Rusty's Naval/Military History thread

[ColdWizard]

Several competing theories explain why one of the Medusa heads is sideways at the base of a column and the other is completely upside-down. The heads may have been removed from an ancient building called the Forum of Constantine, where similar ones have been found. While The Guardian writes that the upside-down head is “proof that Byzantine builders saw Roman relics as little more than reusable rubble,” other historians point to the early Christian practice of putting pagan statues upside-down to make a bold statement about their faith.

Link

[Buster's Uncle]

[Buster's Uncle]

How stealthy is Navy’s new destroyer? It needs reflectors
Associated Press
By David Sharp | AP April 10 at 12:33 PM



In this March 21, 2016 file photo, Dave Cleaveland and his son, Cody, photograph the USS Zumwalt as it passes Fort Popham at the mouth of the Kennebec River in Phippsburg, Maine, as it heads to sea for final builder trials. The ship is so stealthy that the U.S. Navy resorted to putting reflective material on its halyard to make it visible to mariners during the trials. (Robert F. Bukaty, File/Associated Press)



BATH, Maine — The future USS Zumwalt is so stealthy that it’ll go to sea with reflective material that can be hoisted to make it more visible to other ships.

The Navy destroyer is designed to look like a much smaller vessel on radar, and it lived up to its billing during recent builder trials.

Lawrence Pye, a lobsterman, told The Associated Press that on his radar screen the 610-foot ship looked like a 40- to 50-foot fishing boat. He watched as the behemoth came within a half-mile while returning to shipbuilder Bath Iron Works.

“It’s pretty mammoth when it’s that close to you,” Pye said.

Despite its size, the warship is 50 times harder to detect than current destroyers thanks to its angular shape and other design features, and its stealth could improve even more once testing equipment is removed, said Capt. James Downey, program manager.

During sea trials last month, the Navy tested Zumwalt’s radar signature with and without reflective material hoisted on its halyard, he said. The goal was to get a better idea of exactly how stealthy the ship really is, Downey said from Washington, D.C.

The reflectors, which look like metal cylinders, have been used on other warships and will be standard issue on the Zumwalt and two sister ships for times when stealth becomes a liability and they want to be visible on radar, like times of fog or heavy ship traffic, he said.

The possibility of a collision is remote. The Zumwalt has sophisticated radar to detect vessels from miles away, allowing plenty of time for evasive action.

But there is a concern that civilian mariners might not see it during bad weather or at night, and the reflective material could save them from being startled.

The destroyer is unlike anything ever built for the Navy.

Besides a shape designed to deflect enemy radar, it features a wave-piercing “tumblehome” hull, composite deckhouse, electric propulsion and new guns.

More tests will be conducted when the ship returns to sea later this month for final trials before being delivered to the Navy. The warship is due to be commissioned in October in Baltimore, and will undergo more testing before becoming fully operational in 2018.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/how-stealthy-is-navys-new-destroyer-it-needs-reflectors/2016/04/10/c763daa6-ff26-11e5-8bb1-f124a43f84dc_story.html

[Rusty Edge]

These new destroyers are really impressive. Only three of them are scheduled, as they are pretty pricey.
The potential problem I've read about is the potential for excessive roll and even capsize with the tumblehome hull shape.

Even so, those new Littoral frigates are proving very problematic. One's still stranded in Singapore. There were originally supposed to be 50 of them. Now it's forty.

With enough time, money and lost lives, the Pentagon eventually manages. In Viet Nam, the latest and greatest F-111s were ridiculed in cartoons as "F1 Lemons", but delivered most of the smart bombs in Dessert Storm. The Aluminum Bradley scout vehicle eventually became the a steel Armored Personnel Carrier, and the backbone of our mechanized infantry. The M-1 Abrams is the safest tank ever built, but it took some time to reconcile a gas turbine engine that provided the high horsepower to weight ratio it was designed upon, with the dusty, dirty environment in which tanks normally operate.

Sometimes they know enough money has been wasted, and pull the plug. I think weapon systems are sort of like banks, in that sometimes the government should allow them to fail and face the consequences, more often than they do. There is often more to be learned from a failure than a success, and contributes to the greater good in the long term.

