Senior Navy News

The Surface Navy Association will hold its 31st National Symposium January 15-17, 2019 at the Crystal City Hyatt Regency Crystal City Hotel in Arlington, Va.The symposium will feature senior Navy leaders delivering keynote remarks, focused on the theme of “Ready, Agile, Focused: Own the Fight!”Featured speakers include Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Bill Moran; Commander, Naval Surface Forces/Commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet Vice Adm. Richard A. Brown, USN; Director, Surface Warfare (N96) Rear Adm. Ronald A. Boxall; and Director, Expeditionary Warfare (N95) Maj. Gen.

Two crashes in the Asia Pacific region involving U.S. Navy warships and commercial vessels this year were caused by preventable errors by the sailors on board the ships, according to the results of Navy investigations released on Wednesday. The accidents, in which 17 sailors were killed, raised questions about Navy training and the pace of operations, prompted a Congressional hearing and the removal of a number of officers. “Both of these accidents were preventable and the respective investigations found multiple failures by watch standers that contributed to the incidents…

Through a presidential proclamation, October has been designated as Energy Action Month to stress the importance of energy for our nation's economic vitality today and for a sustainable future. The Department of Navy's Energy Action Month theme for 2016 is "Power. Presence." This theme illustrates the strong connection between the Navy and Marine Corps' wise use of energy and our ability to be when and where we're needed for national security and humanitarian assistance missions worldwide. In honor of Energy Action Month, naval commands and organizations are demonstrating their commitment to energy resiliency by reducing energy consumption and promoting awareness of energy as an enabler of combat capability.

China's coastguard has prevented Filipino boats from fishing around the hotly contested Scarborough Shoal, Philippine officials said on Friday, after Beijing kept a promise to ignore a court ruling voiding its vast South China Sea claims. A dispute over the shoal, 124 nautical miles northwest of the Philippines mainland was one of Manila's main reasons for bringing international legal action against China in 2013. Military officials and fishermen in northwest province of Pangasinan said Chinese coastguard vessels remained in place at Scarborough and were still preventing fishermen from entering the shoal's lagoon. Many boats had stayed away until the situation was clearer, officials said.

For the past 15 years, the Department of the Navy’s “Forum for SBIR/STTR Transition” (FST) – the nation’s premier small business technology venue – takes a major step forward in allying with the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Exposition (S-A-S) on 16-18 May 2016 at the Gaylord National Harbor near Washington, D.C. “Our collaboration with the Navy League marries the most significant large and small business marketplaces for defense technology, with our respective policy venues that have consistently attracted top Congressional leaders…

MT Orkim Harmony, the fuel-laden Malaysian tanker that “disappeared” off the east coast of Johor last Thursday has been detected in Cambodian waters, according to Chief of Navy Admiral Abdul Aziz Jaafar says a report in Bernama. Abdul Jaafar said the tanker had been repainted and renamed. The tanker was being tailed from the air by aircraft of the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF), Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), national news agency Bernama quoted Aziz as saying. The Malaysian-registered tanker was laden with 6,000 tonnes of RON95 petrol worth RM21 million when it went missing on June 12, while sailing from Malacca to Kuantan Port.

Quad Cities Navy Week kicked off May 4 with a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) presentation by USS Constitution and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Training and Evaluation Unit (EODTEU) 1 Sailors at the Putnam Museum in Davenport, Iowa, and United Township High School in East Moline, Illinois. Other events that took place May 4 included Sailors from the guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans (DDG 68) -- Iowa's namesake ship, named to honor five brothers from Waterloo, Iowa, who served together aboard USS Juneu during World War II and lost their lives during the Battle of Guadalcanal -- volunteering with Living Lands and Waters in Hampton, Illinois, and U.S. Navy Band Great Lakes performing at the River Music Experience in Davenport.

The Israel Navy’s fourth submarine, the ISS Tanin (Crocodile), is expected to become fully operational in a few weeks and participate in naval operations. The nuclear-capable submarine boasts an array of sophisticated weaponry, as well as the latest in intelligence-gathering technology. It stands at a whopping 68 meters long, compared to 57.3 meters on average for other submarines. The navy’s fifth submarine, meanwhile, is expected to arrive this summer, and is now in the final stages of construction at the Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) shipyards in Kiel, Germany. Israel is expected to officially take control of the ISS Rahav (“arrogance” or “fearlessness”) in a few weeks, when it will begin its maiden voyage from Germany to Israel. Lt. Col.

