Proactively “From the Sea”; an agent of change leveraging the littoral best practices for a paradigm breaking six-sigma best business case to synergize a consistent design in the global commons, rightsizing the core values supporting our mission statement via the 5-vector model through cultural diversity.
This July 4th weekend, we need a FbF with a flag on it, so let's reach back to 2008 for an encore. Funny thing is, look how well the LCS attack holds up 9-yrs later. Cheers! After a few weeks of interesting diversions and side-trips; I have decided to get back to Vince Lombardi FbF.
Late last month there was an interesting gathering in Iowa that highlights a few things dear to my heart. First, there were so many Sailor in so many "less sexy" ships that made such a huge difference in WWII. Secondly, in an age of much slower communication and where engineering was done by hand, not CAD, where leaders led and let their subordinates demonstrate their capability, leaders could not and did not micromanage patronize about small things - we did achieved great things with lighting speed when it came to building ships to meet a specific need. Thirdly, we named and classified our ships by logic, not buzzwords.
By now, all should fully understand that those who designed the Littoral Combat Ship "LCS" were brilliant ignoramuses and their fellow travelers who named it either did not know or care that the US Navy already has a series of ships known as LCS, as in "Landing Craft Support" (AKA "Mighty Midgets" or "Mighty Mites") and arrogantly decided to make a non-Amphib start with "L" just so they could get the late 90s early 00s buzzword in their new budget line - and name their new toy LCS "LCS-1" - what an insult to our Navy and its Sailors.
However, this isn't about my LCS hobby-horse; let us honor to such men as John Hart, left, of Le Mars, Iowa, and Edwin "Ned" Wright of Manahawkin, N.J who you see on the right, as representatives of the men who served on the LCS from WWII to Vietnam.
Let's educate; what were the LCS?
Displacement: 250 long tons (254 t)
Length:------158 ft 6 in (48.3 m)
Beam:--------23 ft 3 in (7.1 m)
Draft:-------5 ft 10 in (1.8 m) (aft, loaded)
Propulsion:--eight Gray Marine diesel engines, twin screws
Speed:-------16.5 knots (30.5 km/h)
Range:-------5500 miles
Complement:--3–6 officers, 55–68 men
Armament:----single 3"50, twin 40 mm or single 40 mm bow gun; 2 twin 40 mm deck guns (one forward, one aft); 4 20 mm cannons; 4 .50 cal (12.7 mm) machine guns; ten MK7 rocket launchers.
Armor:-------10-lb. STS splinter shields
What did the WWII LCS bring to the fight?
The Battle of Tarawa showed a gap in Navy resources for close in support of landing troops. The time interval between the end of shelling from the large ships and the arrival of the landing craft on the beach allowed the defenders to regroup. The Landing Craft Support was designed to fill this void.
The first Landing Craft Support ships arrived in the Pacific Theater in time for the landings at Iwo Jima.
After providing close in support during the landings at Okinawa, many Landing Craft Support ships were placed on the radar picket stations as anti-aircraft platforms. When not on a picket stations, the ship would create smoke to hide the fleet at anchor and perform "skunk patrol" screening for suicide boats.
In the Borneo Campaign, Landing Craft Support was used in landings in Tarakan and Balikpapan.
(in Okinawa) Kamikaze planes sank two LCS(L)(3)s while they were on radar picket duty to provide anti-aircraft support for destroyers trying to stop enemy planes from reaching the main fleet. On April 12, 1945, while at Radar Picket Station 1 north of Okinawa, LCS(L)(3) 33 shot down one kamikaze plane, dodged a second one that took off the ship’s radio antenna, but sank after being struck by a third one. On April 22 at Radar Picket Station 14 northwest of Okinawa, LCS(L)(3) 15 sank within three minutes after one kamikaze plane in a group of 37 planes crashed into the ship with a bomb carried by the plane exploding soon after. The attack killed 15 men and wounded 11 men. In addition to the two LCS(L)(3)s sunk, 11 others were damaged in kamikaze attacks during the Battle of Okinawa.
Japanese shinyo explosive motorboats sank more LCS(L)(3)s than the two sank by kamikaze planes. About 30 shinyo motorboats attacked LCS(L)(3)s in Mariveles Harbor in the Philippines on February 16, 1945, but the book provides no details on this attack. The explosive motorboats sank LCS(L)(3)s 7, 26, and 49 and severely damaged LCS(L)(3) 27.
Although destroyers provided the primary firepower at radar picket stations around Okinawa, LCS(L)(3) guns also shot down many incoming kamikaze planes. For example, at Radar Picket Station 1 on April 16, 1945, LCS(L)(3) 51 shot down six attacking planes and helped fight fires on the destroyer Laffey (DD 724) after that ship had been hit by several kamikaze planes. LCS(L)(3) 51 received a Presidential Unit Citation for her actions.
