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…Euronaval 2024, Europe’s biggest naval exposition, was held over four days just outside Paris, Fance. Chris Cavas, along with Xavier Vavasseur of Naval News, were among 76,000 people attending the show, and we’ll dive into some of the highlights of what was on display and being talked about. Chris also interviewed the commander of the French carrier task group, Rear Admiral Jacques Mallard, about the upcoming multi-month Mission Clemenceau 25 deployment to the western Pacific.
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 forces conducted a series of strikes November 9th and 10th on multiple Houthi targets in Yemen, the Pentagon said. Aircraft from the US Air Force, Navy and Marines took part in the strikes, including F-35C Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters. The F-35s appear to be from the Black Knights of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314 aboard the carrier ABRAHAM LINCOLN, taking part in what could be the combat debut of the F-35C, or Charlie, variant of the F-35 family. Other variants of the F-35 conducted their first combat missions in 2018. The strikes took place as the LINCOLN was preparing to leave the Middle East to conclude her deployment and return to the US West Coast. Meanwhile, on November 11th, US Central Command said, the US destroyers STOCKDALE and SPRUANCE were attacked by at least five anti-ship ballistic missiles, four cruise missiles and eight aerial unmanned systems launched by the Houthis as the ships transited the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea; all the Houthi attacks were engaged and defeated, CENTCOM said.
The carrier USS GEORGE WASHINGTON carried out tri-lateral “Freedom Edge” exercises in the Western Pacific with Japan and the Republic of Korea, US Seventh Fleet announced November 13. One key goal of the exercises is to demonstrate the multinational resolve to defend the Korean Peninsula.
The Japanese minesweeper UKUSHIMA caught fire and capsized November 10 while off Oshima Island in the East China Sea near the main island of Kyushu. A sistership quickly came to the UKUSHIMA’s aid but the fire flared out of control and the ship was abandoned. One crew member was apparently trapped aboard the ship and was killed. The UKUSHIMA had been commissioned in 2003.
Leonard Glenn Francis, better known as Fat Leonard, was sentenced November 5th to 15 years in prison for his role in a vast fraud and bribery scheme against the US Navy. Credited with time already served, Leonard is likely to spend another eight and a half years in prison unless released early. He was also ordered by a US federal judge to pay a $150,000 fine along with $20 million in restitution to the Navy. Leonard was at the center of the largest corruption case in the history of the US Navy, one in which more than 30 other individuals were charged and hundreds more caught up in the investigation.
Three recently-modernized Ticonderoga-class cruisers will have their service lives extended, the US Navy announced November 6th. The GETTYSBURG and CHOSIN have already been redelivered from a major refitting, while work on the CAPE SAINT GEORGE has yet to be completed. The ships had been scheduled to be decommissioned by 2027, but now will service until about 2029 to 2030 as the last of the original 27 ships in the class. The cruisers are being replaced in the air defense role by new Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, but so far only one Flight III has entered service.
In new ship news, the Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS JOHN BASILONE DDG-122 was commissioned November 9 at New York City. The ship honors Marine Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone, awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Guadalcanal campaign in 1942 and the Navy Cross for the invasion of Iwo Jima in 1945, during which he was killed. USS JOHN BASILONE, the second destroyer named for Gunny Basilone, is homeported at Mayport, Florida. And the Freedom-class littoral combat ship USS NANTUCKET LCS-27 was commissioned November 16th at Boston, Massachusetts; the ship will also be homeported at Mayport.
And in old ship news, the US Navy announced November 11 that the sunken wreck of the 4-stack destroyer USS EDSALL DD-219 was discovered by the Royal Australian Navy during 2023 in waters near Australia’s Christmas Island south of Indonesia in the Indian Ocean. The wreck was only recently identified as that of the EDSALL, which was sunk in early 1942 by advancing Japanese forces during the invasion of what was then the Dutch East Indies. The fate of the EDSALL, driven down during combat with vastly superior Japanese warships, was unknown until after the Japanese surrender. Of 185 Navy sailors and 31 US Army Air Force pilots aboard at the time, most went down with the ship. The seven who survived were captured but later beheaded by the Japanese.
Servello Squawk:
By now the entire world knows that former President Donald Trump beat Vice President Harris in both the popular vote and the electoral college. Additionally republicans will retain control of the House and take control of the Senate.
If you believe supporters of the President elect and follow the past comments of his nominees for National Security Advisor and Secretaries of State and Defense, the next four years could be very good..and very busy for the United States Navy.
All three nominees, Mike Waltz, Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth are China-hawks who are on the record calling for more and different naval forces to compete in and around the South China Sea.
Chris and I try very hard not to partake in the political side of national security decision making. We look to this team to bring new ideas forward or shine a light on those that are stale and need refreshing. Additionally, we are equally hopeful that things that are working will be continued or plussed-up.
Despite the deep political divide across the country, national defense may be an issue that brings us together.I am hopeful that the new administration will make good on its past comments to dive deeper into naval issues, present new ideas in force structure and push naval leaders to put forth actual plans instead of simply decrying what can’t or shouldn’t be done.
I try very hard to start every new presidential term with a sense of optimism and support. This one will be no different. I look forward to being a part of the discourse on what is needed and helping to bring new ideas forward.
