible are thought to be dead, according to the company that owns the vessel, bringing a grim end on Thursday to the massive search for the vessel that was lost during a voyage to the Titanic."These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans," OceanGate Expeditions said in a statement. "Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families…

22 Jun 2023

Titanic Sub Search: Debris Field Found, Oxygen Feared to Have Run Out

(File photo: OceanGate Expeditions)

The desperate search for a missing submersible near the wreck of the Titanic entered a critical juncture on Thursday when air was expected to run out for the five people aboard, but officials vowed to continue scouring the remote North Atlantic.A remotely operated vehicle deployed from a Canadian vessel to the ocean floor discovered a "debris field" near the Titanic, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Thursday morning on Twitter, adding that experts were "evaluating the information."Another…

21 Jun 2023

Search for Missing Titanic Sub Focuses on Area Where Sounds Detected

(File photo: OceanGate Expeditions)

Rescuers searching for a missing submersible near the wreck of the Titanic on Wednesday concentrated their efforts on a remote area of the North Atlantic where a series of undersea noises have been detected, though officials cautioned the sounds may not have originated from the vessel.With estimates suggesting the air supply on board the submersible could run out by Thursday morning, an international coalition of rescue teams has swept a vast expanse of the ocean for signs of the Titan…

21 Jun 2023

Missing Titanic Submersible Update: Searchers Detect Subsea Sounds

Copyright chocolatefather/AdobeStock

Search teams detected underwater sounds while scanning the North Atlantic for a tourist submersible that vanished with five people aboard during a deep-sea voyage to the century-old wreck of the Titanic, the U.S. Coast Guard said early on Wednesday.The detection of the sounds by Canadian aircraft on Tuesday, day three of the search, was reported by the Coast Guard as the clock ticked down to the last 24 hours of the missing craft's presumed oxygen supply.Robotic undersea search operations were diverted to the area where the sounds seemed to originate…

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