Kaneohe Bay News

The 2022 biennial, multi-national Rim of the Pacific's (RIMPAC) exercise has come to a close.This year’s exercise with the theme of “Capable Adaptive Partners,” featured 26 participating nations and 38 surface ships, three submarines, more than 30 uncrewed systems, approximately 170 aircraft, and more than 25,000 personnel.RIMPAC 2022 featured a wide range of capabilities--projecting the inherent flexibility of maritime forces and helping to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific, and took place in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California, June 29 to Aug.

The Coast Guard is searching for seven people overdue aboard a tour helicopter on Kauai, Thursday."The weather conditions are challenging. We have trained crews responding and on scene searching for any signs of the helicopter and those aboard," said Petty Officer 1st Class Robert Cox, Coast Guard Joint Rescue Command Center Honolulu.The owner of an overdue tour helicopter contacted watchstanders at JRCC Honolulu at 6:06 p.m. They stated the aircraft was due back at 5:21 p.m. from a tour of Kauai's Napali Coast with one pilot and six passengers. Two of the six passengers are reportedly minors.

Responders continue the search for five Army aviators who went missing Tuesday night approximately two miles west of Ka'ena Point, the westernmost tip of land on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. The search began late Tuesday following notification to the Coast Guard from personnel at Wheeler Army Airfield stating they lost communication with one of their UH-60 Black Hawk aircrews. The missing aircrew was reportedly engaged in night time training operations between Ka'ena Point and Dillingham Airfield. None of the aviators have been located yet. No further debris has been recovered. Personnel continue to coordinate efforts at the joint forward operating base at Hale'iwa Boat Harbor.

Responders are continuing the search for five missing Army aviators from a downed Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter approximately two miles west of Ka'ena Point, Oahu, Wednesday. En route is Coast Guard Cutter Walnut (WLB 205) and crew, a 225-foot buoy tender homeported in Honolulu. None of the aviators have been located yet. Debris has been spotted and recovered near Ka'ena Point by responders. A joint forward incident command post has been established at Hale'iwa Boat Harbor to coordinate search and rescue efforts. Debris from the crash should be considered hazardous material and should only be recovered by recovery teams with the proper training and personal protective equipment. The debris poses potential risk and could cause serious bodily harm due to sharp edges.

The U.S. Navy has accepted delivery of future guided-missile destroyer USS John Finn (DDG 113) from shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) on December 7, the 75th anniversary of the attacks on Pearl Harbor. HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division delivered the Arleigh Burke-class (DDG 51) guided missile destroyer DDG 113 after completing three sets of at-sea and in-port trials which proved the ship's operational readiness. The ship is the 63rd DDG 51-class destroyer and the first of the DDG 51 Flight IIA restart ships.

Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command Adm. Phil Davidson announced the 2015 USFFC Fleet Sea and Shore Sailors of the Year during a ceremony hosted by the Hampton Roads Navy League at the Sheraton Waterside in Norfolk, March 24. Aviation Boatswain's Mate 1st Class (AW/SW) Tinisha Franklin, a native of Brooklyn, New York, stationed aboard aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) was announced as the 2015 Sea Sailor of the Year and Aviation Warfare Systems Operator 1st Class (AW/SW) Brian McGarrigle, a native of Clearwater, Florida, stationed at Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 40 (HSM-40) as the Shore Sailor of the Year. "For the Shore Sailors of the Year standing behind me…

The Coast Guard is seeking the public's help identifying the owner of a 13-foot white sailing dinghy found near Kaneohe Bay, Wednesday. Anyone with information that may help identify the owner of the sailing dinghy is asked to contact the Coast Guard Sector Honolulu Command Center at 808-842-2600808-842-2600 FREE FREE. Watchstanders at the Sector Honolulu command center received a report at 5:25 p.m., from MCB Hawaii Waterfront Operations that a Marine Corps helicopter crew spotted an unmanned adrift paddleboard while conducting training near Kaneohe Bay. Waterfront Operations launched a small boat crew to relocate the paddleboard. Once on-scene, the crew reported that it was not a paddleboard, but a small sailing dinghy with no mast, sail or means of propulsion.

When one thinks of offshore renewable energy, one usually thinks of offshore wind. For the first time progress is being made in the U.S. to develop offshore wind resources. The first steel foundation jacket has been placed in the ocean floor to support the Deepwater Wind project off the coast of Block Island, Rhode Island. (See www.dwwind.com/press/#/1). But recently, progress is also being made in the development of tidal and wave energy resources closer to shore, which are known as marine hydrokinetic or MHK resources.

The Navy hopes to expand its testing for ocean wave energy power generation in Hawaii, having been testing an energy buoy in about 100 feet of water off Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay for about 10 years. The Navy now hopes to put two more buoys in water more than 200 feet deep, and the greater depth will allow it to test larger devices closer to the size it needed to generate energy for customers. Bob Frederickson of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command said the new buoys are the next step toward commercializing wave energy.

Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii – The Navy’s energy future was the focus of a two-day NAVFAC Conference and Industry Day, held March 26-28 at the Koa Malina Officers Club, Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH), Kaneohe Bay. The Navy, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, will select three ocean energy power developers to occupy Wave Energy Test Site (WETS) moorings at Kaneohe Bay. "The Navy is committed to reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and is leading the way on the development of viable, renewable energy sources,” said NAVFAC Pacific Vice Commander Capt. Pete Lynch. “NAVFAC Pacific is working on ways to make the Navy’s shore infrastructure more energy independent and strengthen our energy security position. The ocean is an untapped resource and possible source of renewable energy.

Naval Station Pearl Harbor and the National Park Service activated the first USS Arizona Memorial biodiesel ferry boat #39-1 John W. Finn during a ceremony at the USS Arizona Memorial and Visitor Center April 7. The John W. Finn is the first of five new boats that will ultimately replace the existing 20-year old U.S. Navy-operated tour boats that transport 1.5 million visitors per year to and from the memorial. "I think the time has come when people of the world are beginning…

A female bottlenose dolphin “BJ” performs her daily exercises while her trainer, Dera Look, supervises at the joint Marine Mammal Research Program on board Marine Corps Base Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. Professionals and students from the University of Hawaii are studying dolphin hearing and echolocation, the use of sound waves to see. The research will improve the Navy’s mining and sonar techniques and make the oceans safer for marine mammals. U.S. Navy photo by Journalist 2nd Class Jessica B. Davis By Journalist 2nd Class Jessica B. Davis, U.S. Professionals and students from the University of Hawaii (UH) are currently studying dolphin hearing and echolocation - the use of sound waves to "see" - to help the Navy improve mining and sonar techniques and make the oceans safer for marine mammals.

Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. (OPTT, OPT.L), a developer of PowerBuoy systems that generate electricity by harnessing the renewable energy of ocean waves, said it received an additional $1.9m for the installation of PowerBuoys, in connection with its on-going contract with the U.S. Navy. According to the Pennington, New Jersey- based company, the fund will primarily support the testing and monitoring of the next PowerBuoy systems to be installed off the Marine Corps Base in Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay. The site is one mile away from the coast and 100 feet deep in the sea. Ocean Power indicated that the systems will be tested at the sites and the performance data collected would support the on-going engineering of the next generation of PowerBuoys.