During the Battle of Okinawa, several LCS(L)(3)s rescued survivors after kamikaze attacks that sank or heavily damaged other ships. For example, on June 10, 1945, after the destroyer William D. Porter (DD 579) was hit by a kamikaze plane and started to sink, LCS(L)(3)s tried to tow the ship to port but failed. The destroyer, which sank about three hours after the kamikaze plane crash, lost no men due to the superb rescue work of the LCS(L)(3)s. The photo at the bottom of this page shows LCS(L)(3) 122 crowded at her bow with survivors from William D. Porter shortly before she sank. Even though William D. Porter lost no men, LCS(L)(3) 122 was hit the following day by a kamikaze plane and lost 11 men with the number of wounded totaling 29.
The gentlemen above were from LCS-92, and here is a short history of the ship by one of its Commanding Officers, Lt. Joseph J. Cardamone.
It was on the swift-flowing Willamette River at Portland, Oregon that the USS LCS 92 was commissioned on January 8th, 1945. Like the ship itself, the ceremony was simple, compact and diminutive. A superficial but extensive inspection convinced the Captain, the five junior officers and the 65 men who made up the crew that the ship’s builders, Commercial Iron Works, had turned out a good, trim fighting ship.
Ten furious days of outfitting, checking and requisitioning followed. On January 16th the LCS 92 was deemed “in all respects ready for sea”. All lines were cast off and she slipped slowly down the Willamette, through the famed Columbia River and out into the Pacific Ocean.
San Diego, California was the destination, and it was reached on the 23rd of January after a voyage that was full of surprises, some pleasant and some otherwise. Then came a six-week shakedown and training period, a period in which flaws were eliminated from both men and ship.
On March 3rd, 1945, the shakedown program was abruptly ended, and the LCS 92 left the United States Continental limits for Pearl Harbor, arriving there March 12th. A new training schedule was begun at Pearl Harbor. It was called “advanced training” and lasted for a full month.
From Pearl Harbor on the 13th of April the ship sailed to Eniwetok. The anchor was dropped in this Marshall Island stronghold on the 24th of April, 1945.
Some minor repairs, a full supply of provisions, fuel and water and the “92” was ready for another trip. Four days later, April 28th, the ship departed from Eniwetok. The next stop was made at Saipan in the Marianas Group on the 3rd of May. There was just a two-day stopover here and the LCS 92 was again underway, this time for Okinawa, performing convoy duty enroute.
After a safe, uneventful voyage Okinawa was reached May 10th, 1945. The “92” really came in contact with the war for the first time. As the anchor was dropped, the screaming of shells from battleships, cruisers and destroyers could be heard overhead. It was one of the many bombardments the Japs were subjected to. Between the date of arrival and the date of departure from Okinawa, July 22nd, the ship was at General Quarters scores of times. Often “bogeys” were reported nearby several times in a single day. The “Kamikaze Kids” were on a rampage. Most of them were downed but the small percentage that did get through produced severe naval casualties.
On the 25th of May the ship left Okinawa for its first Picket Line duty at Station number 9. Now began ten endless days of patrolling deep in enemy waters. It was on this Radar Picket station on the 29th of May that an unusually intense attack occurred. Hardly had the General Quarters buzzer ceased sounding than a “Zeke” was seen diving across the fantail. The gunners were “on target” immediately and a moment later the plane disintegrated.
Back in Okinawa a few days later the ship was assigned to anti-suicide boat duty and given several smoke screen assignments. Then the LCS 92 returned to picket duty, this time on notorious Radar Picket station 16A, “Mainstreet” for the Kamikazes. At this station there were even more alerts, more enemy planes overhead and more sleepless nights.
Upon returning from this duty the “92” was stationed at Ie Shima, furnishing smoke screens at night and anti-aircraft protection by day. The routine was occasionally broken by orders to check a certain area for floating mines or to conduct a search for “splashed” allied flyiers. One day a flyer, who had bailed out of his wrecked Black Widow after a mission over Kyushu, was picked up.
Finally it was time to leave Okinawa and on the 22nd of July the anchor was housed and the ship got underway for the Philippine Islands, for rehabilitation and availability. Five days later the ship was anchored in San Pedro Bay near Leyte Gulf. Here a number of minor repairs were made, the ship was painted and the crew given some well-earned recreation. This routine continued until V-J day plus one, September 3rd, when the ship once more got underway. The destination was Tokyo, Japan as a part of the Third Fleet Occupational Forces. Here, in Tokyo Bay, the ship remained until 1 October, 1945.
The LCS 92 left Tokyo Bay in February 1946 and sailed to the United States via Guam, Eniwetok and Pearl Harbor, arriving in San Francisco on 1 April 1946, a beautiful, sunny morning. The Golden Gate bridge was a sight to behold. The ship was then placed in the Reserve Fleet at Astoria, Oregon in the summer of 1946. In 1951, the 92 was stricken from the Naval Register and scrapped.
