OP/ED: Offshore Wind
Set to Soar, Taking Offshore Support Industry With it.Offshore energy development is opening a new front in the United States -- the Atlantic seaboard, with strong winds, a shallow continental shelf and a proximity to dense population centers is driving strong interest in offshore wind development. The offshore oil and gas supply chain stands to benefit in a big way from billions in coming investment. In fact, it is already playing a role. Companies in the Gulf of Mexico, which traditionally support the offshore oil and gas sector…
Bush Orders Review Of Military/Civilian Policies
President George W. Bush has ordered a review of all policy on civilian activity during military exercises after the sinking of a Japanese trawler in a collision with a U.S. submarine near Hawaii. Two civilians were at control positions when the USS Greeneville rose rapidly to the surface, hitting the Japanese vessel, but Navy officials have said they were closely supervised. "What's going to be necessary is for (Defense) Secretary (Donald) Rumsfeld and the Defense Department to review all policy regarding civilian activity during military exercises ... particularly in light of the recent tragedy in Hawaii," Bush told reporters at the start of a budget meeting with Republican lawmakers at the White House.
NB Kitsap Submariners Celebrate 107 Years of History
More than 1,100 submariners and their guests attended the 107th Enlisted Submariner's Birthday Ball at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel Grand Ballroom on April 28. Twenty submariner commands from the Naval Base (NB) Kitsap region attended the event, which included special guests: Rear Adm. Frank M. Drennan, the commander of Submarine Group 9; Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (SW/FMF) Joe Campa Jr.; Pacific Fleet Command Master Chief (SS/SW) Rick West; U.S. 3rd Fleet Command Master Chief (SS/SW) Mark Rudes; Submarine Force Pacific Command Master Chief (SS) Mo Pollard. Campa addressed and thanked the crews for what they do for the country and thanked the family members for their support of our submariners.
Corpus Christi Maintenance Project Completed Early
The USS City of Corpus Christi (SSN 705) project team at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard (PHNSY) completed the Guam-homeported submarine’s Docking Selected Restricted Availability (DSRA) maintenance project on Dec. 15, six days ahead of schedule. In a congratulatory note to the PHNSY team, the Commander of Submarine Force Pacific, Rear Adm. Joseph A. The project team and other shipyard managers acknowledged this project took a slightly different management “tone” from other prioritized projects in the past, and that the positive approach set the team up for early success. “There was ownership and everyone got to hit the ‘I believe button’ in planning,” said Cmdr. Jamie Kalowsky, project superintendent of the approximately 50-member Corpus Christi project management team.
Navy Conducts First Escape Exercise From Nuclear Sub
Seven personnel practiced locking out from the attack submarine USS Los Angeles (SSN 688) and ascending to the surface wearing special suits that are designed to enable a free ascent from a stricken submarine Dec. 2 during ESCAPEX at the Navy’s Southeast Alaska Acoustic Measurement Facility in Ketchikan, Alaska. While several foreign navies practice the maneuver routinely, the U.S. Navy had not conducted it in more than three decades, and never from a nuclear-powered submarine. The Navy’s renewed interest in submarine escape comes as U.S. submarines operate more frequently now in shallow coastal waters, said Submarine Development Squadron (CSDS) 5 Commander Capt. Butch Howard, who oversaw the exercise.
