[Esteban]

Originally Posted by SurfcasterPE

I’m on the far left. 😁

Looks like a good group of guys.

[SurfcasterPE]

Originally Posted by Esteban

Looks like a good group of guys.

Indeed! Any would help dispose of a body anytime, anywhere. 🤣
There’s a larger group than pictured of about 25 or so that attend these reunions as they are able and come from near and far.
One of the guys had a cancer scare a couple years ago and all hands rallied around him and his family to help with expenses and other needs while he was out of work for months. Several fundraisers and raffles were held and we all made sure he and his wife had what they needed. He got through the treatments and is fine now.
Brothers for life for sure. 💪

[Boomer 2019]

Welcome aboard shipmate. And I will keep that in mind.

[Llarry]

The U.S. Navy has given up on oil-fired boilers and steam turbines for years now, but given the long lives of active ships, there are still some in the fleet:

The 6th and 7th fleet flagships (LCCs) = 2 ships (50 years old)
LHD 1-7 (less the poor Bon Homme Richard) = 6 ships
Two sub tenders (ASs) = 2 ships
Which is a total of ten in the active fleet.

Nowadays, it's nuclear reactors and steam turbines (submarines and CVNs), gas turbines (most surface combatants and the later LHAs/LHDs) and Diesels (LCSs and most other ships). The old Boiler Technician (BT) rating went away almost 30 years ago and now Machinist's Mates (MMs) get the "pleasure" of working with boilers. I was not a snipe, but it can't be much fun working around those hot boilers.

The Military Sealift Command has many ships taken up from commerical service and still has some with boilers and steam turbines as well, including the two large MSC hospital ships (AHs).

[Llarry]

The U.S. Navy has taken delivery of the first of five Orca Extra Large Uncrewed Underwater Vehicles (XLUUVs). The Orca is a long-range (6500 nautical miles) Diesel-electric unmanned submarine that can operates autonomously for long periods. It is designed to be able to accomplish multiple missions, with payload modules inserted between the bow (sonar & guidance) and stern (propulsion). The first application appears to be mine-laying. With the mine-laying module, it is 85 feet long.

The photo shows the Orca without a module and the diagram shows it with a minelaying section inserted.

[Llarry]

But how does Santa get all the gifts to the submariners who are on patrol submerged all over the world?

[Llarry]

True story:
-- December 25, 1972. About midnight local time.
-- Somewhere off the Chinese coast on patrol in the Amercian submarine USS Pintado (SSN 672) on a special operation
-- The players:
Conn -- The conning officer (officer of the deck)
Sonar -- The boat's underwater ears
ESM -- Electronic Support Measures; the people who detect radar emissions
Radio -- The radio room, temporarily taken over by some mysterious sailors, including a much younger version of Llarry; few crew members know what they do.

On the intercom, which all parties can hear, between the above players:

"Conn, this is sonar; I have detected a faint jingling noise, bearing directly North."

"Conn, this is ESM. I have sleigh type emissions also bearing directly North."

"Conn, this is radio. I have faint "Ho, ho, hos!" on VHF."

"All, this is conn, Thank you and Merry Christmas, guys!"

[Llarry]

52 submarines in reserve at Mare Island, California in 1945.

The U.S. Navy lost 52 submarines to enemy action in World War II; here is a graphic illustration of those losses. There were very few survivors among the crew members.

[Llarry]

Two interesting developments in the area of the Chinese navy in the past few days:
-- The new Commander of the PLA Navy is a submarine officer.
-- The old Commander of the PLA Navy has now become the Minister of Defense (the first Navy officer in that job)

The Chinese People's Liberation Army has a long history of emphasizing ground forces. As China's economic and military power have grown this is shifting.

[Llarry]

Newly available photos of the first conventional -- with aircraft catapults and arresting gear -- Chinese navy aircraft carrier named Fujian after the Chinese province across from Taiwan. The Fujian (CV-18) is in the final stages of construction, though I'm not sure her aircraft are yet ready for operations at sea. Wikipedia indicates that the J-15 Flanker, adapted for catapult launch instead of ski jump, may be the initial strike fighter to be embarked.

The Fujian is a large ship: Something over 80,000 tons full load displacement and is not nuclear-powered. By comparison, the U.S. nuclear-powered CVNs are close to 100,000 tons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chines...carrier_Fujian

[Llarry]

The U.S. Navy has just concluded a five-month deployment of unmanned surface vessels (USVs) in the Pacific. The small "ghost fleet" consisted of four USVs: 2 large and 2 medium. Apparently, they are all crewed when entering or exiting port and the large ones have accommodations on board for crew members. (But operated the vast majority of the time without a crew.)

None of these USVs are armed, although tests have been conducted with the launch of missiles. The USVs are in the early experimental stage. One function might be to trail an enemy submarine over a long distance.