And yes, I ask you to note that our grandfathers Commanded as a LT what today's Navy calls a CDR Command. Just saying...though that isn't fair in that at ~3,000 ton full-load displacement, a modern LCS is 500 tons heaver than the ~2,500 full-load displacement of a WWII era Fletcher Class Destroyer - another topic I will avoid for now.
Finally, we are lucky - the last operational one is returning from Thailand.
From Pattaya Mail (Vol. XV No. 37 Friday September 14- September 20, 2007) "HTMS Nakha set off on her final voyage home on September 2, heading for the Mare Island Naval Shipyard at Vallejo City in the United States where she will become part of a museum of historic ships".
More photos worth your time here and like the color one of Iwo Jima below here. There is also an excellent book on the ships, if you are inclined, available at the link.
At about the 2:30 point below, you can see the WWII LCS at ~25yr mark in Vietnam.
Great summary from Sam LaGrone on the basket of goodies that came out of the SASC earlier this week. Some nice things, a funny thing or two, and an interesting item. First, the nice things;
The Senate Armed Services Committee version of the Fiscal Year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act ... that spends more than $20 billion above the Trump administration’s request
...
Specifically for the Navy, the SASC is adding $5 billion to the shipbuilding and conversion fund, bringing it to $25 billon. ... funds for five more ships than the Pentagon’s budget submission. Included is a third Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer ... advance procurement of Virginia-class attack submarines ... an additional amphibious warship ... a new Expeditionary Sea Base ... eight Ship to Shore Connectors, five more than the administration called for.
I guess we'll have to wait for next year for my new construction LCC & T-AH, but this is nice. He also has some aviation numbers. Of note, they've doubled the Super Hornet buy. Smart. Here is a funny bit;
Absent from the executive summary provided to the public on Wednesday is any mention of the Littoral Combat Ship ship construction.
Damning with faint praise is one thing, getting ignored is another. The market has spoken, but LCS will hang about like an albatross around our neck anyway. Now for the interesting;
Among one of the largest departures for the SASC, their bill sets aside $30 million for the Navy for a preliminary design effort to create a light carrier for the service.
Yes ... more carrier battles. For those following me on twitter, we bounced an idea or two around. My take, if you mated an USS AMERICA (LHA 6) with a HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH (R08), you'd get something about the size of the USS MIDWAY (CV 41). I look forward to the results of the study. Until then, if you want to grow your understanding of the small-medium-large / conventional-nuke tradeoffs, I highly recommend this video with CAPT Tal Manvel, USN (Ret).
If we are going to bring the OHP's out of mothballs, then we should do it right or not at all. I'm discussing over at USNIBlog.
Come on by and join in.
Sustained operations in space resemble operations at sea. Diversely specialized sailors crew forward deployed ships, conducting voyage planning and contact management familiar to naval personnel. There are orbital buoys to maintain, infrastructure to protect, and eventually boarding inspections to conduct.
...
The orbital equivalent of afloat forward staging bases will shuttle supplies and rotational crews to vessels that remain in theater, years after launch. In achieving orbit and stationing, maritime professionals will recognize the similarities to anchorage and underway replenishments. To those who point to the challenges of maneuvering a vessel in three dimensions – the Navy already has submariners and naval aviators.
Even if the majority these operations remain automated – manned support craft and control stations will be necessary. Terrestrial, orbital, or onboard watch standers will seek adversary threats and navigation hazards in the vast domain of our congested orbit, to the moon, and eventually mars. The controlling teams will need to combine the naval mentalities associated with surface, subsurface, mine, and air warfare.
It is a fun read, with some history and serious points, Give it a full read.
Over at Proceedings online, our friend Jerry Hendrix is keeping up the pressure to 355+ as other efforts are flagging or distracted. To build our Navy to where it needs to be it takes constant pressure, political support, and invigorating debate on how to get there. Along those lines, to build your personal toolbox of ideas in advocating for Seapower (one word, capitalized), make sure and read the whole thing – but for now, here are the major points. First, one must deconstruct institutional smoke screens;
When pressed during questioning by several legislators, to include Armed Services Committee chairman and retired Navy captain Senator John McCain, on whether the additional funding provided within the FY 2018 budget should have been spent on acquiring more ships, the Navy’s leadership team replied that the best use of additional funds, at this point in time, is on fully funding readiness and maintenance accounts. There is, however, a hole in the logic of this argument.
You then need to rebuild the argument;
…“wholeness” to the force in the form of repaired and well-maintained ships can be reestablished through only one of three methods.
…
First, the nation could stop asking the Navy to do the same number of deployments with a smaller fleet. …
A second option is to base more U.S. ships in overseas ports.
…
A third, better alternative is to build a large enough fleet so that 100 deployed ships would once again represents 25 percent of the total Navy.
I agree with Jerry that until the pro-BRAC Orcs are beaten back to Mordor, Option-2 will have to be kept in ordinary. There are your wholeness options, but what about building?
