European Union: Time To Stand Behind Safe Marine Trade

As Rough As It May Seem,It's Still Steady As You Go...

Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- European Union governments say they will deploy additional warships off the coast of Somalia to fight piracy.

Germany will send a frigate, German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said. France has already dispatched a frigate and Spain has sent an observation plane. The goal is to have an EU fleet of three warships, a supply ship and three naval surveillance planes, Jung said.

``We have to take effective action against pirates,'' Jung told reporters today at an EU meeting in Deauville, France. ``We have to first push back the pirates, restore security on the high seas and make free maritime trade possible again.''

Attacks by pirates have surged this year off Somalia, and are running at close to one a day. Commercial shippers have warned they may start routing cargo around Africa, passing the added fuel and time costs on to clients. They've asked for help from Western navies, noting that joint patrols by the Malaysian, Indonesian and Singapore navies have almost eradicated piracy in the Straits of Malacca, the world's previous piracy hotspot.

The EU force, the bloc's first naval crisis-management mission, would go into action by the end of the year, French officials said. France holds the rotating presidency of the European Union and French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for greater international effort to fight piracy.

Anti-Terror Mission

Several EU countries, including France, Britain, and Denmark, already have warships in the Indian Ocean as part of Task Force 150, an anti-terrorist mission with the U.S, Canadian, and Pakistani navies. In the past 10 years off the coast of Yemen, skiff-borne suicide bombers have attacked a U.S. warship, the USS Cole, and a French oil tanker.

Around 60 boats have been attacked by pirates this year in waters off Somalia, the International Maritime Bureau says, and at last 200 sailors are being held hostage.

Warships from Task Force 150 do intervene to prevent pirate attacks on commercial vessels, though piracy isn't the fleet's main mandate.

``If they stumble upon something, they will chase them away, but won't engage in hot pursuit,'' said Sam Dawson, press officer for the London-based International Transport Workers Federation, which along with five shipping associations signed a joint statement this week asking for more protection.

U.S. warships are also shadowing a Ukrainian ship that was hijacked last week with its cargo of T-72 battle tanks, and a Russian warship is en route to the area.

Use of Force

Foreign powers may ``use force'' to free the ship as long as they coordinate with Somalia, Mohamed Jama Ali, the Somali foreign ministry's acting permanent director, told the Associated Press today.

Each country has its own set of rules. French naval commanders have captured 12 Somali pirates in two operations since April and sent them to mainland France to be prosecuted. The Danish navy has disarmed pirates, and later set them free on the Somali coast. The British navy has rules of engagement that prevent them from arresting pirates.

German-owned ships suffered the most attacks last year, registering 43 of 263 global incidents, according to the IMB. Germany has the world's largest container fleet and the third- largest merchant fleet.

``We would welcome strongly a joint European initiative and hope it falls into place very soon,'' said Max Johns, a spokesman in Hamburg for the German ship-owners associations. ``We are currently in talks with all parties of the German Parliament because we have a peculiar problem in Germany with the fact that the German navy has very tight legal restrictions on how they can help against pirates.''

William The Conqueror on Peter The Great

As Rough As It May Seem,It's Still Steady As You Go...


Predictable Scenarios are a Rats Tail of Charm


One of the predictable outcomes of the mess in Georgia is that the Russians, peeved by what they saw as US involvement in their bowl of chili, would proceed to mess with our bowl of chili. They decided that Hugo Chavez was the right man for the job, being easily impressed by small numbers of airplanes and possessed of enough oil money to make for a reasonable arms buyer.

God knows Hugo loves it. This latest news must have made him utterly speechless with self-important joy, the news that the Russians were sending a flotilla of four warships on a "goodwill cruise" that would just by happenstance include a visit to Venezuela. One imagines Hugo putting on his skipper's hat and begging the Russians to let him take the helm of the Peter the Great.

I detect a minor ripple of consternation out there in Fear-Land. Back in the 1970s someone (I think it was William F. Buckley) started the "Pearl Harbor Association for Keeping Our Eyes on the Soviet Fleet." The fear factor isn't as high today, but this Russian flotilla is causing altogether too much underwear-bunching, in my opinion.

Only two of the ships have been named in news reports. One is the Peter the Great, a hulking nuclear-powered Kirov-class battle cruiser. Another is the Admiral Chabanenko, one of the Udaloy class of anti-submarine ships. The other two are not named, which suggests that they are fairly minor in nature. I like to think they're a couple of old, worn-out ships from that bizarre K-named jungle of Soviet warships from the 1960s and 1970s - Kynda, Kresta, Krivak, Kara, Kanin, Kashin... But since they aren't named, I don't know.