[Buster's Uncle]

I wonder if Captain Kirk's still in command of the Zumwalt.

[Buster's Uncle]

Alexandrians can’t get enough of this excavated 18th-century ship

[Buster's Uncle]

Rusty - I notice your post count is WWII for two more posts...

[Rusty Edge]

Rusty - I notice your post count is WWII for two more posts...

Okay. Here's a post to commemorate my post 1945-

Easy Company at The Eagle's Nest

[Rusty Edge]

Game Changer: The Railgun. No, not those monstrosities used in the World Wars in the European theater. Sci-Fi becoming reality-

http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-first-look-at-americas-supergun-1464359194

It's a long article with video and diagrams and photos. I'll simply post some excerpts. It's not missile defense ready, but it could be used as a long range weapon now, given an adequate power supply, such as a Zumwalt Class Destroyer.

------------------------------------------

[
The Navy’s experimental railgun fires a hardened projectile at staggering velocity—a battlefield meteorite with the power to blow holes in enemy ships and level terrorist camps

By Julian E. Barnes
 
 
 

 
 



DAHLGREN, Va.—A warning siren bellowed through the concrete bunker of a top-secret Naval facility where U.S. military engineers prepared to demonstrate a weapon for which there is little defense.

Officials huddled at a video screen for a first look at a deadly new supergun that can fire a 25-pound projectile through seven steel plates and leave a 5-inch hole.

The weapon is called a railgun and requires neither gunpowder nor explosive. It is powered by electromagnetic rails that accelerate a hardened projectile to staggering velocity—a battlefield meteorite with the power to one day transform military strategy, say supporters, and keep the U.S. ahead of advancing Russian and Chinese weaponry.

In conventional guns, a bullet begins losing acceleration moments after the gunpowder ignites. The railgun projectile gains more speed as it travels the length of a 32-foot barrel, exiting the muzzle at 4,500 miles an hour, or more than a mile a second.

“This is going to change the way we fight,” said U.S. Navy Adm. Mat Winter, the head of the Office of Naval Research. ]


The website is fighting me on the cut and paste.  Essentially this rail gun  has 5X the range, and 5x the strike force of an Iowa class 16" gun. They were the practical size limit, because the 18" guns of the Yamato class caused a lot of crew concussions and broken ear drums.

[Buster's Uncle]

Neat.

...I believe your next post puts you Cuban Missile Crisis, and this one was Bay of Pigs...

[Rusty Edge]

UH-OH. Blue Angels and Thunderbirds both crash.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/02/politics/military-plane-crash/index.html?adkey=bn

Blue Angels jet, Thunderbird F-16 crash in separate incidents
By Steve Almasy, CNN
Updated 5:08 PM ET, Thu June 2, 2016


(CNN) — A U.S. Navy Blue Angels jet and an Air Force Thunderbirds F-16 crashed Thursday in separate incidents in Tennessee and Colorado, officials said.

The F-16 crashed south of Colorado Springs, Colorado, after a U.S. Air Force Academy commencement ceremony attended by President Barack Obama.

A spokesman for the academy said the plane went down far from the stadium, and the pilot, a member of the Air Force's Thunderbirds demonstration team, safely ejected.

Only the pilot was on board, FAA spokesperson Allen Kenitzer said.

There were no reported casualties on the ground, though the plane was badly damaged, said Robb Lingley of Peterson Air Force Base public affairs.


President Obama later met with the pilot when he visited the air force base.

"The President thanked the pilot for his service to the country and expressed his relief that the pilot was not seriously injured. The President also thanked the first responders who acted quickly to tend to the pilot," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.

Hours later, a U.S. Navy Blue Angels F-18 crashed during practice in airspace over middle Tennessee, the Navy public affairs office at the Pentagon said.

The Blue Angels had been in the Smyrna, Tennessee, area on Thursday, according to the flight demonstration squadron's Twitter account.

The public affairs office did not say anything about the Blue Angels pilot's fate.

Developing story - more to come
CNN's Karan Olson and Antoine Sanfuentes contributed to this report.

-------------------------

I know these guys are the best of the best, and that air shows are recruiting tools. I've come to think that airshow manuevers are too dangerous, for the pilots, the planes, and the audiences.

