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…Fincantieri’s Marine Group of shipyards is not only building ships but it’s greatly expanded its facilities and ability to move into full-bore production of the US Navy’s new Constellation-class frigates. We went to Wisconsin to see their yards and to talk with CEO of Finatieri Marinette Marine Mark Vandroff, who will fill us in on what’s happening now and what’s soon to come.
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 has made a number of high-profile naval moves in response to the October 7th attack on Israel by Hamas. Here’s a chronological summary of naval developments:
On October 8 the GERALD R FORD Carrier Strike Group, nearing the scheduled end of a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean region, cancelled a number of port calls and was directed to proceed to the eastern Mediterranean. In addition to the FORD, with Carrier Air Wing Eight, the group consists of cruiser NORMANDY and destroyers RAMAGE, CARNEY, ROOSEVELT and THOMAS HUDNER. The Pentagon reported the FORD to have arrived on station in the eastern Med by October 11.
On October 13 and 14, the DWIGHT D EISENHOWER Carrier Strike Group left the US East Coast as scheduled to relieve the FORD group in the Mediterranean. On October 14 the Pentagon directed the EISENHOWER Group to join up with the FORD group upon arrival in theatre. Carrier Air Wing 3 is aboard Ike, with cruiser PHILIPPINE SEA and destroyers MASON and GRAVELY making up the strike group.
On October 17 the Pentagon extended the deployment of the GERALD R FORD strike group with no timeline given for their return to the U.S.
On October 18 the BATAAN Amphibious Ready Group embarking the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit was reported to have been ordered to proceed to the eastern Mediterranean region. Amphibious ships BATAAN and CARTER HALL had been operating in the Persian Gulf as a hedgy to Iranian activity; the ships were still in the Gulf of Aden as of October 19. The group’s third ship, MESA VERDE, had been operating independently around Spain in early October, but by October 18 was apparently headed to the eastern Med.
Also on October 18, the US Sixth Fleet’s command ship in the Mediterranean, USS MOUNT WHITNEY, left her homeport of Gaeta, Italy and proceeded east. That same day, the destroyer USS CARNEY passed southbound through the Suez Canal to enter the Red Sea, and on October 19 successfully engaged and shot down three land-attack cruise missiles said by the Pentagon to have been launched by Houthi forces in Yemen and headed north towards Israel. The Pentagon has not specified the exact type of missiles or their presumed intended targets. The Pentagon also said CARNEY engaged several aerial drones on the 19th.
Other nations have also moved naval forces to the eastern Mediterranean for contingency purposes, including the British landing ship RFA LYME BAY and the multi-purpose hospital ship RFA ARGUS. Those two ships left Gibraltar on October 15, with the ARGUS reported on October 20 to be at Limassol, Cyprus. The British Royal Navy said the ships were being moved as a contingency measure to support humanitarian efforts.”
The first-ever at-sea test of a rail gun anywhere was announced by Japan’s Acquisition Technology and Logistics Agency on October 17th. Few details of the test were revealed other than a video showing a developmental electromagnetic railgun firing from a ship at sea, reported by Naval News to have been a ship of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force. An ATLA spokesperson told Naval News the agency believes it achieved the desired results from the test, including compatibility with the ship and obtaining data on the effects of firing such a weapon at sea.
The four-ship unmanned surface vessel group being operated by the US Navy in the western Pacific was operating off Australia’s northeast coast in mid-October. The USVs MARINER, RANGER, SEA HAWK and SEAHUNTER, supported by the littoral combat ship USS OAKLAND LCS 24 and the chartered crew boat REBEKAH C, left Townsville, Australia on October 19. The group was most recently in Japan operating with US and Japanese warships.
The Indian Navy accepted the delivery October 20th of INS IMPHAL, the third Project 15B destroyer built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders in Mumbai. The building time for the advanced warship was about six and half years, the shortest time yet for a destroyer designed and built in India. One more Project 15B destroyer, the SURAT, is under construction at Mazagon Dock.
In new ship news, the Coast Guard Fast Response Cutter WILLIAM SPARLING (WPC 1154) was commissioned October 19 at New Castle, New Hampshire as the fifth new FRC to be based at Boston, Massachusetts.
And HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding on October 13 delivered the National Security Cutter CALHOUN WMSL 759 to the US Coast Guard. The 10th NSC will be commissioned in 2024 at its home port of Charleston, South Carolina, where the CALHOUN will join three sister ships. The eleventh and last National Security Cutter, FRIEDMAN, remains under construction at Ingalls.