The Udaloy ASW destroyer is pretty fair as ASW destroyers go, but it's not the sort of thing that's liable to upset the balance of power in the Western Hemisphere. It's probably a little better than a basic Spruance, but not in the league as any of the Arleigh Burkes. Its main defects on a worldwide cruise of that sort would probably be relatively short range and no particular area AAW or ASuW capability.

The Kirov doesn't suffer from those weaknesses. By any standard, the Kirovs are powerful surface combatants with an excellent mix of long-range anti-aircraft, anti-submarine and anti-ship missiles. They're huge by modern standards, the size of smallish battleships, and unlike the majority of Soviet warships that were suited only for the "Battle of the First Salvo", they possess a degree of durability and staying power that no other Russian warship can touch. Let's put it this way: Peter the Great could single-handedly defeat the combined navies of all of South America, and probably in a single afternoon, and without having to reload.

Does payload indicate a lengthy struggle at only 36mph break speed?

This isn't hyperbole. The ship is huge for a modern warship - 25,000 tons - and large size (really, large displacement) means that the ship can carry multiple weapons systems that provide overlapping capability. The ship is extremely well-armed, to say the least - I won't recite the numbers because they're meaningless to most people, but suffice it to say that the Peter the Great can attack aircraft, surface ships and submarines alike at long range.

So why doesn't it bother me more than it does? All of a sudden there's this heavily-armed Russian behemoth cruising around in our hemisphere, and it doesn't bother me?? No, not a bit. And I'll tell you why (you were wondering if I would, weren't you?). Because, like every other surface warship built since about 1920, this mighty nuclear battle cruiser can't protect itself indefinitely against air attack. The list of mighty warships that have gone to Davy Jones's Locker courtesy of air attack is long and distinguished: Ostfriesland, Arizona, Nevada, Hornet, Prince of Wales, Repulse, Yamato, Musashi, Tirpitz, Sheffield, Ardent, Arrow, Coventry... And a US carrier task force would quickly add the Peter the Great to the list.

Mind you, it would be an interesting tactical problem. What is the best way through the ship's interleaved and overlapping air defense systems? Would a program of steady but low-count standoff ASM (e.g. Tomahawks) attacks eventually expend its missile ammunition? Or would a much more intense attack with weapons like Harpoons overload its fire control systems and lead to quicker neutralization? Or would a regime of jamming and anti-radiation missiles eventually blind it and leave it vulnerable to close-in attack? I imagine this is the sort of problem that would keep a group of US naval officers amused for an hour or two, discussing various ways into and out of the tactical problem, but at the root of the matter is the basic fact that given halfway competent leadership of the carrier, the Russian ship is doomed unless the battle starts with the carrier already within range of the Kirov's missiles. But that's why we stipulate "halfway competent leadership".

No trains or automobiles, except in the case of lost loved ones


So it doesn't worry me. It might even be an interesting tactical problem for the US Air Force, which I don't think has had much opportunity to bomb boats since the glory days of the Fifth Air Force in World War Two.

Why, I ask, would the Soviets have bothered building a ship as large and expensive as the Kirov if they were that vulnerable to air attack? I think there were three reasons for them.

First, the Soviets wanted prestige. They wanted to match the US Navy's impression of power, but lacking aircraft carriers of their own, they concluded that maybe a novel nuclear battle cruiser would be good for prestige. Lousy for the budget, but good for brochures.

Second, the Soviets wanted a ship that could survive the Battle of the First Salvo. It was easy to imagine, in the 1970s, the entire deployed Soviet fleet either being wiped out or missile-expended in a single afternoon, leaving them with basically nothing but submarines. These big new battle cruisers would give Soviet surface action groups a measure of stamina and durability they didn't have up until then.

Third, I believe that the Soviets intended for the Kirovs to serve as dedicated escorts for the proposed Soviet aircraft carriers, but when the carriers were never finished, the doctrinal purpose of the Kirovs went away too.

So here we are. The Cold War is over, most of the Kirovs aren't in commission any more, and the best of the lot, the Peter the Great, is propping up the macho pretensions of Hugo Chavez. One imagines that Admiral Gorshkov is spinning in his grave.

