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…Naval Aviation took some big hits in the latest US defense budget submission. Naval air analyst and veteran Ward Carroll will be here for his take on what is going up and down with Naval Air.
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This Week’s Naval Round Up:
The fiscal year 2025 defense budget was delivered to Congress and rolled out to the media on March 11. For a deeper discussion of the budget, we invite you to listen to the Defense and Aerospace Report podcast of March 14, where Chris and I joined Vago Muradian and the rest of the Defense and Aerospace team to discuss the budget.
The Russian Izvestia news service reported March 10 that the head of the Russian Navy, Admiral Nikolai Evmenov, has been dismissed and replaced by Admiral Aleksandr Moiseev, commander of the Russian Northern Fleet. No explanation for the move was given in official Russian media, but the Russian Navy continues to experience losses in the war with Ukraine, including the apparent sinking of the nearly-new missile corvette SERGEY KOTOV by Ukrainian surface drone attack in the Kerch Strait on March 5.
The Chinese naval ships of the 45th Escort Force and the Russian destroyer MARSHAL SHAPOSHNIKOV arrived at the Iranian port of Chabahar March 13 after a round of naval exercises, dubbed Security Bond 2024. The Chinese destroyer URUMQI, frigate LINYI and supply ship DONPINGHU were on a regular anti-piracy deployment to the Gulf of Aden, where they were relieved on March 4 by the 46th Escort Force.
In anti-Houthi actions in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the British frigate HMS RICHMOND downed two Houthi unmanned aerial drones over the Red Sea on March 8 using Sea Ceptre surface-to-air missiles. The action took place as RICHMOND turned over Operation Prosperity Guardian duties to the British destroyer HMS DIAMOND, which herself downed 9 Houthi UAVs earlier this year. The Italian destroyer CAIO DUILIO also reportedly downed two Houthi UAVs over the Red Sea on March 11. The Italian warship is operating with the European Union’s Operation Aspides, also working to safeguard merchant shipping in the region. And on March 14, two Houthi officials, posting on X, threatened to target merchant shipping in the Indian Ocean headed south around the southern tip of Africa.
Four US Army watercraft left Fort Eustis, Virginia on March 12 bound for the Mediterranean to help build and support a pier in Gaza to supply the war-torn region with humanitarian aid. The landing ship vessel Specialist 4th Class JAMES A LOUX and utility landing craft WILSON WHARF, MATAMOROS and MONTERREY are all part of the Army’s 7th Transportation Brigade, part of the 18th Airborne Corps, part of the US Army’s 500-soldier contribution to the US-government effort. The Army vessels are expected to take up to a month to cross the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Meanwhile, elements of the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS, modular system are being loaded aboard the Maritime Administration roll-on/roll-off ship BENAVIDEZ at Newport News, Virginia. While these elements are being loaded and en route, plans are still being developed to field, operate and protect the pier.
The commanding officer of the missile/special operations submarine USS OHIO was relieved of command on March 13, the US Navy announced. Captain Kurt Balagna of the OHIO’s Gold Crew was relieved for a loss of confidence in his ability to command, and replaced by the sub’s prospective commanding officer, Captain Andrew Cain. The relief of the commanding officer of one of the Navy’s missile submarines is considered rare.
And in new ship news, the Virginia-class attack submarine IDAHO SSN-799 was to be christened March 16 in a ceremony at General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut. The sub’s sponsor is Teresa Stackley, daughter of former Acting Secretary of the Navy Sean Stackley and the service’s top acquisition officer from 2008 to 2017. The IDAHO is the 26th Virginia-class submarine and the thirteenth to be delivered from Electric Boat.
