Rear Adm. (select) Bette Bolivar (right) takes command of Navy Region Northwest from Rear Adm. Mark Rich. With them on the stage were Capt. John Swanson (far left) and Vice Adm. William French. – Kitsap Sun

BREMERTON — Rear Adm. Mark Rich, Navy Region Northwest commander, didn’t expect to be leaving so soon and is reluctant to go. But the Navy suddenly needs him in the other Washington.

The commanding officer of the Mid-Atlantic Region retired, setting off a series of changes that resulted in Rich becoming commandant of Naval District Washington. Region commanders generally stick around for two years. Rich arrived just 50 weeks ago.

During a hastily arranged ceremony Friday, he turned over the Northwest Region to Rear Adm. (select) Bette Bolivar, the first woman to lead the command. Bolivar, of Honolulu, came from where Rich is going, last serving as chief of staff at Navy Installations Command. She was selected for appointment to rear admiral on March 25.

USS NIMITZ, At Sea (NNS) — A fire occurred aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) in the ship’s electrical equipment while the ship was underway in the Indian Ocean within U.S. 7th Fleet’s operating area June 7.

No Sailors were injured during the event or the response, and the ship and embarked air wing remain operable and in a safe, stable condition.

The ship’s underway firefighting team and watchstanders responded to the electrical fire, set fire boundaries and extinguished the fire.

The extent of the damage remains to be determined. An assessment team, led by Puget Sound Naval Shipyard from Bremerton, Wash., is en route and will further evaluate the damage.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Nimitz is homeported in Naval Station Everett, Wash., and is on a scheduled deployment to the U.S. 5th and 7th Fleet areas of responsibility conducting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts.

The guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59), the Military Sealift Command fleet replenishment oiler USNS Guadalupe (T-AO 200), and the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) participate in a replenishment at sea while the guided-missile destroyers USS Momsen (DDG 92) and USS Preble (DDG 88) are underway in formation.

USS NIMITZ, At Sea (NNS) — The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) with embarked Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 11, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 11 and Destroyer Squadron 23, along with the guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59) entered the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations June 9.

The squadrons of CVW-11 include the “Black Knights” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 154, the “Argonauts” of VFA-147, the “Blue Diamonds” of VFA-146, the “Death Rattlers” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 323, the “Gray Wolves” of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 142, the “Wallbangers” of Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 117, the “Indians” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 6 and the “Wolf Pack” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 75.

The Navy’s submarine chief lays out the four coordinated ‘Ps’ that form the collective plan to maintain the nation’s strong toehold in the undersea domain.

“[The undersea environment] is the one domain in which the United States has clear maritime superiority—but this superiority will not go unchallenged. A growing number of nations are developing capabilities to find and defeat submarines and exploit the undersea domain for their own purposes. At the same time, commercial and academic interests are monitoring and exploring the undersea domain to unprecedented degrees. To keep our undersea advantage, we need a combination of new operating concepts, innovative technology, and the continued proficiency and confidence of our Sailors.”

—Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert, memo to the current Strategic Studies Group

Our nation enjoys control of the undersea domain that was established during the Cold War. Today, the challenge is to sustain and grow that dominance in an era of rapid technological change and smaller budgets. The U.S. Navy will rise to that challenge by building smarter with a plan that coordinates people, platforms, payloads, and partnerships.

What we call undersea warfare actually encompasses activity that ranges from the seabed to space. Military effects from the undersea domain support the air, surface, cyber, land, and space domains. Therefore, the degree to which we are successful in sustaining undersea superiority will affect the military outcomes and strategic influence in multiple domains.

From the very beginning, the reason to take warfare beneath the waves has been stealth—the ability to operate unobserved, even when far forward. Undersea forces’ observability is so low that the adversary can never be sure they are not present. For this reason, stealth is a force multiplier for the side with undersea dominance, and a paranoia multiplier for the side that does not. Over time, science will improve the ability to detect what happens beneath the surface of the ocean. However, for the immediate future, the ocean will continue to be the most opaque of the operating domains.

Presently we have a position of strength in undersea warfare, but that advantage will be squandered if we fail to recognize and plan for the pace of change that will accompany emerging technologies. If we invest wisely, we will prevail, in peace and in war.

BREMERTON — Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, spared from furloughs but gouged by a hiring freeze, is focusing its workforce on the waterfront. Capt. Steve Williamson, the facility’s commander, is asking anybody who has ever carried a tool bag to help deliver three submarines and an aircraft carrier back to the fleet.

