USS LAFAYETTE Construction and commissioning Jacqueline Kennedy christening Lafayette Operational history Lafayette departed Charleston on 4 January 1964 for her first deterrent patrol in the Atlantic Ocean. During the next four years, Lafayette made 16 deterrent patrols out of Rota, Spain. Her 15th patrol, the 400th of the Polaris submarine fleet, won Lafayette special commendation from Secretary of the Navy Paul Nitze. She returned to Charleston from her 16th patrol on 23 August 1967. A week later, she arrived at Newport News, Virginia, for a major overhaul by Newport News Shipbuilding to prepare for future service. On 28 December 1968, Lafayette’s overhaul officially ended and in January 1969, she once again took up her position with the fleet. On 18 May 1969, Lafayette departed Charleston, South Carolina, for her 17th Polaris patrol, and before the year was out, logged two more such evolutions. During 1970, she conducted four more (Patrols 20-23 inclusive). Lafayette, her Gold Crew on board, departed on Patrol 24 in January 1971, returning in March to Rota whereupon the Blue Crew prepared for Patrol 25, departing in April and returning in June. Subsequently, the Gold Crew conducted Patrol 26 from July until September. On 1 September, Lafayette launched five Polaris A-2 missiles; the boat’s performance during the ensuing “operation of great importance to the United States Government [1–30 September 1971],” during which time she “maintained an impressively high state of readiness and demonstrated conclusively the effectiveness and dependability of the Fleet Ballistic Missile System…attested to the professional competence, technical skill and sustained team effort” of Lafayette’s Gold Crew, earning them a Meritorious Unit Commendation (awarded 11 May 1973). Soon thereafter, the Blue Crew carried out Patrol 27. Upon Lafayette’s return in October, the Gold Crew made ready for Patrol 28, departing in December. During the first few months of 1972, Lafayette successfully completed and undertook three Polaris patrols, as well as transited from Rota to New London, Connecticut. Following her arrival at the latter port, she performed weekly operations in support of Commander Submarine Force, Atlantic’s, Second-Class Midshipmen Submarine Summer Indoctrination, continuing until September, during which time she provided underway training for over 1,000 midshipmen. Rear Admiral Paul J. Early, Commander Submarine Flotilla 2, later commended Lafayette for her “careful preparation and superb execution which characterized your participating in this vital program. Midshipmen reaction was consistently favorable. Such a response is clear evidence of a sustained, dedicated effort on the part of the Commanding Officer and Crew and reflects admirable standards of leadership and performance.” Dr. Franklin B. Lincoln Jr., a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, toured Lafayette on 27 June and received a briefing “on the operations and conditions aboard [sic] a Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine.” On 23 August, the boat hosted a large group of students from the Naval War College, Newport, R.I., “for the purpose of [their] obtaining insight into the operational capabilities and limitations, manning and habitability of the modern FBM submarine.” Mr. Leif Leifland, Minister Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary to the Royal Swedish Embassy embarked for a tour on 2 October; Rear Admiral Edwin E. McMorries (SC), Commanding Officer, Ships Parts Control Center, Mechanicsburg, Pa., visited the boat on 3 October; two days later, author Joseph M. Duckert visited Lafayette in the course of gathering information “for his latest book, Nuclear Ships of the World.” Having completed sound trials, Lafayette conducted a weapons off-load to prepare for entrance into the Electric Boat yard for what was slated to be an 18-month overhaul and conversion to enable her to employ the new Poseidon missile. Following that, the Blue and Gold Crews combined into a single overhaul crew on 6 October 1972, Lafayette entering the shipyard on the 13th. Lafayette lay in the yard for the remainder of 1972 and all of 1973, and ultimately emerged from her conversion work at Electric Boat (“schedule slippage [due to] work force dilution at these yards [Electric Boat and Newport News] which have high current and projected workload”) on 7 November 1974. She then embarked Vice Admiral Joe Williams, Jr., Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, who observed post-overhaul shakedown training (24–29 November). On 16 December, while operating out of Port Canaveral, Lafayette’s Blue Crew conducted the successful launch of a Poseidon C-3 missile as part of her post-availability shakedown, making Lafayette the first of her class to fire one of those weapons. Rear Admiral Levering Smith, Director, Strategic Systems Project Office, Rear Admiral Albert L. Kelln, Commander, Submarine Group 6, and Brig. Gen. J. H. Ahmann, Commander, Air Force Eastern Test Range, witnessed the test. The Blue Crew completed post-overhaul shakedown training on 21 January 1975 having visited Charleston, S.C., Port Canaveral, Fla., and Exuma Sound, Bahamas, during the course of those evolutions; relieved by the Gold Crew at Charleston, the latter conducted their post-overhaul shakedown