Welcome to the CavasShips Podcast with Christopher P. Cavas and Chris Servello…a weekly podcast looking at naval and maritime events and issues of the day – in the US, across the seas and around the world. This week…there’s been quite the effort on the part of many organizations and commentators to heighten awareness of the relevance of the maritime domain – the importance of protecting seaborne trade, the dangers of territorial expansion, and of course about the need for increased investment in the US Navy. But are these messages having any effect? We’ll talk with three noted commentators – Bryan Clark, Bryan McGrath and Jerry Hendrix – to see if there’s any reason to have hope for these efforts.
Please send us feedback by DM’ing @CavasShips or @CSSProvision or you can email chriscavas@gmail.com or cservello@defaeroreport.com.
This Week’s Naval Round Up:
The US Missile Defense Agency conducted a successful test March 30 with the destroyer DANIEL INOUYE, which launched two Standard SM-6 Dual II missiles to detect, track, engage and intercept a medium range ballistic missile target in its terminal flight phase. The test, dubbed Flight Test Aegis Weapon System 31 Event 1A, was held on the Pacific Missile Range Facility off Kauai, Hawaii.
The carrier USS NIMITZ and ships of her strike group arrived at Busan, South Korea March 28, following directly on the port visit of the ships and Marines from the MAKIN ISLAND Amphibious Ready Group. Both groups of ships are engaged in a series of exercises with Korean and Japanese military forces in the region.
The dry cargo ship USNS MATTHEW PERRY underwent a scheduled maintenance period in India during March. The ship was at Larsen and Toubro Limited’s L&T Shipyard in Kattupalli, near Chennai from March 11 to 27th. It was the second time a US Navy ship underwent a maintenance period at the Indian shipyard, following the USNS CHARLES DRES in August 2022.
The US Coast Guard on March 30 revealed that the medium-endurance cutter HARRIET LANE would shift from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast as part of an effort announced earlier this year to boost US Coast Guard presence in the Pacific. HARRIET LANE will shift homeport from Portsmouth, Virginia to Honolulu, Hawaii sometime this fall, becoming the first Bear-class 270-foot cutter to be based in the Pacific. The class was discovered upon entering service in the mid-1980s to have seakeeping issues in the Pacific’s vast swells and until now all have been Atlantic cutters.
In new ship news, the littoral combat ship KINGSVILLE LCS36 was launched March 27 at Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama, where on March 20 the expeditionary fast transport CODY EPF 14 also was launched. The littoral combat ship SANTA BARBARA LCS 32 was commissioned April 1 near her namesake city of Santa Barbara at Port Hueneme, California. And in Boston, Massachusetts the US Coast Guard cutter WARREN DEYAMPERT WPC 1151 was commissioned on March 30.
And the Navy announced March 31 the $1.3 billion award to Huntington Ingalls Industries of the detail design and construction of the yet-to-be-named amphibious transport dock ship LPD 32. The ship will become the third Flight II variant of the LPD 17 San Antonio class, and will be built at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, where it is scheduled for delivery in September 2029.
And that’s a look at just some of this week’s naval news.
Servello Squawk:
I often use this time in the show to complain or poke at Navy leadership for things they could do better. This week I’d thought I’d take a different tac. I want to thank and congratulate the CNO and his wife Linda for the effort they have personally invested on the Women in the Navy or WIN initiative…the on-going project to thoughtfully recognize and tell the story of female shipmates.
This week CNO and Mrs Gilday released an updated Women in the Navy or WIN book and website to coincide with the conclusion of Women’s History Month.
The project has two listed objectives: to collectively honor Navy trailblazing women, and to inspire not only women but men alike.
The new stories in this edition highlight:
-Lt. Cmdr. Amber Cowan who joined the Navy in 2012 and became the first woman to serve as the executive officer of a submarine (USS Kentucky (SSBN 737);
-Lt. Amanda Lee the first woman to serve as an F/A-18E/F pilot as part of the Blue Angeles demonstration team;
-Lt. j.g. Regine Tugade-Watson, a 2020 Naval Academy graduate, two-time Olympian, and Guamanian flag-bearer at the 2020 Olympic Games;
Just to name a few…
Lots of people tend to roll their eyes when leaders deliver diversity and inclusion messaging…and that’s mostly because it’s often done badly or in a cringe-worthy and ham-fisted fashion…and that goes for government and civilian organizations a-like.
I have many memories of well-intentioned heritage lunch time buffets or poorly executed all hands calls simply to the check the block for that month’s affinity group celebration.
Where WIN succeeds is in its well-constructed and thoughtfully shared stories of Navy Sailors doing their part as both trailblazers and shipmates. You can never go wrong by talking about our Sailors–regardless of gender, race or ag. Their stories of personal achievements, adversity overcome, and reason for service are eye-watering and deserve to be shared
I hope WIN becomes the model for highlighting the contributions of the many groups in our Navy that deserve to be celebrated and recognized. Stories that capture milestones while conveying what unite an organization go a long way to making these campaigns successful and value added.
If you haven’t seen the latest version of the WIN book…go to www.navy.mil/win and check it out. It is well worth your time.
