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.
What the Spanish Civil War was to WWII armor and air tactics, the extended conflict in Ukraine and to a lesser extent Syria is to electronic warfare.
There isn't so much "new" that is being developed, but hard lessons forgotten since the fall of the Soviet Union.
The closer you get to Ukraine, the more clear it becomes. Poland gets it.
Polish firm WB Group harnesses low-power radios and quasi-satellites in a scalable and adaptive communication system.
A Polish company has developed a tactical communication system called Cicha Sieć (Silent Network) with a low electromagnetic signature that leverages lessons learned from the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
WB Group launched Silent Network last month with battalion-level deployments in mind, although it claims the solution can be scaled up for larger formations.
Company VP Adam Bartosiewicz explained that Silent Network originated with two parallel developments in 2013: the Perad personal radio and the deployment of the FlyEye UAS in Ukraine.
What does Sal what to know? What does the USA have in this area?
Also a reminder; what happens in EW ashore also applies to at sea. How do we fight in a contested and hostile EW environment? Are we leaning too much on peacetime capabilities and habits that simply won't be there at war?
I hope we are asking and acting on such questions.
Shipping rates, supply bottlenecks, and some nightmare abandonment stories for some mariners, like everything else on our water plant, COVID-19 impacted our shipping industry hard at sea and ashore. The impacts of which rippled in to everything.
As economies, nations, and corporations adjust to the new reality, what trends can the consumer and maritime professional expect?
Sal sailed with MSC from 1989 to 1992, and worked MSC HQ as Operations Officer for the Afloat Prepositioning Force 1992-1996. He has a BS Marine Transportation from SUNY Maritime College, a MA Maritime History and Nautical Archaeology from East Carolina University, and received his Ph.D. in Military and Naval History from University of Alabama. He is the chair of the Department of History, Criminal Justice & Political Science at Campbell University. He was awarded 2nd place in the 2019 CNO History Essay Contest with his submission, "Suppose There Was a War and the Merchant Marine Didn't Come."
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Rowan was a Gearing class destroyer commissioned too late in World War II to see any combat. That changed just a few years later when she was bloodied for the first time during the "Forgotten War" when she took a medium caliber shell hit in her starboard quarter, damaging the after steering compartment and causing a number of casualties. She had been providing counter-battery fire against North Korean shore batteries when she was hit. And counter-battery would prove to be her specialty in another twenty year.
...
27 August 1972 ... the skipper came on the 1MC again confirming that Rowan was, indeed, going to raid Haiphong harbor in a matter of hours along with Newport News, USS Providence (CLG 6) and USS Robison (DDG 12).
...
We went into battle well prepared. Rowan was amongst the sharpest shooters in the Navy having had more gunnery practice under combat conditions with the same crew during the few months leading up to this night than few ships have in a lifetime. Moreover, Rowan had just had her guns relined in Yokosuka and the 80 plus rounds of 5" HE that we could put into a precise area in under a minute was devastating. The Shrikes were a plus; but, the plethora of fire control radars in and around Haiphong overwhelmed the four missiles that we had at the ready. In the final analysis, it was the experience and solidarity of her crew that gave Rowan her edge.
Initially it seemed like another LINEBACKER II raid. I felt the ship heal and slow as we turned onto our twenty knot firing run. I heard the guns in action and the Shrikes firing at varying intervals. While the action seemed heavier than normal, it wasn't any more than what I had been expecting. After the firing run I felt Rowan again heal in a tight turn. The blowers in the fireroom just aft increase in pitch and the wave noise from the ship's passage increase as we worked up to the thirty plus knots for our getaway. The command over the 1MC to "Now set condition YOKE" was the next thing we expected to hear. It came in due course and I had just taken off my phones and was opening the scuttle in the hatch above preparing for the "Secure from GQ" command when the captain's voice came over the 1MC. "This is the Captain speaking. It's not over yet! We've two high-speed surface contacts closing fast! Reset condition ZEBRA. Re-man all General Quarters stations."
Then three things happened virtually at once: The whine from the fireroom increased to a crescendo, the height of which I had never before heard as Rowan worked up to over thirty-five knots; she started to heal one way and then reverse her rudder and heal hard over in the opposite direction; and the guns were firing at a frantic rate.