During the deployment, the vessels exercised with regular manned vessels of the U.S. and foreign navies and made port visits in Japan, Australia and a number of Pacific islands.

The first photo is of two of the large USVs, while the second is of a medium USV.

[Llarry]

Talk about the Old Navy... here's an 1889 photo of three protected cruisers: USS Chicago (foreground; flagship), USS Boston and USS Atlanta, along with the gunboat USS Yorktown. The ships were built in the mid-1880s and were the first steel-hulled warships built for the U.S. Navy.

Those protected cruisers were obsolete when built just a few years before this photo. The days of sail were over. They were modernized in the 1890s when still relatively new. The second photo shows Chicago after modernization. The sailmakers were out of jobs...

When the three above cruisers were commissioned, there were no abbreviated ship designations or hull numbers, but they were later assigned hull numbers; the Chicago became CA 14. The very last purpose-built cruiser of the USN was the USS Long Beach, which was originally designated CGN 160, but changed to CGN 9 before being finished, as missile cruisers were given their own block of numbers. The Ticonderoga class cruisers, of which 13 are still active, were originally to be guided missile destroyers, but were upgraded to cruiser designations before completion.

If you want to know about USN cruisers, there's plenty here:

[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of-cruisers_of_the_United_States_Navy

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by Llarry

Talk about the Old Navy... here's an 1889 photo of three protected cruisers: USS Chicago (foreground; flagship), USS Boston and USS Atlanta, along with the gunboat USS Yorktown. The ships were built in the mid-1880s and were the first steel-hulled warships built for the U.S. Navy.

Those protected cruisers were obsolete when built just a few years before this photo. The days of sail were over. They were modernized in the 1890s when still relatively new. The second photo shows Chicago after modernization. The sailmakers were out of jobs...

When the three above cruisers were commissioned, there were no abbreviated ship designations or hull numbers, but they were later assigned hull numbers; the Chicago became CA 14. The very last purpose-built cruiser of the USN was the USS Long Beach, which was originally designated CGN 160, but changed to CGN 9 before being finished, as missile cruisers were given their own block of numbers. The Ticonderoga class cruisers, of which 13 are still active, were originally to be guided missile destroyers, but were upgraded to cruiser designations before completion.

If you want to know about USN cruisers, there's plenty here:

[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of-cruisers_of_the_United_States_Navy

The first hybrids! Sail & engine power...

[M-technik-3]

I wish I could find my photos of when I reenlisted aboard the Constitution back in 2004. I was allowed to roam the ship and I will say that must have been a miserable assignment in the 1800's.

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by M-technik-3

I wish I could find my photos of when I reenlisted aboard the Constitution back in 2004. I was allowed to roam the ship and I will say that must have been a miserable assignment in the 1800's.

I'm thinking ANY maritime assignment was a miserable existence back then!

[3798j]

USS Recruit...wooden mockup of a dreadnought in NYC
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Recruit_(1917)

[Cars with JR]

Just came up on this thread. Recently retired as an HM. Spent most of my time with the Marines as an FMF Corpsman and many combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by Cars with JR

Just came up on this thread. Recently retired as an HM. Spent most of my time with the Marines as an FMF Corpsman and many combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Welcome, doc!

[Llarry]

A couple of shipyard photos of aircraft carriers:

1) The first three USN aircraft carriers all at the Puget Sound Navy Yard in 1929; from top to bottom: USS Lexington (CV2), USS Saratoga (CV 3) and USS Langley (CV 1).

2) The same shipyard (Bremerton, Washington) in August of 1955 busy converting carriers from straight deck to angle deck. I'm not sure which carriers are in the photo, except USS Midway (CVA 41), still with a straight deck, is in the middle.

[Llarry]

And here's one of four carriers at sea in combat. Desert Storm 1991. Battle Force Zulu.

[Llarry]

U.S. Navy plans to retrofit missile destroyers with the new AN/SLQ-32(V)7 electronic warfare system at great cost. The antenna array is much larger, requiring fairly extensive changes topside. Here's an old photo of the array (left) in an anechoic chamber.

I think DDG 125-up with have the new system built in and the attached photo of a notional DDG replacement shows a forward-facing array as well -- so maybe there will be four EW arrays instead of the previous two? Electronic warfare appears to be increasing in importance.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Llarry

U.S. Navy plans to retrofit missile destroyers with the new AN/SLQ-32(V)7 electronic warfare system at great cost. The antenna array is much larger, requiring fairly extensive changes topside. Here's an old photo of the array (left) in an anechoic chamber.

I think DDG 125-up with have the new system built in and the attached photo of a notional DDG replacement shows a forward-facing array as well -- so maybe there will be four EW arrays instead of the previous two? Electronic warfare appears to be increasing in importance.

That small gun at the bow end looks weak but deadly to enemy suicide boats or drones.
Heard there is a also new laser gun for knocking out suicide drones and missiles that's very cost effective when fired.