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…noted naval analyst Bryan Clark is just back from attending the Indo-Pacific Symposium in Australia – which was also attended by the US Navy’s far-reaching Unmanned Surface Division One. He’ll discuss some of the issues of what he heard and saw – including some of the many aspects of the AUKUS Australia-UK-US partnership – and bore in on the unmanned ships picture in the US and Down Under.
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 USS THOMAS HUDNER on November 15 shot down an aerial drone launched from Yemen while the destroyer was operating in the Red Sea, US Fifth Fleet said in a statement. The drone, thought to be operated by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, was headed for the ship, said US Central Command. The Pentagon on November 16 declined to provide further details other than to say the HUDNER was not a specific target of the drone. US forces throughout the Mideast region are on alert, with the Pentagon noting there have been 55 attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria between October 17 and November 15.
USNI News on November 17 reported the carrier USS DWIGHT D EISENHOWER was operating in the Gulf of Oman and could enter the Persian Gulf at any point. EISENHOWER is one of two US carrier strike groups continuing to operate in the region, as USS GERALD R FORD remains on station in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
The US Coast Guard icebreaker POLAR STAR left Seattle, Washington November 15 to begin her annual Operation Deep Freeze deployment to Antarctica, where the key mission is to break a channel through the ice to resupply McMurdo Station. It’s the 27th such cruise for the 47-year old ship, the Coast Guard’s only heavy icebreaker.
In new ship news, the US Navy on November 16 awarded a $130 million contract to HII Ingalls Shipbuilding for advance procurement of long-lead material for the next big-deck amphibious assault ship, the yet-to-be-named LHA10. This is the first major contract for the new ship.
A start-of-fabrication ceremony was held November 13 for the future destroyer THAD COCHRAN DDG 135 at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Delivery of the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer is scheduled for 2027.
And Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro announced November 15 that the future destroyer DDG 141 will be named ERNEST E EVANS, honoring the commanding officer of famed destroyer USS JOHNSTON DD 557 sunk in October 1944 charging Japanese warships during the Battle off Samar. Evans, who went down with his ship, received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the battle.
Marine Corps Commandant General Eric Smith was released November 15 after being in a Washington DC hospital since suffering a heart attack on October 29. Smith will require a further procedure to repair a congenital heart condition. In the meantime, Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps General Christopher Mahoney is performing the duties of commandant while Smith recovers.
And retired US Navy Captain Don Walsh, who commanded the Navy’s bathyscape TRIESTE, passed away November 12 at the age of 92. Walsh, as a lieutenant, made worldwide news in January 1960 when he and Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard rode the TRIESTE to the bottom of the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench – a depth of 35,814 feet. Walsh served 24 years in the Navy, received numerous awards and was unfailingly helpful to scores of people involved in deep sea operations and the ocean environment, as well as to historians and journalists.
Servello Squawk:
As we just discussed in our last segment— the world of uncrewed systems needs a sea daddy or sea mamma and they need it now. This move will drive real requirements into the budgeting process by advocating for technology and operational concepts across numbered fleets and combatant commands. A resource sponsor similar to what Secretary Mabus tried to do in 2015 with the stand-up of N99 would be an ideal approach instead of relying on the current high-9’s to find resources and bandwidth for programs that compete with their other warfare priorities.
The only caveat I’d suggest to what was tried previously is that it must come from CNO instead of being forced on an unwilling OPNAV staff by the civilian leadership. The time is right for Admiral Franchetti to take the lead on creating a new office. Unmanned systems are not nascent and fledgling…from the Ukraine conflict, to the Middle East to plans to deter a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, the demand and growth of these systems has never been greater. The time for experimentation is ending…let’s normalize the requirement and quickly move forward.