...ET2 Richard Spicer kept a contemporary log of his time in Rowan . An excerpt from his log of that night stirred many memories for all that have read it. "27 Aug 72 2230 Hrs. I was at my GQ station in the crypto room in radio central, when we went to general quarters at the start of the operation. It was a good place to be to hear what was going on, as we had tac-air and Navy-red frequencies up on remotes and listening in on the battle group! That was one night I had my life vest on good and secure!" From the log, "Arrived at Haiphong harbor with the USS Newport News, USS Providence, and USS Robison. At 2230 GQ is sounded, 2310 all ships came to firing course. At 2325 all ships are ordered to go "hot" and commenced firing at coastal gun sites, NVA barracks and other targets. ECM in CIC now sees three cross slot gun site radars radiating, and we now are receiving counter battery! All ships are continuing firing at their targets, still receiving counter battery. Oh shit they are hitting real close now! Providenceand Robison turn out to sea as they have fired their rounds at targets, leaving the Newport News and us in the harbor. The Newport News and we keep firing, when ECM gets a bearing on a cross slot radar site and we launch our first Shrike anti-radar missile at it. This is from our new "SOB" system (Shrike on board). [Seven] min. later another cross slot radar is radiating at us and the second Shrike bird is launched. We are still receiving counter battery and lots of it! Newport News is still providing cover for us, with her 8-inch guns. We see another cross slot radar come up and fire our last two shrikes at it, this time hitting the site! With our entire Shrike missiles fired the Newport News and we turn out to sea at 26knts. As fast as we can. We are still taking heavy counter battery, and sonar reports closest hits at 20 yards off the port bow. We are hauling ass out to sea when radar sees Skunk-A at 17,000 yards closing at 48knts. We request to go hot on Skunk-A and turn 180 degrees to go back and provide cover for Newport News and shoot at Skunk-A. We are shooting at Skunk-A, now at 9,000 yards and closing [on the] stbd. beam. Newport News and we continue shooting at Skunk-Alfa when CIC radar sees Skunk-Bravo closing in on us. But we have tac-air cover and they take Skunk-Bravo. The Newport News and we connect on Skunk-Alfa, a torpedo boat with Russian [Stix] missiles on it, and sink it while tac-air sinks Skunk-Bravo!
...
Dana Perkins who was a SM3 at the time was manning his GQ station on the exposed signal bridge. Perkins relates, "I remember the night of the Haiphong Harbor pretty well. I don't think they passed the word of our objective until shortly before General Quarters, as I'm sure the mission was of utmost importance and secret. Also I think that they didn't want us to have much time to think about what was about to unfold. As a signalman I was on the highest point on the ship and had a clear view of all the action. Myself and three other signalmen were manning the Redeye shoulder fired missiles, loaded, armed and ready to squeeze the trigger in the event the time should come. When we started to see the lit shoreline and the lighted buoys of the harbor, make no mistake about it, the tension was high. All of a sudden the whole shoreline lit up with counter battery, spewing bright fireballs as each round was fired at us. The North Vietnamese weren't using flashless powder like we had. At one time I remember counting about 22 shore batteries rapid firing at the squadron. The shells were dropping all around us like seagull shit, leaving thunderous columns of white spray as they splashed into the ocean. Some of the shells were proximity and burst in the air. I remember one shell passed over the Rowanand burst in the air, causing the shrapnel to hit the side of the ship. I think it put some heavy-duty dents on the starboard side of the ship along the upper outer passageway. Luckily no one was hit! The whole time the ships in the squadron were firing on their intended targets with gunmounts and Shrike missiles. It was like the most intense 4th of July display I'd ever seen. The Newport News was off our port side at about 270 relative position, rapid firing her 8-inch guns and launching missiles as fast as they could get them off the deck. All of a sudden the word came over the sound powered phone that we had 2 torpedo boats, (Russian Osha class I believe) about 80 feet long coming out to attack. The guys in the magazine were jamming whatever shells they could get their hands on into the hoist. The first round that we hit one of those boats with was actually a practice starburst round and it tore right through it. The second round did explode. I think an A-6 Intruder came in and finished it off with an air to surface missile. The Newport News I believe sank the other boat. All I could think about the whole time was how un-watertight some of those hatches on the old Rowan were. Luckily we got past them and then the word came in that there were some inbound bogeys [MiGs] headed our way. I white knuckled the pistol grip of that Redeye missile and prepared for whatever was about to happen. At about 30 miles inbound we pushed the power button and the gyro on the missile head whined as it spooled up. Adrenaline was in overdrive by now. Then at about 20 miles out, we got word that they turned away and were outbound. I guess they knew the deck was stacked against them! As we turned away (at probably flank speed I might add), the shore batteries were trying their damnedest to get in a few last shots at us. We were out of sight of land and an occasional round was still reaching us and splashing into the ocean. The whole event probably didn't take 15 minutes but seemed like an eternity with all the action going on. The next day I remember as a chill passed through me, they told us that we weren't that far from the mines that were dropped at the harbor entrance. Thanks for that comforting bit of info." Note: The air support, whether it was an A-6 Intruder or an A-7 Corsair II, came from an attack squadron flying from USS Coral Sea (CV 43).
