Ghosts And A Bucket Of Junk

As Rough As It May Seem,It's Still Steady As You Go...for Tour to United States NavalShipbuilding Museum Online. Located in historic Quincy, Massachusetts.

Ghosts and a bucket of junk up your alley?. Well only the brave will love looking for ghosts on the USS Salem CA-139. Details are at The Mass Paranormal Tour

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Russia Gives Nato 21 Days To Leave

Nato has til Sept. 19 to Leave Black Sea ?

BRUSSELS, Sept 10 (Reuters) - NATO said a group of four allied warships was leaving the Black Sea as planned on Wednesday after conducting what it called a long-planned schedule of exercises. "The Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG 1) successfully completed its planned visit and is leaving the Black Sea today," the alliance said in a statement of the deployment, which prompted Russian accusations of a NATO naval build-up close to Georgia.


"Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Joshua 1:9

The United States was pursuing a delicate policy of delivering humanitarian aid on military transport planes and ships, apparently to illustrate to the Russians that they do not fully control Georgia’s airspace or coastline.

The policy has left American and Russian naval vessels maneuvering in close proximity off the western coast of Georgia, with the Americans concentrated near the southern port of Batumi and the Russians around the central port of Poti.

It has also left the Kremlin deeply suspicious of American motives.

Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of the Russian General Staff, said at a briefing in Moscow that under the agreement, Turkey, which controls the straits of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, must be notified 15 days before military ships sail into the sea, and that warships could not remain longer than 21 days.

"The convention stipulates a limited number of vessels," he said.

"That is, the same state cannot deploy a certain group without any limit."

He said any sustained NATO deployment would require rotating ships through the straits.

It was unclear on Wednesday how many NATO ships were currently in the Black Sea.

Snippet From NY Times

Russia warns Turkey on U.S. ships in Black Sea

Russia said U.S. ships could only stay in the Black Sea for 21 days according to the Montreux Convention, and warned if they do not leave by then Turkey would be responsible.

Russia's deputy military chief Anatoly Nogovitsyn said the NATO warships' entrance to the Black Sea is a "serious threat to our security," Hurriyet daily reported on Thursday.

He said under the Montreux Convention, signed in 1936 on the status of the Turkish Straits, the warships can only stay in the Black Sea for 21 days.

"If the NATO ships continue to stay in the Black Sea after the expiration of 21 day-period, then I would like to remind you that Turkey would be responsible," he added.

The U.S. warships are spearheading a humanitarian aid mission to Georgia, a U.S. ally that wants to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Clashes erupted in the Caucasus after Russia responded to Georgia's military operation to regain the control in the breakaway region South Osstia.

The U.S. ships are carrying nuclear missiles that can hit Russian targets as far away as St. Petersburg, Nogovitsyn said, according to Hurriyet. Russia has dispatched its own ships to track the U.S. vessels.

Northrop Grumann Delivers Littorial Naval Ship

Lockheed Martin said it delivered the first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) to the U.S. Navy on Thursday, about a year after it was originally scheduled.

"This is a truly exciting day for the Navy. Today marks a critical milestone in fulfilling the need and realizing the vision we began just a few years ago," Capt. James Murdoch, the LCS Program Manager said.

"Despite our challenges, the Navy and industry have continued to press on to build and deliver the first ship of a unique class, a ship class that will give our Nation our own asymmetric advantages against future maritime threats."

"I am extremely proud of all the men and women of Lockheed Martin, Marinette Marine, Gibbs & Cox and Bollinger whose hard work has successfully delivered Freedom to the fleet," said Dan Schultz, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin's Maritime Security & Ship Systems business.

"Our team is prepared to build more of these agile warships to give the Navy unsurpassed capabilities and dominance in the littorals."

The 378-foot Freedom -- a survivable, semi-planing steel monohull -- will help the Navy defeat growing threats and provide access and dominance in the littoral battlespace. Reaching speeds over 40 knots and displacing 3,000 metric tons, Freedom is a fast, maneuverable and networked surface combatant with operational flexibility to execute focused missions, such as mine warfare, anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare and the potential for a wide range of additional missions including maritime interdiction and humanitarian/disaster relief.

In 2004, the Navy awarded a contract to the Lockheed Martin team to develop the first LCS. Construction began in February 2005 and Freedom was christened and launched in September 2006.

This represents less than half the time typically required to design, build, launch and deliver a first-in-class combatant. Freedom successfully completed sea trials in August 2008 and will be commissioned on November 8, 2008 in Milwaukee, WI and eventually homeported in San Diego, CA.

The Project has been dogged by cost overruns from both defense contractors building the ships, Lockheed and General Dynamics

The Pentagon overhauled the program last year, but is still unsure of how many more to build as cost estimates are now more than twice the initial projections of $220 million per ship.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Navy said it was unhappy with bids submitted by Lockheed and General Dynamics for three more LCS ships, and asked both companies to go back and provide more information.

The Navy had planned to award new LCS contracts -- two ships to the winning bidder and one to the other -- by early August, but officials have been tight-lipped about any award date.

The Lockheed Martin-led industry team for LCS also includes naval architect Gibbs & Cox, ship builders Marinette Marine, a subsidiary of The Manitowoc Company, Inc. and Bollinger Shipyards,and others.

Russian Caribbean Naval Exercise Not Too Far Off

CARACAS (Reuters) - Several Russian ships and 1,000 soldiers will take part in joint naval maneuvers with Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea later this year, exercises likely to increase diplomatic tensions with Washington, a pro-government newspaper reported on Saturday.

Quoting Venezuela's naval intelligence director, Salbarore Cammarata, the newspaper Vea said four Russian boats would visit Venezuelan waters from November 10 to 14.

Plans for the naval operations come at a time of heightened diplomatic tension and Cold War-style rhetoric between Moscow and the United States over the recent war in Georgia and plans for a U.S. missile defense system in the Czech Republic and Poland.

Cammarata said it would be the first time Russia's navy carried out such exercises in Latin America. He said the Venezuelan air force would also take part.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, an outspoken critic of Washington, has said in recent weeks that Russian ships and planes are welcome to visit the South American country.

"If the Russian long-distance planes that fly around the world need to land at some Venezuelan landing strip, they are welcome, we have no problems," he said on his weekly television show last week.

Chavez, who buys billions of dollars of weapons from Russia, has criticized this year's reactivation of the U.S. Navy's Fourth Fleet, which will patrol Latin America for the first time in over 50 years.

The socialist Chavez says he fears the United States will invade oil-rich Venezuela and he supports Russia's growing geopolitical presence as a counterbalance to U.S. power.

Chavez has bought fighter jets and submarines from Russia to retool Venezuela's aging weapons and says he is also interested in a missile defense system.