training, conducting Weapons System Accuracy Trials (WSAT) at St. Croix, Virgin Islands, and Mk. 48 Torpedo Certification in Exuma Sound. Following another crew exchange at Charleston, the Blue Crew carried out Mk. 48 Torpedo Certification in Exuma Sound, and took Lafayette to Groton for an eight-month post-conversion availability. Returning to Charleston to exchange crews, Lafayette conducted two more patrols, 31 and 32, to round out the year. During the first half of 1976, Lafayette carried out Patrols 33 (Gold) and 34 (Blue) from Holy Loch; her Gold Crew conducted Patrol 35, carrying out evolutions in the eastern Atlantic, after which time the boat fired a Mk. 48 torpedo proficiency in the Tongue of the Ocean, Bahamas. Following the Blue Crew’s conducting the next refit at Charleston, Lafayette conducted torpedo proficiency work in the Tongue of the Ocean, and local operations off the eastern seaboard, then Patrol 36. The Gold Crew relieved the Blue at Holy Loch in January 1977, and the two crews alternated conducting Poseidon deterrent patrols (37-40) from that site. In June of that year (1977), Lafayette, to demonstrate “the continuing effectiveness of the Fleet Ballistic Missile weapon system,” launched two Poseidon missiles in an operational test. Lafayette completed Patrols 41 and 42 in the first half of 1978. Patrol 41 included operations in the Eastern Atlantic followed by an Mk. 48 torpedo proficiency firing period at the AUTEC range near Bermuda. Subsequently, the Blue Crew conducted refit at Charleston, after which Lafayette performed Mk. 48 torpedo proficiency firings at the AUTEC range and midshipman training out of New London and Charleston. Relieving the Blue Crew at Holy Loch, the Gold Crew conducted a refit there, thereafter carrying out Patrol 43. Following that, the Blue Crew relieved the Gold Crew in December. The New Year 1979 saw the crews completing Patrols 44 and 45. Thereafter, refit periods took place in Holy Loch. Patrols 46 and 47 took place in the second half of the year; 46 included operations in the Eastern Atlantic followed by an Mk. 48 torpedo proficiency firing period at the AUTEC range near Bermuda, with the Gold Crew conducting a subsequent refit in King’s Bay, Georgia. Upon completion of the refit, the Gold Crew again conducted an Mk. 48 torpedo proficiency firing at the AUTEC range near Bermuda, after which they enjoyed a port call at Port Canaveral, Florida. For the first eleven months of 1980, Lafayette conducted Patrols 48, 49 and 50, interspersed with refits at Holy Loch. In December, the combined crew refitted the boat at Groton. In the early January 1981, she hosted a dependents cruise from New London to Norfolk, Virginia. Subsequently, Lafayette got underway for Patrol 51. In February, she completed a missile offload in Charleston in preparation for arriving at the shipyard on 2 March, and on the 6th, entered the newly constructed dry dock at Newport News for an extended refuelling overhaul. She then spent the rest of 1982 in Newport News. On 23 April 1983, Lafayette celebrated the 20th anniversary of her commissioning. Although the ship had already completed Alpha and Bravo sea trials while in the shipyard, a change of command ceremony held on 20 May officially welcomed her back into the operational fleet. Both crews subsequently completed a shakedown period consisting of an Operational Reactor Safeguards via WordPress https://ift.tt/KvGYbLC Georgia spent the majority of her career in the Atlantic Fleet. In 1907, she took part in the Jamestown Exposition and suffered an explosion in her aft 8-inch gun turret that killed or wounded 21 men. At the end of the year, she joined the Great White Fleet on its circumnavigation of the globe, which ended in early 1909. Peacetime training followed for the next five years, and in 1914 she cruised in Mexican waters to protect American interests during the Mexican Revolution. In early 1916, the ship was temporarily decommissioned. When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, the ship was tasked with training naval recruits for the expanding wartime fleet. Starting in September 1918, she was used as a convoy escort. Her only casualties during the war were due to disease, the result of poor conditions and severe overcrowding aboard the ship. Georgia was used to transport American soldiers back from France in 1918–1919, and the following year she was transferred to the Pacific Fleet, where she served as the flagship of the 2nd Division, 1st Squadron. The Washington Naval Treaty, signed in 1922, cut short the ship’s career, as it mandated severe draw-downs in naval strength. Georgia was accordingly sold for scrap in November 1923. via WordPress https://ift.tt/0jmPwq7 JANUARY 26, 2024 6:37 PM HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding was awarded a $913 million contract for the advanced procurement for the mid-life overhaul and nuclear refueling of carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), the Pentagon announced on Thursday. “The contract, which has total potential value of $913 million, includes engineering, design, material procurement and fabrication, documentation, resource forecasting and pre-overhaul inspections,” reads a statement from HII provided to USNI News. According to the contract announcement, the advanced procurement work is set