Extend Service Life, Reactivate Ghosts Ships, and Build More Ships
To get those details, you need to read it all. Oh, and the high-low mix … it is a thing. It worked once, it can work again.
Grab a few slices of white bread, bologna, mayo and a glass of bug-juice, it's time for Midrats this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern. The days are too long and hot to spend all your Sunday outside, so spend an our with EagleOne and myself live as we cover the maritime and national security breaking news from the USS FITZGERALD to Syria to any other topic that catches our fancy in a mostly random walk plan. This is the time to ask us a question you’d like us to address, or even roll one of your questions our way directly by giving us a call.
I missed that at age 98, Ben Steele passed away last September. In his honor, let's replay a FbF we did from 2009. Just another old man walking around in his garage, eh?
These days he’s long retired, living with his wife, Shirley, in a trim split-level below a wall of rimrocks near the college where he used to teach. Every day he tramps out to the studio behind his house to paint and draw.
You ever wonder what they have seen? Maybe, just maybe --- you don't want to know.
He is 91 years old now, among the handful of last men surviving from America’s worst military defeat, the fall of the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines during that desperate winter and early spring of 1942.
American Heritage magazine has a must read article that personalizes what is often forgotten --- and rarely read in detail like this.
He tried to stay aloof. So many were dropping to the road, he thought, it was better not to get close to anyone. But north of Layac Junction, about 50 miles into the march, he lost his resolve and befriended a march mate. They had talked a bit while walking: about where they’d been, where they might be headed, what might happen when they got there. Talking made the walking easier, the heat a little less intense. Next afternoon on the road, he noticed his new friend beginning to wobble, and a mile or two later the man gave out and went down, grabbing for Steele’s leg.
“Come on, Ben—help me!”
He and another man hauled the dropout to his feet. They hadn’t gone far before a guard rushed up and shouted at them to let go. His helper obeyed, but for reasons beyond all understanding, Steele hung on, and the next thing he knew, his buttocks were on fire. He thought the guard’s blade had penetrated to his pelvis. Blood was beginning to course down his leg, and flies were starting to swarm the wound. He looked at the man he was holding, hoped he’d understand, then let him sink slowly to the road at the guard’s feet.
“No!” the man said. “No. Please.”
Ben Steele; well done on a long, good life. Read it all.
A few basics to start with: - We are years past any easy solution to Syria, if there ever was one. - The territorial integrity of what on you map is called Syria is not worth the bones on one American. - The Islamic State as a land holding & governing entity must be destroyed. - Soldiers of the Islamic State are better killed in place than having them scatter back to their home countries to re-create terror there. - In Syria, Russia is not our enemy, and we should not make her one. - In Syria, Turkey is not our friend, and we should not pretend she is. As the remnants of the Islamic State are rolled up and out of Iraq and the last holdouts in Mosul are dealt with, attention is turning to the ongoing investment of their capital in Syria, Raqqa. When it comes to the Islamic State, there is no political solution. Its complete destruction is the only thing in our national interest we should be acting on in Syria.
Let's look back at what I proposed, offhand, 21-months ago;
Let the Iranians and Russians kill Sunni Arab Islamists in the west of Syria while we kill them in the east. How about this: we'll kill them east of the Euphrates and south of road from Nassib in the southwest, through Damascus to Deir ez-Zur on the Euphrates. The Russians, Syrians, and Iranian proxies can kill them in the rest. Once they are done in the north and west, we can just do CAS for the Kurds on the front lines of their frontier as we all push IS forces in to the Iraqi desert.
There, I've deconflicted the airspace for everyone. End game? TBD.
Well, SECDEF Mattis recently gave us the end game.
Defense Secretary James Mattis said Sunday the U.S. has switched to "annihilation tactics" against the Islamic State and is focused on completely surrounding the militants, instead of forcing them to move from place to place.
"Our strategy right now is to accelerate the campaign against ISIS. It is a threat to all civilized nations. And the bottom line is we are going to move in an accelerated and reinforced manner, throw them on their back foot," Mattis said in a televised interview on CBS News' "Face the Nation."
He said the goal was to take out the militants before they could flee to neighboring countries.
"Our intention is that the foreign fighters do not survive the fight to return home to North Africa, to Europe, to America, to Asia, to Africa. We're not going to allow them to do so. We're going to stop them there and take apart the caliphate," Mattis said.
Very well. We can work with that. Now for modifications, as needed in red-bold-italic, but first let's look at a map via Shawn Snow.
