Sunday Funnies: the NAVSEA edition

I'm giving you Sunday Funnies early. I should have no problem getting the Maritime Strategy post out Monday, but due to access issues - it should be light posting until next Thursday.

Visions of Europe's future

Read about Russia's demographics. Read about what is going on in Brussels - the heart of Europe. If Islam does not change from its radical path - which it is showing no signs of doing - Islamic immigration and birthrates don't change - which there is a good chance they won't - well - if you want to be pessimistic......this town in southern Russia (nee Chechnya) could be about any town in Belgium, The Netherlands, Norway, or France in 2050.

Fullbore Friday

A good life, well lived. Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema. Outlaw Mike probably knows him - but for the rest of you think; in your early 20s, would you have met the standard?

Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, who won the Netherlands' highest military honor in World War II after leading 15 small-boat spying missions to the shores of his Nazi-occupied homeland in 1942, then flew 72 sorties in small plywood planes over Germany to point British bombers toward their targets, died Sept. 26 at his home in Ahualoa, Hawaii. He was 90.

The cause was heart failure, said his wife, Karin.

Acclaimed in the Netherlands as one of the nation's greatest World War II heroes, Mr. Hazelhoff Roelfzema gained international recognition after he wrote an autobiography, "Soldier of Orange" (Forum Boekerij, 1971; Hodder & Stoughton, 1972). The book offers gripping accounts of coastal landings on moonless nights near Nazi headquarters in the Netherlands, and then of dodging splays of tracers and anti-aircraft fire over Berlin. "Soldier of Orange," titled in deference to the Dutch royal dynasty, the House of Orange, has sold more than a million copies. In 1977, it was made into a movie by the director Paul Verhoeven, with Rutger Hauer portraying Mr. Hazelhoff Roelfzema as a 23-year-old.

"Tracers crisscrossed over our heads like monstrous party streamers," Mr. Hazelhoff Roelfzema wrote of the last of his 15 spy missions, on May 11, 1942, aboard a motorized dinghy that had been slipped over the side of a British gunboat, No. 320, near Noordwijk. "Machine guns and cannon chattered and barked."

The dinghy came under withering fire after delivering radio transmitters to Dutch resistance fighters who would use the devices to relay information about German installations and troop movements. Mr. Hazelhoff Roelfzema wrote of the gunboat: "Crewmen crouched on the foredeck and along the sides. Finally, they pulled us aboard without stopping, abandoning the dinghy. Then, rearing up under full power, the 320 roared out to sea."

Born April 3, 1917, in Indonesia, when it was under colonial rule as the Dutch East Indies, Mr. Hazelhoff Roelfzema was the son of a coffee plantation manager. The family later returned to the Netherlands.

Days after the Nazis invaded, Mr. Hazelhoff Roelfzema boarded a Swiss freighter bound for New York. When a British cruiser stopped the freighter, he persuaded the captain to take him to Britain. Once in London, Mr. Hazelhoff Roelfzema volunteered for the Dutch section of MI6, the British intelligence service, and was soon assigned to the dinghy missions to his homeland.

"He used to joke, 'Wait a minute, I just left,' " his wife said. Besides carrying transmitters to the resistance, Mr. Hazelhoff Roelfzema and his crew ferried spies to and from the Netherlands.

Despite the success of those missions, Mr. Hazelhoff Roelfzema ran afoul of Col. Mattheus de Bruyne, the newly appointed leader of the Dutch intelligence section, after he refused to provide information to another branch of the Dutch government in exile for fear it had been infiltrated by Nazi sympathizers. Court-martial proceedings were dismissed after the exiled Queen Wilhelmina recommended him for the Militaire Willemsorde.

The Militaire Willemsorde (the Military Order of William) was bestowed on Mr. Hazelhoff Roelfzema in the summer of 1942 by Queen Wilhelmina, who had fled to London and established the government in exile after the Germans occupied the Netherlands in May 1940.

Mr. Hazelhoff Roelfzema joined Britain's Royal Air Force. He learned to fly a De Havilland Mosquito, the twin-engine, spruce and balsa plane of the elite Pathfinder Force. The light, agile Mosquito was used for, among other things, firing flares at potential bombing targets. Mr. Hazelhoff Roelfzema's 72 flights into German airspace included 25 over Berlin.

Describing a night flight over Berlin, Mr. Hazelhoff Roelfzema wrote, "Hundreds of searchlights pierce the cloudless sky, rigid, motionless, like quills of the giant porcupine - Berlin." The RAF awarded him its Distinguished Flying Cross.

In April 1945, Mr. Hazelhoff Roelfzema was appointed aide-de-camp to Queen Wilhelmina and accompanied her as she returned from exile to the liberated Netherlands.

He moved to the United States in the early 1950s and became a citizen. He was a writer at NBC and for Radio Free Europe. Then, in 1971, he retired to Hawaii, where he was named to the board of Barnwell Industries, an oil and gas exploration company.

Besides his wife, Mr. Hazelhoff Roelfzema is survived by a son, Erik Jr., of Amsterdam; a daughter, Karna Hazelhoff-Castellon of San Francisco; a granddaughter; and a great-granddaughter.

Last July, in an interview with De Telegraaf, the Netherlands' largest daily newspaper, Mr. Hazelhoff Roelfzema said he had received too much recognition for his wartime exploits. "I became a war hero because I stuck out, because I wrote about my experiences," he said. "But behind every soldier decorated with military honors there are a hundred anonymous heroes, some of them greater."

CNO talks to bloggers

John teased me with this link, as I thought I might have a chance to play. Sniffle, I never get a chance to play with the cool kids. Mean old man 'bout made this little Sailor throw a hissy-fit.