The federal hiring freeze went into effect Jan. 28, just as the shipyard planned to add 600 employees. PSNS also hasn’t been allowed to replace workers who retired or quit. A resulting mechanic shortage forced it to extend projects and change strategy, Williamson said. “Effective immediately, we are going to make an all-out effort on delivering USS John C. Stennis, USS Kentucky, USS Jimmy Carter and USS Connecticut with who we have in the command — the entire command — all trades, codes and support organizations,” Williamson told workers last week. He asked for volunteers Wednesday.

The aircraft carrier Stennis will soon begin a 14-month maintenance period, including time in dry dock. The Connecticut, a Seawolf-class fast attack submarine, is being overhauled. Repair crews have been breaking records and hitting milestones, but the project still had to be pushed out because of the worker shortage. The Trident ballistic missile submarine Kentucky is undergoing a midlife refueling of its nuclear reactor, and fast attack sub Jimmy Carter arrived Friday for a six-month maintenance and overhaul.

While the shipyard deals with too few employees, its private contractors are dying to work. On Jan. 25, the Stennis was on a Navy list of 25 ships whose maintenance periods were to be canceled as a cost-saving move. Three weeks later, it was removed from the list. Early last week, the Navy told a prime contractor there wasn’t funding for all the work, that it was being cut in half, and sent a list of the deleted items, said David Jack, president of the Puget Sound Ship Repair Association.

Aircraft carriers comprise 25 percent of regional ship repair, employing about 200 workers, Jack said. The last one — the USS Ronald Reagan — completed its maintenance and left Bremerton on March 18. The USS Nimitz is up next, way in the future, and Jack heard it could be delayed. He’s afraid without steady jobs, workers will leave.

The shipyard’s worker shortage from the hiring freeze and the contractors’ loss of work because of Navy budget problems aren’t related, but pose an odd juxtaposition. “On the one hand, the shipyard commander is desperately trying to figure out how to get things done and the contractors are out here desperate to get back to work, and somehow the Navy can’t solve the problem,” Jack said. “We would certainly love to help solve their problems for them, but I don’t think there’s money to do that. The shipyard is fighting its own demons — freezes due to sequestration.”

Kitsap Sun article

 

 

USCG Rear Admiral Taylor at Alki Point Light Photo by Patrick Sand

Before the Alki Point Lighthouse opened for this year’s summer season of weekend public tours Saturday afternoon, which also happened to be the 100th anniversary of the day the building officially opened, one of the people who live on its grounds presided over a commemorative ceremony: Rear Admiral Keith Taylor, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard‘s 13th District.

WASHINGTON (NNS) — Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) held a change of command ceremony, June 7, at the Washington Navy Yard. Vice Adm. William H. Hilarides relieved Vice Adm. Kevin M. McCoy as commander.

Hilarides graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science in physics, and also holds a master’s degree in Engineering Management from the Catholic University of America. He served aboard the submarines USS Pargo (SSN 650), USS Gurnard (SSN 662) and USS Maryland (SSBN 738), and commanded USS Key West (SSN 722). Ashore, he served as flag lieutenant to Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet; personnel assignment officer at the Bureau of Naval Personnel; action officer on the Joint Staff in the Force Structure, Requirements and Assessment Directorate (J8); and, Requirements and Acquisition branch head on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations, where he served as the Navy representative to the Joint Requirements Panel.

Since becoming an acquisition professional in 2002, he has served as Director, Advanced Submarine Research and Development, as well as the program manager of the SSGN Program. Most recently, he served as program executive officer for Submarines, responsible for all new construction submarine programs along with the acquisition and life cycle maintenance of submarine weapons, countermeasures, sonar, combat control and imaging systems.

The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65), the guided-missile destroyers USS Porter (DDG 78) and USS Nitze (DDG 94) and the guided-missile cruiser USS Vicksburg (CG 69) US Navy Photo

I like the Navy. I like standing on the bridge wing at sunrise with salt spray in my face and clean ocean winds whipping in from the four quarters of the globe – the ship beneath me feeling like a living thing as her engines drive her through the sea.

I like the sounds of the Navy – the piercing trill of the boatswains pipe, the syncopated clangor of the ship’s bell on the quarterdeck, the harsh squawk of the 1MC and the strong language and laughter of sailors at work.

I like Navy vessels – nervous darting destroyers, plodding fleet auxiliaries, sleek submarines and steady solid carriers. I like the proud names of Navy ships: Midway, Lexington, Saratoga, Coral Sea – memorials of great battles won. I like the lean angular names of Navy ‘tin-cans’: Barney, Dahlgren, Mullinix, McCloy – mementos of heroes who went before us.

