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…there is nothing like getting out to sea and getting underway with the Navy. For journalists, it means talking up close with sailors and gaining a better understanding of what the Navy does and how they do it. But there are also challenges – like how to get real insight when the experience might last only just a few hours. We’re joined by two journalists from USNI News, editor Sam LaGrone and reporter Mallory Shelbourne, for some insight into getting haze grey and underway.
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 ballistic missile submarine USS WEST VIRGINIA made a rare publicized appearance on October 19 when the sub surfaced in the Arabian Sea for a visit by two of the highest-ranking US Central Command officers. General Erik Kurilla, commander of CENTCOM, came aboard accompanied by US Fifth Fleet commander Vice Admiral Brad Cooper. Boomer submarines like the WEST VIRGINIA are always on deterrent patrol but rarely make their presence public. When they do so it’s almost always with a strategic messaging intent. That the submarine is in the Arabian Sea – not far from Iran — rather than more usual operating areas in the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic areas is notable.
All US Navy and Marine Corps T-45C Goshawk jet training aircraft were grounded in early October after an engine blade fault was discovered, reports USNI News. The fault could cause blade failure in the aircraft’s Rolls-Royce turbofan engines. The aircraft are the primary carrier-capable jet trainers used by the Navy and Marine Corps.
The Navy hospital ship COMFORT left Norfolk Naval Base on October 18 to begin a Continuing Promise goodwill deployment to Central America and the Caribbean. The ship is scheduled to visit the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras. With lawlessness in Haiti a growing concern, the US Coast Guard cutter NORTHLAND has been patrolling off the capital of Port-au-Prince since October 11 at the request of the Haitian government. Other US Coast Guard cutters are also in the area, many dealing with a major rise in migrant interdiction – according to the Coast Guard the service in fiscal 2022 interdicted more than 7,200 Haitian migrants at sea trying to illegally enter the United States.
At Mayport, Florida-based littoral combat ship BILLINGS returned home October 7 from a US Southern Command/US Fourth Fleet deployment followed by sistership MILWAUKEE beginning her second Fourth Fleet deployment of the year on October 18.
In the Pacific, the littoral combat ship JACKSON returned to San Diego October 15 after a fifteen-month deployment to the western Pacific. The cruise ranged throughout the South China Sea and reached as far as Indonesia and featured the first operational deployment of the MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned helicopter, a larger model than the MQ-8Bs that have deployed on previous cruises. Chinese ships and aircraft as usual shadowed the LCS while operating in the South China Sea, but the ship’s commander told reporters the interactions with the Chinese were, quote, professional. The JACKSON was supported by Navy Maintenance Execution Teams who met the ship in various ports including in Singapore, Guam, Tahiti and Fiji.
Servello Squawk:
As I mentioned there is no better way to tell the Navy story than to get folks underway. That said these embarks have to be more than just dog and pony shows. Guests need to see how exciting life at sea can be, but they also need to understand that it can be tough and exhausting as well.
If all we show visitors is the recruiting poster version of life at sea we aren’t taking full advantage of their time under-weigh. We need to have journalists accompany ships when they do freedom of navigation exercises, when they go through the Suez Canal, when they navigate the straits of Malacca at night or when then do humanitarian off-loads in the Caribbean after a hurricane.
It’s important that journalists understand the environment our ships and Sailors are operating in, how much training and preparation it takes to get ready for a FONOP or a major straits transit.. how nerve racking it can be talk on the radio during a routine challenge or how scary it can be to do anything at night when there is no moon or visible horizon.
I am one of those folks that truly believes we have an amazing Navy because I’ve seen our young men and women in action. I’ve seen them at their best and worst and I’m blown away each and every time I see them do something new or for the first time.
I equally believe that if we want to remain a top-notch Navy we have to go out of our way to talk about it, to show it off…and that starts with letting journalists and influencers see first-hand what it means to sail, fly and operate as part of the world’s greatest Navy. Hopefully the COVID era restrictions are behind us and Navy leadership will go out of their way to show off America’s Navy to friend and foe alike.