That line is about right. Only a few modifications, here is the D&G for Rev. 1 to PLAN SALAMANDER, bulletized this time for ease of reading. 1. Let the Iranians and Russians kill Sunni Arab Islamists in the west of Syria while we kill them in the east. (no change) 2. We'll kill them east of the Euphratesto include those portions west of the Euphrates in the Raqqa Governorate. and south of road from Nassib in the southwest, through Damascus to Deir ez-Zur on the Euphrates. 3. The Russians, Syrians, and Iranian proxies can kill them in the rest. (no change) 4. We will continue to support Kurdish and allied forces inside the area defined in #2 using airpower and advisory liaison forces as needed. Once they are done in the north and west, we can just do CAS for the Kurds on the front lines of their frontier as we all push IS forces in to the Iraqi desert. There is no reason, I hope, to concern oneself with a vision of tens of thousands or more Americans trying to occupy Syria. The President's inclination is not to do so, and our leadership in the military from the SECDEF on down knows the last 16-yrs well ... and both know the American people have zero support for such. Our light footprint on the ground with support from the air is about right for this phase. We should let the locals take, hold, and then bicker over the dirt, as long as they keep taking ground from ISIS. We need to be content with good enough, and avoid the neocon trap of wanting to make people what they are not in a part of the world where there is no place for the enlightenment to take root. To wind things up - none of this last part is new. I often say that if you want to understand Syria, then watch Game of Thrones. In honor of the show I leave this with you; it is known. This works for both Arab and Kurd in Syria; always remember the great T.E. Lawrence's Art.15;
Do not try to do too much with your own hands. Better the Arabs do it tolerably than that you do it perfectly. It is their war, and you are to help them, not to win it for them. Actually, also, under the very odd conditions of Arabia, your practical work will not be as good as, perhaps, you think it is.
This Fathers Day Weekend brought to us a reminder of the nature of the sea even in times of peace. She is unforgiving, thoughtless, and can bring out the best and the worst in men. She is huge and vast, until she isn't. She can make you feel all alone in the world on one day, and then crowded, surrounded, and with no place to turn the next. There is no such thing as a normal watch. At any moment, through acts of commission, omission or simply the pure randomness of fate, the laws of time, motion and physics can bring tragedy, death, and sorrow. There is a lot of speculation going on with regard to the collision between the USS FITZGERALD (DDG 62) (length 154m; displacement 9,000 tons) and the merchant ship ACX Crystal (length 222.6m, gross tonnage; 29,060 tons), and I think on balance in events such as this, it is unhealthy to speculate much on specifics. Generalities, sure ... but wait for facts. Make no mistake, the damage is worse than it looks in the pictures seen of the outside. Inside and below the waterline it is most likely far worse. There will be many lessons to come from this incident - and for me the most interesting will be the story of how the crew, with their CO out of action, were able to fight to keep their ship afloat. On Sunday in USA Today, Bryan McGrath and Jerry Hendrix outlined about as much as we need to know right now until more information is released;
“This is big news because it happens so rarely,” said Bryan McGrath, a retired Navy commander whose last command was the USS Bulkeley, a destroyer similar to the Fitzgerald. “It happens rarely not because ship movements are so simple and straightforward — but because a high degree of professionalism is demanded from both military and commercial operators."
...
“A U.S. ship is damaged in a collision to my knowledge, only every couple of years,” said McGrath, who is now managing director The FerryBridge Group, a national security consulting firm. “Loss of life, as we’ve had in this instance, is even rarer.”
Ships have nautical rules of the road established by the International Maritime Organization. Ships have technology such as radar and crew members to lookout for other vessels.
“It is far too early to speculate as to the cause of this particular accident. We just don’t have the evidence in yet,” said Jerry Hendrix, a retired Navy captain who was director of naval history. “In the past, these circumstances generally are attributed to some error in navigation on the part of one bridge crew or the other.”
McGrath warned that electronic systems don’t always conform to what crew members see, “especially at night.”
“What I can say is that because ships are large and somewhat lumbering, it takes time to turn or change speed,” McGrath said.
...
“Whatever mistakes were made by either ship, those things will be collected, they will be synthesized, and then they will be taught to future generations of navigators and mariners so that we can learn from them and not repeat the mistakes of the past,”...
McGrath provides a very good "how can this happen?" primer over at WOTR that helps get everyone on the right page as more information is released. Until then, let's do what is appropriate at this time. Let's give a nod to the crew of the FITZ who kept the ship afloat, and recognize our Shipmates who lost their lives while at sea;
- Gunner's Mate Seaman Dakota Kyle Rigsby, 19, from Palmyra, Virginia
- Yeoman 3rd Class Shingo Alexander Douglass, 25, from San Diego, California
- Sonar Technician 3rd Class Ngoc T Truong Huynh, 25, from Oakville, Connecticut
- Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Noe Hernandez, 26, from Weslaco, Texas
- Fire Controlman 2nd Class Carlos Victor Ganzon Sibayan, 23, from Chula Vista, California
- Personnel Specialist 1st Class Xavier Alec Martin, 24, from Halethorpe, Maryland
- Fire Controlman 1st Class Gary Leo Rehm Jr., 37, from Elyria, Ohio
When it comes to keeping your ship together, if you have not seen the USNA Museum's Naval History Panel from August 22, 2014 with panelist CAPT Paul Rinn, USN (Ret) and CDR Kirk Lippold, USN (Ret) on leadership and damage control, here's the video.
