Battleships News

The leader of Yemen's Houthis warned on Wednesday they would strike U.S. warships if the Iranian-backed militia was targeted by Washington, which this week set up a multinational force to counter Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea.The Houthis, which control vast amounts of territory in Yemen after years of war, have since last month fired drones and missiles at international vessels sailing through the Red Sea, attacks it says respond to Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip.The U.S.-led security initiative will see Washington and ten other…

Offshore wind turbine maker Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy will open the first offshore wind turbine blade facility in the United States.The company on Monday held a launch ceremony with representatives from state and local government authorities and wind industry partners in Virginia."This is also the first commitment by a global offshore wind turbine manufacturer in a U.S.-based supply chain," Siemens Gamesa said.Siemens Gamesa plans to develop more than 80 acres/32 hectares at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal in Portsmouth…

For the Design issue Greg Trauthwein asked me to write about a favorite ship design. I have no favorite ship design, or should say there are simply too many that are truly worthy of mention. But when considering favorite designs, ship designers (and builders) do carry a strange curse. Unique among engineers (and artists, architects, and industrial designers) their creations only live for about 30 years. With very few exceptions, in their own life time, ship designers get to see the disassembly of most of their creations. I am not aware of any other creations that are so readily tossed aside.

The wreck of one of the U.S. Navy's longest serving battleships has been found 15,400 feet beneath the surface about 65 nautical miles southwest of Pearl Harbor, researchers said Monday.The USS Nevada (BB-36), which served in two world wars over the course of a career that spanned more than three and a half decades, was discovered by underwater and terrestrial archaeology firm SEARCH, Inc. and marine robotics company Ocean Infinity at the bottom of the Pacific.The mission was jointly coordinated between SEARCH's operations center and one of Ocean Infinity's vessels, Pacific Constructor.

The Panama Canal is a strategic crossroads for maritime traffic, and is arguably one of the most important maritime developments in the past century. Here we take a deeper dive into the history behind that famous strip of waterway.The present canal, which saw its first vessel transits in 1914, along with possible alternatives through Nicaragua and Mexico, had actually been on the minds of merchants, explorers and military/political strategists since the Age of Exploration in early 1500’s.

The U.S. Navy accepted delivery of the 17th submarine of the Virginia class, the future USS South Dakota (SSN 790), on September 24.The next-generation attack submarine began construction in 2013 and is scheduled to be commissioned in early 2019.South Dakota is the seventh Virginia-class Block III submarine. Block III submarines feature a redesigned bow with enhanced payload capabilities, replacing 12 individual vertical launch tubes with two large-diameter Virginia Payload Tubes, each capable of launching six Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The U.S. Navy will commission its newest fast attack submarine, the future USS Colorado (SSN 788), during a ceremony Saturday, March 17, at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Conn. The principal speaker will be U.S. Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado. Annie Mabus, daughter of 75th Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, will serve as the ship’s sponsor. “USS Colorado is a true marvel of technology and innovation, and it shows the capability that our industrial partners bring to the fight,” said Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer. The future Colorado, which began construction in 2012, is the 15th Virginia-class fast attack submarine and the fifth Virginia-class Block III submarine. Colorado will be the fourth U.S. Navy ship to be commissioned with a name honoring the state of Colorado.

The submarine Romeo Romei was delivered at Fincantieri’s shipyard of Muggiano, La Spezia. It is the last of the four U212A Todaro class twin units ordered from Fincantieri by the Naval Armament Unit – NAVARM for the Italian Navy. Romeo Romei, as its twin unit Pietro Venuti delivered last July at the Muggiano shipyard, features highly innovative technological solutions. It is entirely built with amagnetic material, using the most modern silencing techniques to reduce its acoustic signature.

The Navy will christen its newest Virginia-class fast attack submarine, the future USS Colorado (SSN 788), during an 11 a.m. EDT ceremony Saturday, Dec. 3 at General Dynamics Electric Boat Shipyard in Groton, Connecticut. The Honorable Ray Mabus, secretary of the Navy, will deliver the ceremony's principal address. His daughter, Anne Mabus, is serving as the ship's sponsor. "The christening of the future USS Colorado is an example of our enduring partnership with our nation's shipbuilders, and this ceremony marks a milestone along the journey to add another submarine to our Navy fleet-a fleet that will reach more than 300 ships by 2019," Mabus said. Colorado (SSN 788) is the 15th Virginia-class fast attack submarine and the fifth Virginia-class Block III submarine.

The U.S. Navy is set to commission its newest fast attack submarine during an October 29 ceremony at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Conn. The third Virginia-class block III submarine and 13th of the Virginia-class fast attack class, the future USS Illinois (SSN 786) has the capability to attack targets ashore with highly accurate Tomahawk cruise missiles and conduct covert long-term surveillance of land areas, littoral waters or other sea-based forces. Other missions include antisubmarine and antiship warfare, mine delivery and minefield mapping.

1865 - Side-wheel steamship Harvest Moon, while underway near Georgetown, S.C., with Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren on board, hits a Confederate mine (or "torpedo" in contemporary terms) and sinks with the loss of one of her crew. 1942 - Naval Reserve pilot Ensign William Tepuni, flying a Lockheed Hudson reconnaissance, light bombing and transport aircraft (PBO) from VP-82 Squadron based at Naval Air Station Argentia, Newfoundland, Canada, attacks and sinks German submarine U 656 southwest of NewfoundlandXthe first U-boat sunk by U.S. forces in World War II.