I like the tempo of a Navy band blaring through the topside speakers as we pull away from the oiler after refueling at sea. I like liberty call and the spicy scent of a foreign port. I even like all hands working parties as my ship fills herself with the multitude of supplies both mundane and exotic which she needs to cut her ties to the land and carry out her mission anywhere on the globe where there is water to float her.

I like sailors, men from all parts of the land, farms of the Midwest, small towns of New England, from the cities, the mountains and the prairies, from all walks of life. I trust and depend on them as they trust and depend on me – for professional competence, for comradeship, for courage. In a word, they are “shipmates.”

I like the surge of adventure in my heart when the word is passed “Now station the special sea and anchor detail – all hands to quarters For leaving port”, and I like the infectious thrill of sighting home again, with the waving hands of welcome from family and friends waiting pier side.

The work is hard and dangerous, the going rough at times, the parting from loved ones painful, but the companionship of robust Navy laughter, the ‘all for one and one for all’ philosophy of the sea is ever present.

I like the serenity of the sea after a day of hard ship’s work, as flying fish flit across the wave tops and sunset gives way to night. I like the feel of the Navy in darkness – the masthead lights, the red and green navigation lights and stern light, the pulsating phosphorescence of radar repeaters – they cut through the dusk and join with the mirror of stars overhead. And I like drifting off to sleep lulled by the myriad noises large and small that tell me that my ship is alive and well, and that my shipmates on watch will keep me safe.

I like quiet midwatches with the aroma of strong coffee – the lifeblood of the Navy – permeating everywhere. And I like hectic watches when the exacting minuet of haze-gray shapes racing at flank speed keeps all hands on a razor edge of alertness. I like the sudden electricity of “General quarters, general quarters, all hands man your battle stations”, followed by the hurried clamor of running feet on ladders and the resounding thump of watertight doors as the ship transforms herself in a few brief seconds from a peaceful workplace to a weapon of war – ready for anything. And I like the sight of space-age equipment manned by youngsters clad in dungarees and soundpowered phones that their grandfathers would still recognize.

I like the traditions of the Navy and the men and women who made them. I like the proud names of Navy heroes: Halsey, Nimitz, Perry, Farragut, John Paul Jones. A sailor can find much in the Navy, comrades-in-arms, pride in self and country, mastery of the seaman’s trade. An adolescent can find adulthood.

In years to come, when sailors are home from the sea, they will still remember with fondness and respect the ocean in all its moods – the impossible shimmering mirror calm and the storm-tossed green water surging over the bow. And then there will come again a faint whiff of stack gas, a faint echo of engine and rudder orders, a vision of the bright bunting of signal flags snapping at the yardarm, a refrain of hearty laughter in the wardroom and chief’s quarters and mess decks.

Gone ashore for good they will grow wistful about their Navy days, when the seas belonged to them and a new port of call was ever over the horizon. Remembering this, they will stand taller and say, “I WAS A SAILOR ONCE. I WAS PART OF THE NAVY; THE NAVY WILL ALWAYS BE PART OF ME.”

Taken from a  Speech Given by Captain Raymond A. Komorowski, USN Reunion Gathering of the USS BOSTON Shipmates Banquet on 21 July 2001 Wyndham Hotel, Andover, Massachusetts

WASHINGTON (June 7, 2013) The Virginia-class attack submarine Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU) Minnesota (SSN 783) is shown during sea trials. The last of the Block II Virginia-class submarines was delivered to the Navy June 6. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Huntington Ingalls Industries)

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (NNS) — The Navy took delivery of the future USS Minnesota (SSN 783) from Huntington Ingalls Industries – Newport News Shipbuilding (HII-NNS) June 6, 11 months early of the submarine’s contract delivery date of April 2014.

Minnesota took just 63 months to build. The fastest delivery yet for a HII-NNS-delivered Virginia-class submarine. ”Minnesota’s delivery is a tremendous milestone for the submarine, our shipbuilding partners, the Navy and the nation,” said Rear Adm. David Johnson, program executive officer for Submarines. “Virginia-class submarines are a vital part of our nation’s security strategy. Their capabilities make them indispensible assets.”

Minnesota’s delivery is two months faster than USS California’s (SSN 781), the next most recent submarine delivered by HII-NNS. The submarine also had the shortest construction span from pressure hull complete to delivery, taking only 12 months, and is the most complete Virginia-class submarine at delivery. Finally, Minnesota had the highest readiness score of any Virginia-class submarine to date as measured by the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV).

Minnesota will be commissioned Sept. 7 in a ceremony in Norfolk, Va.

Navy News article