The U.S. Navy on Wednesday asked U.S. and foreign weapons makers for technical and cost data on the design and weapons for a new possible small warship to succeed the Navy's current Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) by 2019. Companies will have 21 days to respond to two separate requests for information on both ship designs and the radars and other weapons that would go on board, said John Burrow, executive director of the Marine Corps' Systems Command and head of a task force studying alternatives for a so-called small surface combatant.

Austal USA announced the appointment of Terry O’Brien to the position of Vice President of Business Development and External Affairs, effective November 18, 2013. In this role, he will be responsible for the all of Austal’s Business Development efforts, state and federal legislative activities, as well as coordinating external communications and media relations. A retired Navy Captain with over 26 years of service, Terry commanded USS Pensacola and the Nassau Amphibious Strike Group during the initial stages of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The U.S. Navy Program Executive Officers for Submarines, Aircraft Carriers, Integrated Warfare Systems, Ships, and Littoral and Mine Warfare will be hosting a conference for Small Businesses who seek opportunities with the U.S. Navy. The NAVSEA Small Business Conference will take place at California State University in Los Angeles, Calif. on 27 January 2010. This event will provide an unprecedented forum where Small Business owners can connect directly with senior Navy and industry leaders to learn, collaborate, and explore ways in which they can offer their products and services in support of Navy warfare programs. Furthermore, the…

Admiral James G. Stavridis, USN, Commander, U.S. Southern Command, will deliver the keynote address at commencement exercises on June 16 for the 213 members of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy’s class of 2008. Admiral Stavridis assumed command of the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) in October 2006. SOUTHCOM is responsible for contingency planning, operations and security cooperation for Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the . SOUTHCOM is also responsible for ensuring the defense of the and the canal area. Located in , SOUTHCOM is comprised of more than 1,200 military and civilian personnel representing the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and several federal agencies.

Maritime Telecommunications Network (MTN), of Miramar, Florida, the leading provider of satellite-based communications, networking and other services to the cruise and offshore oil and gas industries, today announced that John S. Woodbury has joined the company as Director of Government Systems, a new position. He will report to Bradford Briggs, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing. Woodbury has sixteen years of experience in commercial telecommunications. After thirty years in Navy communications, he began his civilian career in 1987 with GTE Government Systems. As Manager, Navy Systems, in Chesapeake, Va., he was GTE Program Manager for the first fully encrypted ship/shore/ship Ku band commercial satellite video teleconference…

The rescue of the nine coal miners in Somerset, Pa. last weekend involved the efforts of several local, state and federal agencies working together. This team included members of the Navy’s diving and salvage community, including divers from Naval Sea Systems Command’s Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV) directorate and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technical Division in Indian Head, Md. When the Navy learned of the mine collapse, the Chief of Naval Operations’ Office directed SUPSALV to support the rescue operations by providing assistance and equipment to treat the miners for possible decompression problems. SUPSALV quickly assembled a team of diving and medical experts from the Fleet – from commands including Underwater Construction Team One…

The United States must engage with maritime partners around the world to create and build trust, according to senior Navy leaders speaking at the 2007 Surface Navy Association West Coast Symposium, held pier side at Naval Station San Diego, in August. Surrounded by ships and cooled summer breeze coming off the harbor, the many attendees heard about the Navy’s efforts to create and build upon meaningful partnerships. Rear Adm. Pete Daly discussed the Navy’s efforts to create a new maritime strategy. The previous maritime strategy addressed a Soviet threat that no longer exists. “We had one big enemy. We understood that enemy. We knew where they were coming from. In the past, military powers knew that military adventurism would be met with reciprocal force.