to be completed in 2026. The announcement did not set a time frame for Truman to arrive at Newport News. RCOHs account for about a third of the Newport News’ business with the other two-thirds focused on new construction carriers and submarines. Truman returned from a nine-month-long deployment to the Atlantic and Eastern Mediterranean on Sept. 12, 2022. As part of its Fiscal Year 2020 budget proposal, the Pentagon proposed to decommission Truman and buy two new Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers. Then acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan defended canceling Truman’s RCOH as a cost savings of $3.4 billion. “We want to make sure that not only the shipyards maintain their employment, there’s actually growth, but also [growth in] the supply chain. The last is the funds that we freed up making these decisions are invested in the future force,” he told the Senate at the time. Congress rejected the proposal and approved the both twin carrier buy and Truman’s refueling. Currently, USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) is at the yard undergoing its own RCOH. USS George Washington (CVN-73) completed its own RCOH last year. GW suffered two years of unplanned extensions in part due to COVID-19 workforce shortfalls and unplanned work related to GW’s overhaul schedule when the carrier served in Yokosuka, Japan, service officials have told USNI News. The extended overhaul exposed major quality-of-life problems for sailors who were living on the carrier during the maintenance period. Nine sailors assigned to the carrier died by suicide, prompting the quality of life investigation. The following is the complete contract announcement. Huntington Ingalls Inc., Newport News, Virginia, was awarded a $913,150,550 cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for advanced planning and long-lead-time material procurement to prepare and make ready for the accomplishment of the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) Refueling and Complex Overhaul. Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia and is expected to be completed by June 2026. Fiscal 2023 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $250,000,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 3204(a)(1), (only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements). The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-24-C-2106). (Awarded Jan. 25, 2024) RelatedUSS George Washington Leaves Newport News After Almost 6-Year-Long Refueling OverhaulMay 22, 2023 In “Industry” Aircraft Carrier USS George Washington Redelivers to Navy After 2,120-Day OverhaulMay 25, 2023 In “Aviation” HII Wins $528M San Diego Aircraft Carrier Maintenance ContractJuly 24, 2023 In “Aviation” via WordPress https://ift.tt/SRavpJz PARIS — The Danish air-defense frigate Iver Huitfeldt set sail to the Suez Canal on Monday to join the coalition protecting shipping in the Red Sea, just days after an oil-products tanker was hit by a Houthi missile in the Gulf of Aden. The Iver Huitfeldt will join U.S.-led Operation Prosperity Guardian once parliament gives final approval, expected on Feb. 6, Denmark’s Ministry of Defense said on Monday. France transferred a second frigate to the Red Sea region eight days ago, while Belgium is sending the frigate Louise-Marie to join a nascent European Union mission there. The frigates will strengthen the multinational fleet defending commercial shipping from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, who have been attacking vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden with missiles and drones. A.P. Møller-Mærsk, the world’s second-largest container shipping company, is headquartered in Denmark, while third-largest container shipper CMA CGM is based in France. “As a major seafaring nation, Denmark has a clear interest in contributing to maritime security,” Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said in a statement. “The Houthi attacks against international shipping and thus the security of international waters are deeply worrying and a serious threat to the international world order.” The Houthis have vowed to attack all ships in the Red Sea that are linked to Israel, in response to the war in the Gaza Strip. Trade volume going through the Suez Canal has fallen by an estimated 42% in the past two months in response to the attacks, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development, which says the waterway handled as much as 15% of global trade in 2023. The French air-defense frigate Alsace transited the Suez Canal to the Red Sea earlier this month to join the Languedoc already in the area. Alsace, together with the U.S. Navy destroyer Carney and the Indian Navy destroyer Visakhapatnam, helped extinguish a fire onboard the tanker Marlin Luanda on Jan. 27, after the vessel operated by Trafigura and transporting a cargo of naphtha was hit by a Houthi-fired anti-ship ballistic missile in the Gulf of Aden. The U.K. frigate HMS Diamond over the weekend used its air-defense missiles to fend off a drone attack from the Houthis in the Red Sea. The American, British and French navies have been regularly engaging Houthi missiles and drones since December, and the U.S. and the U.K. in the past month have been carrying out strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen in retaliation. Operating a multinational coalition allows vessels to be taken out of the operational theater before they run out of ordnance, with partners able to take duty stations, Adm. Sir Ben Key, First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff of the Royal Navy, said at the Paris Naval Conference last week. He said the region around the Red Sea has a number of “really effective ports,” for example in Egypt and Saudi Arabia as well as in Oman, that allow for resupply of missiles and engineering support. The U.S. is working to develop reloading at sea, with U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro having asked for experiments to see what that might look like “sometime this summer,” U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti said at the Paris conference. About Rudy Ruitenberg Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics. via WordPress https://ift.tt/OlIZocw When Midshipman Sean Keven became the first ever officer to receive the Dick McBurney Sword of Distinction, it was during his intake’s graduation day in December. It’s only now that he’s had a chance to appreciate the story behind it. 30 JANUARY, 2024In July Navy Today ran a story on Lieutenant Commander (rtd) Dick McBurney MBE and his desire to donate his sword to a deserving officer, someone who had ‘lower deck’ origins like LTCDR McBurney and was now Commissioning From the Ranks (CFR). MID Keven was one of five officers in Junior Officer Common Training intake 23/02 who had previously served in the ranks. As the top overall CFR graduate, he was presented with the sword, as well as the Commodore Davis-Goff CBE, DSC Trophy, traditionally presented to the best CFR graduate. The sword stays on display at the Leadership Development Group but any time in his career MID Keven, and subsequent awardees, are entitled to request the sword and wear it for ceremonial occasions. LTCDR McBurney, originally from Northern Ireland, joined the Royal Navy in 1948, commissioned in 1963 and served in the Royal New Zealand Navy from 1972 to 1981. He and his wife are retired in Waikanae. The sword, purchased from renowned Naval outfitters Gieves of London, is made by noted German swordmaker Eickhorn Solingen. It’s quite likely LTCDR McBurney and MID Keven joined the Navy for the same reasons: a desire to leave a small town and see the world. “Wellsford is a very small town, with not a lot to do,” says MID Keven. “I was looking at the Air Force initially as an avionics technician, but the recruiter pitched the idea of an electronics technician in the Navy.” He didn’t think of himself as a very confident person back then, so it was a big step.
He joined in early 2019, completing Basic Common Training (BCT) and trade training. He was then posted to HMNZS TE MANA, which was undergoing its Frigate Systems Upgrade in Canada. “Again, it was someone selling me an idea. While in Canada, my divisional officer suggested I might be a good fit for officer training.” He’d found he liked being challenged, out of his comfort zone, and finding new opportunities to grow. “And the Navy gives you very good opportunities for that.” It meant nearly six months of officer training. “It’s interesting – as a rating, you’re taught to do stuff, and be efficient about it. So the biggest thing for me was changing the way I thought. As an officer, you step back, look at different factors, juggle the team and the task. It’s a lot more dynamic as you solve problems, rather than be focused on one task. And in JOCT, instructors are a lot more hands-off, letting you figure things out. But if you muck it up, they rein you in and show you.” MID Keven will now train as a Weapons Engineer Officer. That means a three-year Engineering degree at university, followed by a two-year weapons engineer course in Australia. He will likely post to frigates after that. It’s hard work, but what he’s noticed is how well the Defence Force manages work life balance for its people. “There’s always opportunities to take leave, or get away from work for something important. As a whole, the NZDF tries really hard to accommodate its people interests and wishes, especially in the regards of family and sports.” This was particularly brought home to him when he asked if his partner could be with him in Canada. “They said, let’s do it, and they made it happen. Considering I was an Ordinary Rate at the time, this was very surprising. We spent over a year in Canada together, in our own apartment, with plenty of opportunities to travel and see the country. It was an amazing experience and is just one instance of what the Navy has to offer.” Training, study and travel are all great benefits, he says. “But arguably the best thing is being given the opportunity to be part of an organisation that doesn’t care about making the most profits, or expanding their reach to more clients. The Defence Force cares about protecting New Zealand, her interests, and her people. I feel a lot of young people are lacking purpose, community, and a challenge, all of which the Defence Force offers in spades.” via WordPress https://ift.tt/GPpdykK |
AuthorJohn Currin served 15 years in the Royal New Zealand Navy and has retained an interest in naval, marine, military and happenings around the world. Archives
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