US Nuclear Submarine Visits Japanese Port
Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS City of Corpus Christi (SSN 705) has docked at Yokosuka port in Japan as part of its Asia-Pacific region itinerary, the US Navy announced in a news release. City of Corpus Christi has conducted a multitude of missions and maintains proficiency in the latest capabilities of the submarine fleet. "Every Westpac (Western Pacific) submariner expects to come here at some point during their time in the theater, and it is always a much anticipated visit," said Cmdr. Travis Petzoldt, commanding officer. Commissioned in 1983, the City of Corpus Christi is more than 300 feet long and weighs more than 6,000 tons, the release noted. "City of Corpus Christi is one of the stealthiest submarines in the world.
US,Japan, Philippines to Hold South China Sea Naval Drill
The U.S. and Japan are conducting separate military drills with the Philippines near disputed islands in the South China Sea, says a report in Reuters. The naval exercises is not far from the disputed Spratly archipelago, where China's rapid creation of seven island outposts is stoking regional tensions. Japan will dispatch a P-3C patrol aircraft to the South China Sea, to join a military exercise with the Philippines navy. Japanese media quoted Tomohisa Takei, chief of staff of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, as saying that the exercise will take place in high seas north of the Philippines' Palawan Island from Sunday until June 27th. The AFP media agency says that the Philippines will hold a joint military exercise with the US and Japan.
Marine Innovations
In extending its adherence to delivering cost-efficient and safety driven technologies, DNV has introduced a new means of quickly and accurately determining steel thickness can speed ship surveys. It is especially valuable in inspecting old and corroded steelwork. Present-day methods, based on ultrasonic thickness measurements, are said to have dubious reliability on heavily corroded plates, and for large vessels are also considered too slow. The basic technological challenge was to transmit 100 percent of the signal energy through corroded steel plates, and receive and interpret the reflected signal to give an accurate thickness measurement. The basic principles of the new measuring method (half-wave resonance) have been known for 40 years.
