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…It was a busy week for both of us at the Surface Navy Association’s 36th annual symposium just outside Washington DC. During the show we sat down with Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Admiral Rick Cheeseman for an update on recruitment, retention and quality of life issues for sailors, and with Larry Ryder of Austal USA for more on the Alabama shipbuilder’s growing portfolio of ship construction.
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 News:
US Navy warships and Navy and US Air Force strike aircraft, joined by forces from the United Kingdom, struck Houthi targets in Yemen January 11 in retaliation for near-continuous Houthi attacks on merchant shipping in the southern Red Sea. The strikes followed weeks of Houthi attacks on — according to US Central Command — at least 27 merchant ships operating in international shipping lanes. More than 60 targets in sixteen Houthi militant locations in Yemen were hit, according to CENTCOM, struck by multiple Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles launched from ships. Among the US forces taking part were aircraft of Carrier Air Wing Three flying from the carrier USS DWIGHT D EISENHOWER in the Red Sea, US destroyers LABOON, MASON and GRAVELY and the British destroyer DIAMOND.
The strikes were preceded by the biggest Houthi-launched attacks to date on shipping in the Red Sea. On the evening of January 9 Houthis launched a complex strike of one-way attack aerial drones, anti-ship cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile at international shipping lanes in the southern Red Sea. The ballistic missile, two cruise missiles and 18 attack drones were shot down by US Navy Super Hornet strike fighters and the four destroyers.
USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT and Carrier Air Wing 11 deployed from San Diego January 11, USNI News confirmed in the absence of a public statement from the US Navy. It’s the ship’s first deployment since 2021. Carrier CARL VINSON already is operating in the western Pacific, three months into her current deployment.
A US Navy MH-60R helicopter crashed into San Diego Bay in the early evening of January 11 near Naval Station North Island. All six aboard the helo were rescued by the standby safety boat and by the local federal fire department. The Seahawk belongs to Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 41, the training squadron for MH-60 Romeo helicopters.
Tugs moved the carrier USS GEORGE H W BUSH on January 11 from pierside at Norfolk Naval Station up the Elizabeth River to Norfolk Naval Shipyard, where the ship will complete a year-long maintenance availability, scheduled to be completed in July. Carrier HARRY S TRUMAN completed her overhaul and left the shipyard in mid-December.
In new ship news, USNS CODY T-EPF 14 was delivered Jan 11 from Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama to the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command. The first Flight II EPF has enhanced medical capability and a strengthened flight deck for operations in combat and austere areas.
And on January 10 Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro announced that the future Arleigh Burke-class destroyer DDG 142 would be named for Charles J. French, honoring a hero of the World War II Solomons campaign. Mess Specialist 1st Class French, a black man, performed courageously, saving fifteen shipmates after their ship was sunk in September 1942, but his actions were little noted at the time. Research sponsored by the Surface Navy Association uncovered his true story, and the Navy awarded him posthumously in May 2022 with the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. USS CHARLES J FRENCH is projected to be delivered to the Navy in 2031.