Stuff like that just happens to other people. Just another trip. Just another day. I wonder when I can get another cup of coffee. Then there is the sound of the guns, and the training kicks in. There can only be one FbF today; two public servants who saved this nation from what could have been a massacre of political violence unseen in this nation's history. No more words from me are needed. Their actions speak.
Capitol Police officers Crystal Griner and David Bailey are special agents on Rep. Steve Scalise’s security detail. Scalise was standing near second base in an Alexandria, Virginia park when the bullets began flying from behind the third base dugout, striking Scalise. While Scalise dragged himself to safety, Griner and Bailey lept into action. In an extended firefight, the two agents took down shooter James Hodgkinson while battling through injuries of their own. Both were taken to the hospital after the gunfight, and are recovering from their injuries, officials say.
A giant of our age in so many way, and a hero to your humble author, is Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Please take time today to hear her testimony at yesterday. Go to the 12:30 point.
What if I told you that you should expect that half our CVN will be sunk in the first year of the next war ... and that should be OK? I'm discussing over at USNIBlog ... come by and see. There will be math.
So, SECDEF Mattis (no, I don't get tired of saying this) put it right out there;
"We are not winning in Afghanistan right now. And we will correct this as soon as possible," Mattis said in testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Mattis acknowledged that he believed the Taliban were "surging" at the moment, something he said he intended to address.
First, it is a tactical necessity. Over the past two years, the Taliban have been steadily encroaching on Afghan government control of territory, and by some estimates they are now in a position to influence the population in 40% of the country. While Afghan Security forces number over 300,000 and have shown real mettle in many places, they are taking significant casualties and still require effective mentoring down to at least the Battalion level. That means an increase in our overall troop strength is necessary.
Second, the emergence of an Islamic State element in Afghanistan is very concerning. While they have largely been unable to galvanize either the population or create cooperation with the Taliban, they have conducted a series of disruptive terror attacks and add further chaos to an unstable system. A larger NATO force can blunt their impact.
A third key reason is to create political capital that can be very helpful when some portion of the Taliban (who are not a holistic organization to say the least) eventually come to the negotiating table. We will never “win” militarily in Afghanistan, nor can we kill our way to success. Sooner or later we will need to bargain, and a stronger NATO force on the ground will give us better leverage.
Fourth, the additional forces send a signal to the Pakistanis, who are still somewhat playing a “double game” of overtly cooperating with NATO, but in reality supporting some elements of the insurgency. This commitment will tell Pakistan we intend to continue to work for a successful outcome in Afghanistan, and will hopefully encourage them to force the Taliban into negotiations.
Which brings us to another key point: what does success look like? Afghanistan is not going to resemble Singapore anytime soon; but it can have a functioning democratic government, general control over much of its borders, the ability to minimize impact from the insurgency, armed forces with high public approval, and a reduction in both corruption and narcotics — the latter two issues posing a longer term threat to the nation than even the Taliban. Getting to that point of success will require security and thus the additional forces.
I've been writing about AFG from the start of the blog, click the AFG tag below if you're new here and want to catch up. Both Mattis and Stavridis are spot on. Since Obama's DEC09 West Point speech, we turned over all momentum to the enemies of modernity. We had a good, long range plan by 2008, but that was all thrown away. There is a lot to do. Though we are as a nation tired, and on some days I think we should just all just look for the airhead version of the Friendship Bridge and cover what we leave behind in thermite ... but that isn't how this works. Mattis was the first General Officer to set foot in AFG as a 1-Star, and Stavridis had to do what he could with the Political Level D&G he received from Obama as SACEUR. A smart person would defer to their recommendations, or at least give them a fair hearing. If those two gentlemen are standing up and pointing in a certain direction, I'm lacing up my boots and forming up behind them. $.02.
Let's start the week looking at what the Home Country is up to in what little shipbuilding capability she has going for her right now. Let's look at the upcoming Type-26. The go-to place for your information is with our friends over at ThinkDefence. If nothing else, given out experience with DDG-1000 & LCS, this should catch your eyes;
The most sensible part of the whole programme is its attitude to technology risk. Whether this is wholly intentional, or merely a happy by-product of Type 23 obsolescence and timing issues is for others to argue, but the fact remains, Type 26 has a relatively low level of technology risk.
Most of the major systems have been, or will be, de-risked on Type 23, with perhaps a few on the QE Carriers. There are no major sensors or weapons being developed to form part of the design, and the power/propulsion design is well proven.
It is a large frigate that should really be called a destroyer, coming in at 6,900 to 8,000 tons If you can, take some time for BAE's sales video to Australia below at least, but better yet, dig in to ThinkDefence's very thorough overview linked above.