Industry experts and U.S. Navy leadership will gather next month at a workshop conducted by the American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE) to discuss how the U.S. Navy can afford, resource, acquire and deliver “state of the shelf” C4I technologies to ensure deploying naval forces are equipped with the latest yet most dependable capabilities. Industry participants will have an opportunity to hear first hand, from the Navy’s top level C4I leadership, about the Navy’s C4I strategy and requirements and the challenges they face in rapidly transitioning the best available C4I technologies to the Fleet. Industry participants will then develop ideas and recommendations that they will present to the Navy C4I leaders. The two-day workshop, sponsored by the U.S.

The U.S. Navy's David Taylor Model Basin provided the setting for the sixth running of the International Human-Powered Submarine Races (ISR), a biennial engineering design competition, held June 11-15 at the Naval Surface Warfare Center's Carderock Division in Bethesda, Md. This was the third time the event was staged in the 3,000-ft. test tank. The races are a challenge that began in 1989 and have grown to an event that has seen the participation of universities, high schools, corporations, and privately sponsored teams from the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Typical teams consist of student athlete-engineers in scuba gear, propelling and steering as the sub races the clock along a measured underwater course.

Outstanding creativity in science and engineering were recently honored by a U.S. congressman and senior Navy officials. Keynote speaker U.S. Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett (MD-6) joined Naval Surface Warfare Center commander Rear Admiral Michael Mathis, in a ceremony recognizing Navy civilian employees. Since the previous year's ceremony, 56 current and former employees have won 30 patents for inventions associated with Carderock Division programs. These innovators are individually recognized for significant contributions to the U.S. Navy. At the same time, 19 first-time inventors are being recognized specially by induction into the Carderock Inventors Club, a command honor society celebrating the issuance of the first U.S. patent bearing a Navy civilian inventor's name.

The fate of New England's shipbuilding industry and thousands of jobs will depend on a series of top-level discussions that began yesterday at the Defense Department, where Navy officials are scrambling to salvage long-term plans to buy new warships and submarines built at shipyards in Maine and Connecticut. The region narrowly escaped the closure last summer of its two largest naval facilities, in Kittery, Maine, and Groton, Conn., but its multibillion-dollar ship manufacturing sector remains in jeopardy, according to defense officials and lawmakers. The Pentagon is seeking major budget cuts to help reduce the federal deficit and finance the priorities of the war on terrorism -- $7 billion worth next year alone -- and is considering further reductions in the size of the naval fleet…

A senior Navy official is warning that rising costs in key programs such as Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics' next-generation surface combat ships could derail efforts by the department to modernize its fleet and aircraft. The Navy has awarded contracts for four ships that initially were estimated to cost $270 million each under the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program, two to Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin Corp. and two to Falls Church, Va.-based General Dynamics Corp. But the cost of Lockheed's first ship - which is roughly 73 percent completed - has already soared to roughly $350 million, according to the Navy. The Navy ordered a halt to work on the Lockheed's second ship in January while it conducted a program review.

U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin could reach a preliminary agreement as early as next week on how much the defense contractor will be paid for a pair of next-generation combat ships according to the AP. Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter has indicated he plans to strike a deal with Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin Corp. ahead of an April 12 deadline after a stop-work order was placed on one of its ships due to cost overruns, Capt. Beci Brenton, spokeswoman for Winter's office, said on Friday. Senior Navy officials in January placed a 90-day stop-work order on the second of two ships Lockheed is building as part of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program so they could conduct a cost review.

By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Seth Clarke, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/U.S. Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (SW/FMF) Joe R. Campa Jr. addressed enlisted service members at Naval Support Activity (NSA) Bahrain July 1. Campa focused on a wide range of topics, including individual augmentee (IA) missions, the importance of the Physical Readiness Test, rating mergers and off-duty education. The MCPON also stressed the importance of leadership. “I firmly believe that the quality of a Sailor’s life is directly tied to the quality of their leadership,” said Campa. “As I go out and visit commands to see how they’re doing, the commands that are doing very well are well lead. Those that are struggling have challenges in leadership.

U.S. "We are pleased to note that the Secretary of Defense has agreed with the position of the Committee on Armed Services that an officer in the grade of Vice Admiral would be a valuable addition to the staff of the senior Navy acquisition executive. The Committee has long felt that a senior officer serving as the Principle Deputy to the Assistant Secretary for Research, Development and Acquisition would be a valuable link between the uniformed service and the civilian acquisition professionals.