That's how it was to the best of our fading memories. A veteran destroyer with a veteran crew fighting the U.S. Navy's last night surface gun battle. Perhaps, also, it was the last of a long tradition of destroyers placing themselves between a heavier ship and harms way.
We've been making the point here for years that of all the institutions and groups in the United States, the Navy is one of the least racist places a person could find themselves in. It was for me.
Especially when people make the the charge of "systemic racism" against our Navy, any well meaning person of experience will know the charge is just baseless.
What if I was wrong? Maybe I was. Maybe things have changed.
There was an amazing admission earlier this week from the Chief of Naval Personnel, Vice Adm. John Nowell Jr., that I am still trying to get my head around;
“I think we should consider reinstating photos in selection boards,” Nowell said Tuesday at The Navy League’s 2021 Sea-Air-Space Exposition. “We look at, for instance, the one-star board over the last five years, and we can show you where, as you look at diversity, it went down with photos removed.”
As you may recall, I greatly welcomed the removal of the photo requirement - especially because of the reason people gave for it, "We want to make sure people look professional."
What BS, many of us said, I don't care if you are tall, short, thin or round. If you do your job well and pass the physical requirements, then all I care and that the Navy should care about is your record. Take the picture away, and for that matter, the names as well. If you are "not professional" then your FITREPs will reflect that.
What a fool I was.
“It’s a meritocracy. We’re only going to pick the best of the best, but we’re very clear with our language … that we want them to consider diversity across all areas. Right?” Nowell said. “And therefore … I think having a clear picture on this just makes it easier. So, actually, our data show that it would support adding photos back in.”
I know it is hard to read through all the contradictions there, but when you boil it down, what he is asking for is, essentially, "Bring pictures back so we can discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin to make our metrics look better. You know, good old school bigotry based on superficial appearances. That's what we need the pictures for."
That is the only reading one can have. I know he is aware of the cohort issues we covered last week. In the zero-sum game that promotions are, if you want to force-mode a set of numbers based on self-identified race and ethnicity, there is only one way to do it: non-meritocratic quotas.
There is no military in the history of the human race that ever prospered with such a system. There is no multi-ethnic nation that has ever survived long when it promoted division and an open spoils system based on a people divided by factors they were born with.
None. Never. This is engineering failure.
This is the Chief of Naval Personnel. He runs our promotion system and personnel management. How quickly things have changed from the clear guidance on the bottom of page 4;
In July 2020, then-Secretary of Defense Mark Esper issued a memo instructing the Defense Department to “remove photographs from consideration by promotion boards and selection processes and develop additional guidance, as applicable, that emphasizes retaining qualified and diverse talent.”
At the time, Esper also signaled that sex, names and other identifying information could be next on the chopping block since they may “may trigger unconscious bias.”
We've gone from trying to avoid unconscious bias to no kidding saying we want to be fully conscious in our bias - and we want to be congratulated for it.
You can't make this stuff up. I've spent a decade and a half online, longer IRL, warning everyone what was growing in the heart of our Navy, but no one did anything. Here it is. Don't blame Biden either; these are Flag Officers brought up and promoted under both political parties.
The only solution is that Congress must act. Of course, nothing will happen with (D) in power. That means that nothing can be done outside the margins until 2023 - maybe - and nothing substantial can be done until 2025 unless the right person is elected as CINC and brings with them the right people who get it. This will not fix itself. The Navy is incapable of extracting itself from racial essentialism on its own. It has embraced it whole hog.
This is only going to get worse if not actively opposed and pushed back. You can do what you can on the local and personal level to slow-roll, ignore, and throw a spanner in the Diversity Industry works where possible, but otherwise we will have to wait, husband our forces, and prepare for a change at the top.