In the Western concept of the military art, there is a food chain. The Political feeds Strategic; Strategic the Operational; Operational the Tactical. Among the military chatting classes, there is a lot of pondering and pontificating about strategy and operational concepts – but what about tactics? If the Tactical level requires, ultimately, a Strategy to help define its purpose – besides logistics, shouldn’t the professional also talk tactics? On this week’s show, Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern, we’re going to explore that space with returning guest B.A. Friedman, Capt. USMCR, whose latest book from Naval Institute Press, On Tactics, examines the question in great detail. Simply because of its location in the hierarchy, tactics are not a simple thing. As the author states, “While the sinews of war may be infinite funds, the sinew of tactical prowess is a common outlook, one that contextualizes and unifies doctrine, history, and experience across a military force.”
It is a great thing when a FbF pretty much writes itself - especially as I still have the writer's block that kept my THU post from going (I'll get it going maybe early next week). There is a great story out of the latest London attacks that unquestionably makes the FbF cut in both style, forthrightness and example. We also got the official English Football Club ... Millwall, natch;
Now out of the intensive care ward of St Thomas’ Hospital, where he was treated for knife wounds all over his body including his neck, the father-of-one has told The Sun how he reacted when the killers burst into the restaurant shouting “Islam, Islam” and “This is for Allah”.
“Like an idiot,” he told the newspaper, “I shouted back at them. I thought, ‘I need to take the p*** out of these b******s’.”
“I took a few steps towards them and said, ‘F*** you, I’m Millwall’. So they started attacking me.”
Mr Larner added: “I stood in front of them trying to fight them off. Everyone else ran to the back.
“I was on my own against all three of them, that’s why I got hurt so much.
“It was just me, trying to grab them with my bare hands and hold on. I was swinging.
“I got stabbed and sliced eight times. They got me in my head, chest and both hands. There was blood everywhere.
“They were saying, ‘Islam, Islam!’. I said again, ‘F*** you, I’m Millwall!’
“It was the worst thing I could have done as they carried on attacking me.
...
Mr Larner’s actions have won him a huge following on social media, where he has been called “The Lion of London Bridge”, a reference to Millwall Football Club’s nickname the Lions.
Fans of the south London club have long prided themselves on their refusal to duck a fight, celebrating their intimidating reputation with the chant: “No-one likes us, we don’t care.”
A lot of good stuff was written this spring on the challenges in getting to Trump's promised 350-ship fleet. I'm reviewing a few over at USNIBlog. Come by and give it a read.
There are so many stories about D-Day, there really is no reason not to have a stand-alone post on one bit or another each year. This year what kept coming to mind was one of the more sublime examples of leadership from the invasion, Ike’s draft message if the invasion failed. For the unit leader or the Supreme Commander – this concept is essential; self-doubt. A sister of humility, though you have to be careful not to let them paralyze you in to inaction, you need to think in the back of your mind, “What if I am wrong? What if I’ve listened to the wrong advice? What if the enemy has luck on her side … or all I have is bad?” One should at a minimum think about what steps to take should things go south – so to preserve what force remains – but it isn’t often that someone will go through the efforts to build an actual Branch Plan in that case, or draft a letter such as this. Here’s the text if you have not read it before. Even if you have, read it again;
"Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that Bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone."
My favorite detail? He accidentally dated it July 5th vice June 5th. A great man like Ike shared one of my problems; I get my “J” months messed up all the time. Same with the “M” months. If I could ever be a 10th the man Ike was, I would have led a good life. Nice to see he’s mortal, so I have a chance.
The Russian Battlecruiser Admiral Nakhimov is the 3rd of 4 Kirov Class Battlecruisers built in the waning days of the Soviet Union. She has been in refit for the last 11 years, and should be underway next year, 30-years after her commissioning. The refit has been so long as they kept changing their mind what they wanted he to be, and from the looks of it, they’ve done almost a complete rebuild. Here’s the executive summary:
improvements are expected to include new vertical launch missile tubes that can accommodate Onix anti-ship missiles and Kalibr land-attack cruise missiles and a separate navalized version of the S-400 surface-to-air missile.
That isn’t what I’d like you to focus on. If your Russian isn’t up to speed, that’s OK, listen anyway. Watch the below video, but keep your eyes in the background. Details, details, details…
Once she re-joins the fleet, one should expect that she will come with these toys as well;
In April, 2017, Russia’s new hypersonic anti-ship Zircon missile has reached eight times the speed of sound (about 6100 mph) during the test, a source with Russia’s defense sector told TASS.
The source noted that Zircon missiles can be launched from universal launching platforms 3C14 which are also used for the Onyx and Caliber missiles.
It is expected that the new missiles will be installed at the heave (sic) nuclear-powered cruisers Peter the Great and Admiral Nakhimov.