The U.S. Navy's next Virginia-class attack submarine will bear the name USS New Jersey, says AP reports. U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus hosted a ship-naming ceremony over the weekend in Jersey City, New Jersey, to announce that SSN 796, a Virginia-class attack submarine, will bear the name USS New Jersey. The vessel itself will be seaworthy by 2021, Mabus estimated. It is a nuclear-powered vessel that will never need refueling and should serve in the fleet for 40 years, Mabus said. "New Jersey has a long history in the creation of the modern day submarine," New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez said referencing John Philip Holland, the Irish engineer who designed and built the first submarines in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Two battleships have been named the USS New Jersey previously.

Seventy years after the conclusion of World War II, philanthropist and entrepreneur Paul G. Allen has located the Musashi, one of the two largest and most technologically advanced battleships in naval history. Allen and his team of researchers began their search for the Musashi more than eight years ago. Using historical records from four countries, detailed undersea topographical data and advanced technology aboard his yacht, M/Y Octopus, Allen and his team located the battleship in the Sibuyan Sea on March 1, 2015.

Sweden military has confirmed it held a second “secret” search operation for a foreign submarine in its waters back in October for a suspected underwater intruder in the Stockholm archipelago. The hunt, not reported until now, followed a report in Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter claims about a sighting of a submarine tower outside Stockholm. A submarine-hunting corvette, HMS Malmö, was secretly deployed in the waters between Lidingö Island in the inner Stockholm archipelago and Nacka Municipality on October 31. This was just a week after Swedish armed forces called off the search for the suspected submarine first reported on October 16. On Sunday, a military spokesman Jesper Tengroth confirmed that the Navy searched waters near the capital on Oct.

Today in U.S. 1825 - USS Brandywine sails for France to carry the Marquis de Lafayette home after his year long visit to America. 1943 - Operation Avalanche, Western Naval Task Force under Vice Adm. 1945 - A "computer bug" is first identified and named by Lt. Grace Murray Hopper while she was on Navy active duty in 1945. It was found in the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator at Harvard University. The operators affixed the moth to the computer log, where it still resides, with the entry: "First actual case of bug being found." They "debugged" the computer, first introducing the term. For more information about naval history, visit the Naval History and Heritage Command website at history.

Today in U.S. Naval History - July 16 1862 - Congress creates rank of Rear Admiral. David G. Farragut is named the first Rear Admiral 1912 - Rear Admiral Bradley Fiske receives patent for torpedo plane or airborne torpedo. 1915 - First Navy ships, battleships Ohio, Missouri, and Wisconsin transit Panama Canal. 1945 - First atomic bomb test at Alamogordo, N.M. For more information about naval history, visit the Naval History and Heritage Command website at history.navy.mil.

Painters from British shipyard and engineering services company Cammell Laird have started work transforming a pilot boat into a camouflage dazzle design to mark the centenary of the First World War, in which the company played a key role. One of the world's leading contemporary artists Carlos Cruz-Diez has been commissioned to design the dazzle pattern for the Edmund Gardner vessel situated in dry dock near Liverpool’s Albert Dock. The design will remain secret until a special ceremony to unveil the newly dazzled vessel in June.

Elmer A. Sperry casts a long shadow over the history of modern naval, nautical and aeronautical technology, one few people know much about, but should, for a man crowned both the “father of modern navigational technology” and “the father of automatic feedback and control systems,” as well as a pioneer of rocket and missile technology. “It is safe to say that no one American has contributed so much to our naval technical progress,” eulogized Charles Francis Adams III, Secretary of the Navy from 1929-1933, on the death of engineering genius Elmer Ambrose Sperry, June 16, 1930, at 69.

The Chinese Navy has released the first photographs of what many military observers believe is the 'Liaoning' aircraft carrier battle group reports Xinhua. The photo (reproduced here) shows the Liaoning sailing in company with several battleships, submarines and military aircraft  The Navy did not disclose when and where the picture was taken. The carrier has successfully carried out 37 days of tests and training exercises in the South China Sea and has now returned to a People's Liberation Army 's naval base in Qingdao.

It is the newest and most transformational warship ever built, and yet it has also had the longest gestation period. Whether you call it new or old, you have to call it different. The pedigree for DDG 1000 is not from the Spruance or Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyers, but rather it comes from the SC-21 (Surface Combatant for the 21st century) concept from 1994. Like DDG 1000, SC-21 was not about anti-air warfare. It was all about strike. SC-21, along with the Maritime Fire Support Demonstrator (MFSD) “arsenal ship” concept…

It is the newest and most transformational warship ever built, and yet it has also had the longest gestation period. Whether you call it new or old, you have to call it different. The pedigree for DDG 1000 is not from the Spruance or Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyers, but rather it comes from the SC-21 (Surface Combatant for the 21st century) concept from 1994. Like DDG 1000, SC-21 was not about anti-air warfare. It was all about strike. SC-21, along with the Maritime Fire Support Demonstrator (MFSD) “arsenal ship” concept…

Today in U.S. 1812 - USS United States (Capt. Stephen Decatur) captures HMS Macedonian. 1924 - Airship, USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), completes round trip transcontinental cruise that began on October 7. 1944 - During Battle of Leyte Gulf in Battle of Surigao Straits, U.S. battleships execute the maneuver of "crossing the tee" of the Japanese forces. In Battle Off Samar, escort carriers, destroyers and destroyer escorts heroically resist attacks of Japanese Center Force. In Battle Off Cape Engano, 3rd Fleet carriers attack Japanese Northern Force sinking several small carriers.

Today in U.S. 1825 - USS Brandywine sails for France to carry the Marquis de Lafayette home after his year long visit to America. 1945 - A "computer bug" is first identified and named by LT Grace Murray Hopper while she was on Navy active duty in 1945. It was found in the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator at Harvard University. The operators affixed the moth to the computer log, where it still resides, with the entry: "First actual case of bug being found." They "debugged" the computer, first introducing the term. For more information about naval history, visit the Naval History and Heritage Command website at history.navy.mil.