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. On this episode…can the Navy get it’s Mojo Back? That’s the title of a new work from retired three-star admiral Dave Lewis – an officer with long experience sailing and building ships. He’s here to see if the chief sea service can get its old mojo workin’ again.
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:
A three-ship Chinese naval task group appears to be sailing around Australia after carrying out live-fire exercises in international waters about 640 kilometers off the country’s densely-populated southeast coast in an incident that has prompted great concern in Australia and New Zealand. China gave little advance notice of the live-fire exercises – which included the launching of cruise missiles – that took place in the Tasman Sea beginning February 21st. The Australian Ministry of Defence acknowledged they only became aware of the exercises when a commercial Virgin Australia airliner pilot notified them after hearing a radio broadcast from the Chinese naval group. The task group – comprised of the Type 055 cruiser ZUNYI, Type 045A frigate HENGYANG and Type 903 supply ship WEISHANHU – entered the Coral Sea on February 13 and continued south, conducting the live fire exercises in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand. Although not confirmed, the Australian MOD reportedly believes a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine has accompanied the task group. The warships have continued westward off Australia’s southern coast, were operating in the Great Australian Bight as of February 27th, and appear headed for the Indian Ocean.
Meanwhile, the US Virginia-class attack submarine USS MINNESOTA arrived at Australia’s HMAS Stirling submarine base near Perth in Western Australia on February 25, the first of what the US Navy says are two similar planned visits to the base for 2025. The visits are intended to facilitate training in support of the AUKUS agreement between the US, Australia and the United Kingdom intended to provide nuclear-powered submarines for Australia.
The first of eight new P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft for the German Navy made its first flight February 26th, flying from Boeing’s manufacturing facility in Renton, Washington to nearby Boeing Field near Seattle for further systems integration. The aircraft is expected to be delivered in August to Germany’s Naval Air Wing 3. Germany is buying the aircraft as an interim measure to replace its aging P-3C Orion fleet while development of its Maritime Airborne Warfare System aircraft is lagging. Germany is one of eight foreign countries to have entered the P-8 program. The aircraft began service with the US Navy in 2013.
The annual French Navy Jeanne D’arc training mission began February 24 when the assault ship MISTRAL and frigate SURCOUF left Toulon to begin a five-month cruise to the Atlantic and Arctic Circle region. The ships will range from West Africa to Brazil, the Caribbean and Central America before visiting New Orleans, North Carolina and New York in the US. They’ll also travel up the Saint Lawrence River in Canada as far as Quebec City before operating in the North Atlantic and above the Arctic Circle.
And for the first time in thirty years, the French Navy carried out live shock tests against one of its warships. The explosive tests, announced by the French Navy on February 26, were carried out beginning January 25 with the La Fayette-class frigate COURBET and are part of something called the Polaris Initiative, an effort begun in 2021 to better prepare French ships for high-intensity combat. Such tests typically test the ability of a ship and its systems to withstand the intense shock and vibration of a close-order explosion. An earlier test in December featured a heavy torpedo fired from a French submarine at a decommissioned frigate. It’s unusual for navies to conduct shock tests on older ships – the COURBET was commissioned in 1997 – but such tests are often carried out on newer designs, as in the US Navy.