The expected range with a new type of fuel is about 1000 km (600 miles) at Mach 5-6. The export version will be limited to 400 kilometers range. Launching platform is the 3S14 Agat, also used to launch the SS-N-26 Strobile and SS-N-27 «Sizzler» missiles.
2030 is as close to us today as 2004, only 13 years. As we look at various ways to maintain a Navy at t level at which we have become accustomed, the People’s Liberation Army Navy of China is building step by step as their economic power and global influence grows. The world will see a dramatically different PLAN in 2030 relative to now, and as the present global naval superpower, our assumptions and plans need to be ready for it. Our guest this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern to discuss this and more will be Dr. Patrick Cronin, Senior Advisor and Senior Director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Previously, he was the Senior Director of the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) at the National Defense University, where he simultaneously oversaw the Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs. As a starting point for the discussion, we will review the major points of CNAS recent publication, Beyond the San Hai:The Challenge of China’s Blue-Water Navy.
The rest of your fleet has left you behind. The enemy is everywhere. You have little defensive or offensive weapons - and you are painfully slow - but you have your ship and your Sailors and your mission, which at this point, is simply to survive. What do you do? Well ... never underestimate a Dutchman;
The ship was based at Surabaya in the Netherlands East Indies when Japan invaded in 1941. Following the Allied defeats at the Battles of the Java Sea and Sunda Strait in late March 1942, all Allied ships were ordered to withdraw to Australia. Abraham Crijnssen was meant to sail with three other warships, but found herself proceeding alone.
To escape detection by Japanese aircraft (which the minesweeper did not have the armament to defend effectively against), the ship was heavily camouflaged with jungle foliage, giving the impression of a small island. Personnel cut down trees and branches from nearby islands, and arranged the cuttings to form a jungle canopy covering as much of the ship as possible. Any hull still exposed was painted to resemble rocks and cliffs. To further the illusion, the ship would remain close to shore, anchored and immobile during daylight, and only sail at night. She headed for Fremantle, Western Australia, where she arrived on 20 March 1942; Abraham Crijnssen was the last vessel to successfully escape Java, and the only ship of her class in the region to survive.
She served her nation a long time, and you can still see her;
The ship was removed from the Navy List in 1960. After leaving service, Abraham Crijnssen was donated to the Sea Cadet Corps (Zeekadetkorps Nederland) for training purposes. She was docked at The Hague from 1962 to 1972, after which she was moved to Rotterdam. The ship was also used as a storage hulk during this time.
In 1995, Abraham Crijnssen was marked for preservation by the Dutch Navy Museum at Den Helder. She was retrofitted to her wartime configuration.
In war, for glory one does not necessarily have to earn a bridge wing full of battle stars or sink and shoot down scores of an enemy to be fullbore. Sometimes you just need attitude.
The US military said Tuesday it had intercepted a mock-up of an intercontinental ballistic missile in a first-of-its-kind test that comes amid concerns over North Korea's weapons program.
A ground-based interceptor launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California "successfully intercepted an intercontinental ballistic missile target" fired from the Reagan Test Site in the Marshall Islands, the military said in a statement.
The test saw a rocket from the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system blast into space and then deploy its "exo-atmospheric kill vehicle," which smashed into the dummy ICBM, destroying it in a direct collision.
"This system is vitally important to the defense of our homeland, and this test demonstrates that we have a capable, credible deterrent against a very real threat," Vice Admiral Jim Syring, director of the US Missile Defense Agency, was quoted as saying.
The exercise marked a significant step for the GMD system, which has had a checkered record in previous tests.
An important thing to remember about the emerging reality of an effective and layered ballistic missile defense is that it did not happen overnight. It happened because for decades - often neglected, ignored, shunned and usually underfunded - some of America and her allies’ best engineers and scientists toiled away making steady progress. In some places they failed, in others underperformed, but they kept working on what worked. They left behind what didn’t, improved what could be improved, and embraced new tools as they became available. Patriot modernization, Iron Dome, evolution of Aegis with/to SM-2ER Block IVA and now SM-3, THAAD, and the Ground Based Interceptor are the better known functioning parts of this system. There are still those who oppose BMD, but they are drifting in to the past as the more nuanced and complicated security environment of the 21st Century is replacing the previous century’s hold-overs. Watch the launch, and like the first infantryman’s view of the tank coming in support through the trenchline, smile a bit and know the future will be just a little bit brighter.
Also, know where this all started.
Speaking of started, you have to love that the test ICBM that was shot down was launched from the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on Kwajalein.
After a few weeks of interesting diversions and side-trips; I have decided to get back to Vince Lombardi FbF.It was on the swift-flowing Willamette River at Portland, Oregon that the USS LCS 92 was commissioned on January 8th, 1945. Like the ship itself, the ceremony was simple, compact and diminutive. A superficial but extensive inspection convinced the Captain, the five junior officers and the 65 men who made up the crew that the ship’s builders, Commercial Iron Works, had turned out a good, trim fighting ship.
