Navy Times News

Has the age of maritime discovery and exploration actually ended? Perhaps not exactly. As the history of maritime resilience and the human element shows, as far back as the 1500s and earlier, from using new navigational aids and improved ship designs, to coastal and inland route sailing, to navigating on open seas with uncertain charts, wayward icebergs, dense fog and luckily at times, clear starry nights, mariners have faced human element and maritime resiliency challenges. "Short of food and water…

A U.S. Navy sailor feared to have fallen overboard has been found alive aboard USS Shiloh (CG 67) a week after he went missing. Gas Turbine Systems Technician (Mechanical) 3rd Class Peter Mims was reported missing June 8 and was presumed to have fallen overboard in the Philippine Sea, triggering a search involving U.S. Navy, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and Japan Coast Guard assets that lasted more than 50 hours and covered some 5,500 square miles. The ocean search was suspended on June 11, but the ship’s crew continued to search on board the vessel.

The commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific said on Friday the United States must carry out freedom of navigation patrols throughout the Asia Pacific, but declined to say whether it planned go within 12 nautical miles of China's artificial islands in the South China Sea. Asked about reports that the United States planned to challenge 12-nautical mile limits around China's artificial islands, he replied: "I will not confirm that. Pressed on the issue, Harris said, "I believe that we should exercise freedom of navigation wherever we need to.

The U.S. government has a made a $1.97 million payment to the Philippines for damages to a protected coral reef caused by a U.S. Navy minesweeper. The USS Guardian ran aground on the Tubbataha Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in January 2013. The park's management, the World Wide Fund for Nature, and marine experts said that 25,240 square feet of corrals were damaged, according to the Navy Times. After the ship ran aground on the reef, it was dismantled piece by piece to prevent further damage. The funds will be used to protect the reef and improve monitoring of the area. The U.S.

Somali pirates holding a hijacked ship for nearly two years killed a Syrian hostage crew member and wounded another. This is believed to be the first time Somali pirates have killed a hostage because of a delay in ransom. Hassan Abdi, a pirate commander in Haradhere town, a key pirate center, said that the killing was a message to the owners of the ship MV Orna, a Panama-flagged, bulk cargo vessel owned by a company in the United Arab Emirates) hijacked off Seychelles in 2010. Somali pirates hijacked the MV Orna after firing rocket propelled grenades and small arms at the ship in December 2010, when it was about 400 miles northeast off the Seychelles. Source: Navy Times/AP

Navy investigation reports chaos on bridge of USS Essex last spring, leading to collision with oiler Yukon. The Essex skipper’s failure to properly lead his junior bridge watch team caused what could have been an “avoidable” collision, according to the report obtained by Navy Times through a Freedom of Information Act request. The findings shed new light on the May 16 collision off the coast of California, a day before Essex returned to San Diego. For his role in the collision, Capt. Charles E. “Chuck” Litchfield was fired June 18 by Rear Adm.

'USS Miami', heavily damaged by an arsonist in May, will cost US$450 to fix, put back into service. The figure is about $50 million higher than the initial repair estimates, and the service admits it could change as much as an additional $45 million, or 10 percent, reports 'Navy Times'. The fire heavily damaged or destroyed the submarine’s control room, combat systems and torpedo room. Casey James Fury, a civilian worker at the shipyard, is accused of setting the fire and of lighting a smaller fire outside the submarine on June 16. He remains in jail, awaiting trial.

Head of Naval Surface Forces says officials looking closely at Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) manning in order to alleviate crew exhaustion. Recent disclosure of a closely held Navy study of LCS operations, indicated among the many issues identified, that the ship’s 40-member crew was over-taxed in port and exhausted underway, reports 'Navy Times'. “Certainly, there’s some crew fatigue involved, and I think with any new class of ship, you try to find the limits of the machine and the people operating the machine,” Vice Adm.

Peeling paint sidelined USCG’s newest cutter, 'Bernard C. Three months after its commissioning, the fast response cutter (FRC) Bernard C. Webber was back on land to repair chunks of top coat literally peeling from the ship’s hull, reports 'Navy Times'. The majority of the top coat remained in place until the ship got back to dry dock for a repaint; the largest piece to come off was 18 square feet located near the stern on the port side of the ship, Charles “Skip” Bowen, program manager for FRC's at the builders, Bollinger Shipyards told 'Navy Times'.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus sat down with Navy Times to share his vision for the future of the Navy as he begins his fourth year on the job. Q. Is there anything about the Navy you would like to discuss, anything right off the bat? A. When you look at the new defense strategy, with its emphasis on the Middle East and the Western Pacific, with its requirement for innovative, low-cost, small-footprint presence elsewhere in the globe, with its requirements with engagement with partners, it’s a very maritime strategy. It requires a great Navy and Marine Corps.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus is touring the Pacific to meet with government and military leaders as his department plans to shift more ships, sailors and Marines to the region. Mabus left Washington for Hawaii to meet with Adm. Cecil Haney, the new commander of Pacific Fleet. From there he will stop in Guadalcanal, Australia, East Timor, Brunei, the Seychelles and Cape Verde. He told Navy Times in an interview that the goal of the two-week trip is to build stronger relationships between the host nations and the U.S.

The Navy Times reported that former Mississippi governor Ray Mabus will be nominated as the next Secretary of the Navy, as the Obama administration announced on March 27. Mabus served as the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1994 to 1996 under President Bill Clinton and served in the U.S. Navy as a surface warfare officer aboard the missile cruiser Little Rock. (Source: Navy Times)

The success of a global “1,000-ship navy” will hinge on a broader partnership with U.S. allies and trading partners and a commitment to building the Navy’s future fleet to support maritime security missions, lofty goals that may fall short in funding, several military experts said during a defense conference here, according to the Navy Times. As envisioned, the global maritime force would patrol the high seas and secure ports and waterways. The concept, developed in 2005 by Vice Adm. John G. Morgan Jr. and Rear Adm. Charles Martoglio, is getting serious review by the top brass. But its fate faces threats from tight defense budgets and ongoing debates over the Navy’s shipbuilding plans.

The Navy’s ship for future sea warfare has become so problematic a congressional subcommittee has called a public hearing to get immediate answers. The Seapower and Expeditionary Forces Subcommittee will hear from those responsible for the Littoral Combat Ship program. In recent weeks, the program to build a fast, flexible and lightly manned warship has been beset with issues. Its advertised price of $220 million per hull rose dramatically to estimates toward $400 million a piece. The Navy wants 55 of the frigate-sized, shallow draft ships, making it a cornerstone of the future fleet. It’s designed to operate close to shore with a ship’s crew of just 40 sailors and a mission crew and air detachment of 35.

The last all-gun cruiser in the U.S. Navy’s inventory is finally headed for the scrapyard. The cruiser Des Moines began the long tow to Texas on Aug. 21 from a storage facility in Philadelphia, where it had been kept for 45 years. Although the Navy planned to get rid of the ship more than a decade ago, disposal was put off while several preservation groups attempted to preserve the Des Moines as a museum ship. None of those efforts came to fruition, and the Navy decided in May to scrap the ship. On Aug. 21 — the same day the ship left Philadelphia — a $924,000 contract to dismantle the Des Moines was awarded to ESCO Marine of Brownsville, Texas. Under tow by the Navy salvage ship Grasp, the Des Moines is expected to arrive in Brownsville around Sept.