I'm sorry, if people don't see the CNP's comments as a clear demonstration about how far across the line we are - especially with the CNO's full embrace of the racist cancer of Ibram X. Kendi - I can't help them ... and they are part of the problem and should be left out of the future solution.
All those leaders who told us the photos were not used for racial bean counting? They just admitted they lied to us all along. It is that, or they've decided to throw that all away for ... for what, exactly? What long term, institutional positive impact are they looking for ... or are they doing this for petty, personal reasons, trying to just get by without anyone calling them nasty names until they get promoted or retired?
Who knows ... but here we are watching one of the last institutions most had confidence in, thrown in to the gaping mouth of the Diversity Industry's Vaal.
Of note, I have been a member of a board. That was back in the 00s. At least from the worker bee POV, the pictures were mostly ignored ... perhaps something changed. Perhaps they are used elsewhere. What is clear from the CNP's comments, at least at some level they were a tool to practice racial discrimination. Really? How?
At a Pentagon press conference shortly after the comments by CNP, you can tell the Defense Department Spokesperson John Kirby at the 43:11 point was not quite ready for the question, but his shuffling it in to a category of "creative ideas" should set people back a bit. Racism is now considered a "creative" solution? That is where people are at now?
Noted.
There is nothing "creative" about discrimination based on race, creed, color, or national origin. It is simply being a bigot.
We see you.
A final note: I was impressed how rapid the response was to this as demonstrated by my email, DMs, and other communications media from civilians to active duty officers from LTjg to CAPT and retired Flag Officers. This hit home. I'll take this as a positive sign.
It has generated an amazing degree of cynicism even I'm a little taken back with. Though there had been rumors and even isolated occasions of interference in the integrity of the selection process people - including me - have first hand knowledge of, there is a general feeling that this would be the last bastion off fairness people could rely on. In a moment, that is gone.
People rightfully should no longer have the assumption of fair and impartial boards. Sooner more than later, the CNP, CNO, or better yet, whenever we need a SECNAV, they need to repudiate the CNP's statements as outlined above. In no uncertain terms, people need to have confidence that there will be no discrimination based on race, creed, color, or national origin on selection boards. To get there, this episode needs to be publicly repudiated.
If these comments are left standing then there can be only one possible conclusion; we are in a new era where racial discrimination is now policy.
You want systemic racism? There it is - red in tooth can claw.
What an amazing bit of commentary that really reads like parody, but it isn’t.
Given the history of the UN from Rwanda to Haiti, you would think there would be a bit more of a humble attitude from the UN, but amazingly, no.
Some of these people seem like they never left the Model UN camp they went to while they waited to take their AP History exams.
One guy, Eide, I remember from my time in Kabul, so let’s do things in reverse and show you the CV of the authors of this article;
Kai Eide, a Norwegian diplomat, served as the United Nations secretary general’s special representative for Afghanistan from 2008 to 2010. Tadamichi Yamamoto, a Japanese diplomat, served in the same role from 2016 to 2020.
Look at this monument to a lack of self-awareness;
Between 2008 and 2020, across six years, we served as U.N. envoys to Afghanistan. In those years, the U.N. endeavored to create openings for the peace process but could not get one underway. Though last year’s agreement between the United States and the Taliban made possible the withdrawal of international forces, it sadly did not create conditions conducive to peace.
Yes, there will be math. That is 12-yrs. You could have fought almost four WWII’s in that time.
12. Years.
The U.N. must now step up and guide Afghanistan away from catastrophe. The alternative, as all-out civil war beckons, is too grim to contemplate.
Who is stepping up again? Who exactly will you guide? Whose money? Whose forces? This is completely disconnected from local history, regional history, hell, global history.
I sarcastically say on a regular basis, especially on twitter, that “we need new elites.” Q.E.D.
The organization needs to do more. Though two U.N. envoys are currently assigned to Afghanistan, neither is sufficiently empowered to make a difference. … Fortunately, by contrast to times in the past when disagreements among members hobbled effective responses to global crises, the U.N. is in a good position to act. The United States, Russia and China — three of the five permanent members of the Security Council — all have a stake in Afghanistan’s stability. Along with Pakistan, they issued statements in recent months calling for a reduction in violence and a negotiated political settlement that protects the rights of women and minorities. They also encouraged the U.N. to play “a positive and constructive role in the Afghan peace and reconciliation process.” Taken together, the statements demonstrate a hopeful amount of political will.
Statements? Did no one consider a strongly worded letter instead?
Again, how can you parody the unparodyable?
