American Navy News

“I hold no branch in higher esteem, than the Merchant Marine…”That is a quote from General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander of the Pacific in WWII. That one sentence sums up National Maritime Day. Inasmuch if it were not for our glorious Merchant Marine and maritime industry, we may not even have been a nation at all.National Maritime Day is the day we honor our American Merchant Mariners for protecting our freedom and for their dedication to promoting American commerce together with the accomplishments of the U.S. maritime industry.

A U.S. Coast Guard ship fired about 30 warning shots after 13 vessels from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) came close to it and other American Navy vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, the Pentagon said on Monday.This is the second time within the last month that U.S. military vessels have had to fire warning shots because of what they said was unsafe behavior by Iranian vessels in the region, after a relative lull in such interactions over the past year.Pentagon…

Speaking in front of the Senate, U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Chairman of the Senate Seapower Subcommittee, said the requirement for a 355-ship Navy is clear, especially in light of the recent, fatal accidents involving the USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain. In response to these incidents, the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral John Richardson, directed that a comprehensive review take place. On Tuesday, Wicker and other members of the Senate Armed Services Committee have been briefed on those findings. The Navy is scheduled to make the review public later this week.

On April 1, General Dynamics Bath Iron Works christened the U.S. Navy’s newest guided-missile destroyer, Thomas Hudner (DDG 116). The ship is named for Capt. Thomas Hudner Jr., who intentionally crash landed his plane in an effort to save Ensign Jesse Brown, the nation’s first African-American Navy pilot, during the Korean War’s Chosin Reservoir campaign. The Saturday morning christening ceremony took place at Bath Iron Works’ shipyard and was attended by Capt. Hudner as well as several members of his family and the family of Ensign Brown. Speakers included Sen. Susan Collins, Sen.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday expressed condolences to the families of the victims of the South Korean ferry sinking and said the U.S. military will provide the country with any help it needs to perform rescue operations. Rescuers are battling strong waves and murky waters as they search for hundreds of people, many of them teenagers, who are still missing after the boat capsized about 12 miles (20 km) off the country's southwestern coast. The vessel was bound for the holiday island of Jeju with passengers and crew of 475.

The American Shipbuilding Association (ASA) announced the election of four new Partner Advisory Council officers for calendar years 2009 and 2010. They were elected by their fellow ASA members in the fall of 2008. The four newly-elected officers of the Council are Pete Goumas, General Manager, The Babcock and Wilcox Company, Nuclear Operations Group, Euclid, OH; Shoun Kerbaugh, Vice President, Naval Systems/Merchant, Converteam Inc., Pittsburgh, PA; Bruce Rosenblatt, President, Bruce S. Rosenblatt & Associates, LLC, Arlington, VA; and Don Roussinos, President, Henschel, L-3, Newburyport, MA. Fred Conroy, Vice President and General Manager of the Government Business Unit for Dresser-Rand, Olean, NY, will continue his role on the Council through 2009.

The fourth ship in the Navy's history named in honor of Rear Adm. William T. Sampson, USS Sampson (DDG 102), was commissioned Nov. 3 at Massport's Black Falcon Cruise Ship Terminal with more than a thousand spectators in attendance braving the wind and rain. The new Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer, built at the Bath Iron Works in Maine, was the first ship in five years commissioned in Boston. Sampson's last assignment in the Navy was commander of the Boston Navy Yard, and all four destroyers named in his honor have been commissioned in this historic harbor. Sampson's commissioning officially began with the traditional 19-gun salute by the oldest field artillery regiment in the nation, 1-101st Field Artillery Battalion, Massachusetts Army National Guard.