[Buster's Uncle]

10 Fascinating Theories Regarding The Ancient Sea Peoples
http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=17975.msg95401#msg95401

[Buster's Uncle]

Stealthy destroyer ready to set sail to join US Navy
AP  September 7, 2016



Capt. James Kirk, skipper of the future USS Zumwalt, stands in front of the destroyer at Bath Iron Works on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, in Bath, Maine. The ship is due to depart the shipyard on Wednesday to be commissioned in Baltimore. (AP Photo/David Sharp)



BATH, Maine (AP) -- The largest and most expensive destroyer ever built for the U.S. Navy once headed to sea in a snowstorm during builder trials. Now, it's heading into the remnants of a tropical storm as it leaves Maine for good.

The skipper is watching the weather as the stealthy Zumwalt destroyer prepares to depart from Bath Iron Works on Wednesday en route to its commissioning in Baltimore, and then to its homeport in San Diego.

Capt. James Kirk said what's left of former Hurricane Hermine was creating some strong waves in the North Atlantic, but he said it wouldn't prevent the ship from departing from the Navy shipbuilder.

He said sailors enjoyed their time training while the ship was being built, but now it's time to get down to business.

"It's time for us to do our job at sea," he said.

The 610-foot destroyer may have some port visits en route to its formal commissioning ceremony next month.

The sleek warship looks like no other ship in the fleet.

It features an angular shape to minimize its radar signature, an unconventional wave-piercing hull, electric propulsion and a composite deckhouse that hides the radar and sensors. It boasts a powerful new gun system that fires rocket-powered shells up to 63 nautical miles.

There are inevitable lighthearted comparisons of the futuristic-looking ship to the Starship Enterprise and the skipper to the mythical Captain Kirk.

The real Kirk, who was named for his grandfather, is used to the Starfleet jokes.

"Certainly I have been ribbed every now and then with someone saying, 'Yes, you're going where no man has gone before, on this class of ship,'" Kirk joked, referring to the line from the "Star Trek" TV series.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/stealthy-destroyer-ready-set-sail-join-us-navy-044204288.html

[Lord Avalon]

Capt. James Kirk?! For realz?! Is his middle name Tiberius??

[Rusty Edge]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-warship-again-targeted-failed-missile-attack-yemen-000745899.html

U.S. warship targeted in failed missile attack from Yemen: official
October 15, 2016

By Idrees Ali and Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy destroyer was targeted on Saturday in a failed missile attack from territory in Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, the third such incident in the past week, U.S. officials said.

Multiple surface-to-surface missiles were fired at the USS Mason sailing in international waters in the Red Sea but the warship used on-board countermeasures to defend itself and was not hit, one defense official said, citing initial information.

The latest attack could provoke further retaliation by the U.S. military, which launched cruise missiles on Thursday against three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen in response to the two previous failed missile firings against the Mason.

"The Mason once again appears to have come under attack in the Red Sea, again from coastal defense cruise missiles fired from the coast of Yemen," Admiral John Richardson, U.S. chief of naval operations, said during a ship christening in Baltimore on Saturday.

Another U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters: “We are assessing the situation. All of our ships and crews are safe and unharmed.”

Thursday’s U.S. counter-strikes, authorized by President Barack Obama, marked Washington's first direct military action against suspected Houthi-controlled targets in Yemen's conflict and raised questions about the potential for further escalation.

The Houthi movement earlier this week denied responsibility for the missile attacks on the Mason and warned that it too would defend itself.

The Pentagon on Thursday stressed the limited nature of the strikes, aimed at radar that it suspected enabled the launch of at least three missiles against the Mason on Sunday and Wednesday.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said at the time that the U.S. counter-strikes were not connected to the broader civil war in Yemen, which has unleashed famine and killed more than 10,000 people since March 2015 in the Arab world's poorest country.

The United States, a longtime ally of Saudi Arabia, has provided aerial refueling of warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition striking Yemen and it supplies U.S. weapons to the kingdom.

Iran, which supports the Houthi group, said last week it had deployed two warships to the Gulf of Aden, to protect ship lanes from piracy.