The U.N. must step into this vacuum. In the first instance, the secretary general must immediately convene the Security Council and seek a clear mandate to empower the U.N., both inside the country and at the negotiating table. That would mean the United States, Russia, China and other members of the council coming together to authorize a special representative to act as a mediator. With the pivotal support of member states, this would put pressure on both sides to halt the fighting and reach a settlement.
Read that again. I am without words. These people have no shame.
UPDATE: As my friend Andrew pointed out, this sounds familiar, yes?
Take up the White Man's burden—
Send forth the best ye breed—
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness
On fluttered folk and wild—
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.
Take up the White Man's burden—
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain.
To seek another's profit,
And work another's gain.
Take up the White Man's burden—
The savage wars of peace—
Fill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch Sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.
Take up the White Man's burden—
No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper—
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go make them with your living,
And mark them with your dead!
Take up the White Man's burden—
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard—
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:—
"Why brought ye us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"
Take up the White Man's burden—
Ye dare not stoop to less
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloak your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh your Gods and you.
Take up the White Man's burden—
Have done with childish days—
The lightly proffered laurel,
The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years,
Cold-edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers!
- "The White Man's Burden: The United States and the Philippine Islands" (1899), by Rudyard Kipling,
While the Royal Navy's new aircraft carrier and her battlegroup heading east of Suez for a bit of showing the flag, with her Dutch and American friends along for comic relief, the Arabian sea the last week seemed to wake up.
The chief of Israel’s armed forces spoke with his British counterpart on Sunday, the Israeli military said, after London accused Iran of carrying out an attack on an Israeli-managed ship off Oman last week that killed a Briton and a Romanian.
Lieutenant-General Aviv Kohavi and Britain’s Staff General Nick Carter “discussed recent events in the region and common challenges faced by both countries,” said an Israeli military statement...
In case you were not up to speed on the MV Mercer Street incident.
Iran's ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Office following a drone attack on an Israeli-linked oil tanker in which two crew, including a British national, were killed.
The ambassador was summoned this morning for a meeting with Foreign Office minister James Cleverly after the UK and US blamed Iran for the strike.
...
The UK and US have blamed Iran for the attack on the Israeli-linked oil tanker, in which two crew members - a British national and a Romanian citizen - were killed.
The attack happened last Thursday when the tanker MV Mercer Street was off Oman's coast in the Arabian Sea.
Unrelated ... or simply byproducts of a same bubbling stew? Not sure, but what is clear is that the eternal laws of geography and maritime security may take a nap now and then, but they do not sleep.
Britain said on Tuesday it would permanently deploy two warships in Asian waters after its HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier and escort ships sail to Japan in September through seas where China is vying for influence with the United States and Japan.
Plans for the high-profile visit by the carrier strike group come as London deepens security ties with Tokyo, which has expressed growing alarm in recent months over China’s territorial ambitions in the region, including Taiwan.
“Following on from the strike group’s inaugural deployment, the United Kingdom will permanently assign two ships in the region from later this year,” Britain’s Defence Minister Ben Wallace said in a joint announcement in Tokyo with his Japanese counterpart, Nobuo Kishi.
It looks like they will base out of the already established logistics hub in Duqm, Oman - ~60 miles southwest of the unsinkable aircraft carrier that is Masirah Island.
The UK will operate two Littoral Response Groups, one deploying to the Euro-Atlantic region and the other deploying to the Indo-Pacific.
This was outlined in the Defence command paper (essentially a defence review) published earlier this year.
“The Royal Navy will be a constant global presence, with more ships, submarines, sailors and marines deployed on an enduring basis, including to protect shipping lanes and uphold freedom of navigation. With support from partners in the Indo-Pacific, Offshore Patrol Vessels will be persistently deployed and a Littoral Response Group (LRG) in 2023 will complement the episodic deployment of our Carrier Strike Group; contributing to regional security and assurance. This will be enabled by the deployment of two Littoral Response Groups; the first in 2021 will be deployed to the Euro-Atlantic under a NATO and JEF construct, while a second will be deployed to the Indo-Pacific region in 2023. They will also be able to deliver training to our partners in regions of the world where maritime security is most challenging.”
Oman seems to be playing a tricky game. She is diplomatically very close to Iran, yet has a long standing security relationship with Britain and has been very helpful to the United States the last few decades. Where does this go? We'll have to watch.
Just an interesting sidenote: everyone is a student of history because you are living every day in its first draft.