In Phibian's world I would love a chance to get a line open with some Navy focued bloggers to have some time with the CNO via The Bloggers Roundtable, but alas, I know my place among the rest of the Crofters.

As it was, Goldfarb from The Weekly Standard, Jenkins from Fox News, Ward from military.com, Jason from ArmchairGeneralist, Andrew from USCAV on point all got a question in to the CNO.

Trained well as he is to answer questions, the CNO didn't offer anything of substance in addition to the other things he has said as of late, but it is worth the listen-to here. He was on message, sharp, polite, and nimble.

BZ to the CNO for taking the questions, as it is a good opportunity to spread the net further to get the word out as he sees fit.

I think Goldfarb got the best question in about how we are going to get to 313 with all the shipbuilding problems we are having (costs etc). I think he drew blood, as the, "we will get there in 2020 plus or minus a few years.." just didn't come out that well for the CNO. He, and therefor we, need a better answer to that question. Ditto his LCS and LPD-17 comments he made to Ward later on where he got lost some and sounded like an answer someone would give in 2002 about buying "concepts."

Give it a listen, and Jack - invite some smaller fish next time. Lex, Eagle1, Chap and myself will be nice and polite. If you want some jazz, you may want to invite Skippy as well.....

Phibian approved Congressman

From my favorite talk-radio show, The Dennis Miller Show. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI). Listen here. He sure has China right.

Seawarrior - the time is now

This has been around for awhile, but Tim sent it earlier this week - and in light of a few meetings I have been to of late - I thought it felt like the right time to put it out for the very few who have not seen it.

The new Maritime Strategy is out

OK, here is what we will do. Instead of doing Week 2 of the '86 plan like I put out before, we will instead take from now to Monday to digest the new Maritime Strategy and we will then comment in detail like we did earlier this week with the '86 Maritime Strategy. The WaPost article after the press release has the pull quote.

The strategy integrates seapower with other elements of U.S. national power in addition to that of friends, partners and allies. It states that protecting the U.S. homeland and winning the nation’s wars is matched by a corresponding commitment to preventing war.

“This strategy addresses the balance of capabilities of our maritime services. It reaffirms our core capabilities of forward presence, deterrence, sea control and power projection. It also commits our maritime forces to increased international cooperation for the benefit of all,” said Adm. Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations. “It reflects the expectation of the people of the United States to be a strong maritime force to protect our homeland and work collaboratively with partners around the world to secure and stabilize the global waterways that are critical to our prosperity.”

“While we must maintain a balance of forces to be able to deliver credible combat power as deterrence, we also believe preventing wars is as important as winning wars,” said Gen. James Conway, Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps. “We need to be the most ready when the nation is least ready.”

“Keeping the seas safe and secure from a broad range of threats and hazards is in everyone's best interest," said Adm. Thad Allen, Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. "The key to global prosperity and security is through cooperation and coordination."

Not all that much to chew on. We should start with the sales flier (high res).

Right now, it is the only thing I have issues with. If you want to be snarky, well -

- What is it with the three bullets? Only one belongs, and "Seapower is a unifying force for a better tomorrow" sounds like the output from a random sentence generator or something from The Onion. We are so much better than those three blind mice of quotes.
- The post-LCS and DDG-1000 Carrier Strike group is there. A CVN will all its aircraft parked underway in perfect weather guarded by a Coast Guard cutter not ready for anything but a photo op.
- Wait, there is an escort for the tip of the spear - it is a Sailor with a 7.62mm machine gun defending an area 180deg out from the threat vector.
- We have the same air vehicle that was first mentioned on page 28 of the '86 version. That is ok, it took 21 years for its first deployment from mention in The Maritime Strategy; I hope that isn't the standard we are setting.
- We have the USNS Comfort. Nice ship old ship that is doing a great mission building goodwill, but the front page?
- Marines without loaded weapons coming ashore looking for everything like they are trying to find the bar.

Compare that to the old cover, because that was the sales flier then. Heck, I guess we need a sales flier - because the new cover is just, well - uninspiring. Look at it there to the right. We are a nation at war, aren't we? Is that the best we can do? Am I just in a grumpy mood?

Gee wizz they are making this hard. I want very much to be upbeat and forward looking - but they just need to help a brother out.

Anyway, let's get to the meat and ignore the poorly constructed sizzle. There are related stories at the navy.mil site, and here is the PDF of the new Maritime Strategy titled "A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower." I prefer just "The Maritime Strategy," but that is just my trying to keep things simple and to the point.

I have only given it a quick skim, and I am very glad to say that the meat is a lot better than the sizzle. It is a little thin, 20 pages for the visually impaired, but it is a start. If you are in a hurry and have a low BS tolerance, skip the first 9 pages (11 if you are counting the cover pages) and just read 10-20.

However, those are not your orders. Like we did with the old Maritime Strategy with Maritime Strategy Monday Week 1, we are going to give everyone, especially the regulars, all the time they need to read it over and ponder their thoughts. As mentioned in the opening paragraph, we are going to interrupt the review of the '86 bit and shift our focus on the new Maritime Strategy.

Run off a copy of the new one and read it over between now and next Monday. Next Maritime Strategy Monday will be focused on the whole document. As before, I will pull out a few of the items that seemed to be of interest to me, and then open comments for everyone else.

I am not interested in being the first out of the block with comments on the web - but the one with the best comments - and not comments just by me - but by all the regulars and those who decide to join in.

Same rules apply; no getting ahead of your shipmates and posting your opinion on other posts before Monday. I look forward to it.