Afterword: Why Kirov? Why that name? There is a city of Kirov, but it's an inland transportation hub and I can attest to the fact that it's pretty grey and bleak and doesn't in any way call the ocean to mind. I think the ship was actually named after Sergei M. Kirov, the party boss of 1920s Leningrad who proved to be too charismatic and popular for Stalin's taste. Stalin reportedly had him assassinated, then marched as the chief mourner in his funeral - a touch that would have made Trotsky wince if in fact Stalin hadn't had him.

Sources: Jane's World International - Fighting Ships

Brits and Norges keep Russian Convoy Alert

As Rough As It May Seem,It's Still Steady As You Go...

MOSCOW, September 27 (RIA Novosti) - A long-range sortie of the Russian naval task group to the Caribbean has drawn close attention from NATO, a Navy spokesman said on Saturday.

A naval task force from Russia's Northern Fleet, comprising the nuclear-powered missile cruiser Pyotr Velikiy, the large ASW ship Admiral Chabanenko, and support ships, left a naval base in northern Russia early Monday to conduct training exercises in the Atlantic, including joint naval drills with the Venezuelan navy in November.

"Patrol aircraft from the Norwegian Navy have flown four times near the Russian task group in the Norwegian Sea," Capt. 1st rank Igor Dygalo said, adding that the movements of the Russian convoy are also closely monitored by the U.K. HMS Argyll frigate.

During the current tour of duty the Russian warships would participate in joint naval exercises with the Venezuelan navy in the Caribbean on November 10-14, in line with the 2008 training program and in order to expand military cooperation with foreign navies.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who recently visited Russia, earlier confirmed that Venezuela would hold joint naval exercises with Russian warships in the Caribbean and said the Russian navy would receive a warm welcome in the Latin American country.

Russia announced last year that its Navy had resumed and would build up a constant presence in different regions of the world's oceans.

A task force from the Northern Fleet, consisting of the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, the Udaloy-Class large AWS ships Admiral Levchenko and Admiral Chabanenko, as well as auxiliary vessels, conducted from December 2007 to February 2008 a two-month tour of duty in the Mediterranean Sea and North Atlantic.

US Coast Guard Moves Forward on Social Media

As Rough As It May Seem,It's Still Steady As You Go...





It's interesting already that there some high traffic social networking websites for the various military services already in use.

I myself use social media and networking tools. I'm using services available from mainstream media as well as the Google services/tools and other web companies.

I've seen and heard opinions from people in various branches of service. Some are retired or have had limit experience in campaigns.

I'd like to start using Photobucket, Flickr, Picasa more and more. Mapping services are also of use to this blog.

The Navy Times article

Navy Retrofits For A Scot ....Not for Shipmates?

Some Crews Will Spend More Time Away from Home Now while in Retro Port


As Rough As It May Seem,It's Still Steady As You Go...


MULTI-million-pound refit work on a Westcountry warship has been switched from Devonport to Scotland for the first time, sparking concerns among unions and defence experts.

The Royal Navy frigate HMS Campbeltown left her base port in Plymouth last week bound for France and exercises off the Scottish coast. She is currently heading into Rosyth for a 12-month overhaul.

It is believed to be the first time that a refit of any Type 22 frigate has been undertaken outside Devonport since the ships entered service in the 1980s.

Roger Darcy, GMB convener and chairman of the Industrial Trade Unions in the dockyard, said there was "concern" at the loss of work.

"We are now working for a company [Babcock] that is responsible for ship refitting at Rosyth and Devonport," he said. "There has got to be an element of trust now that we get a fair allocation of the work.

"Babcock has allocated the work based on maintaining the skills base at Rosyth because of the carrier work that is going up there."

Mr Darcy said that the unions were "reluctant" to see any work moved from Devonport, particularly as "the sword of Damocles" was still hanging over workers.

He added: "The problem we have still got locally is that we still don't know how many jobs are likely to go."

However, he said the situation "could work to our advantage from next year" with aircraft carrier work due to start at the Scottish yard.

Iain Ballantyne, editor of Warships International Fleet Review, was equally surprised by the move. He said: "It does seem extraordinary bearing in mind the experience that Devonport has in refitting Type 22s since they entered service.

"It is the first one I can remember for years, if at all, that is going to be refitted in a Scottish yard. It does seem amazing that Devonport Management Ltd (DML), before Babcock took over, were extremely worried about the number of surface warship refits to keep key workers on nuclear submarines employed between submarine refits. They were facing an absolute crisis over that.

"The question is why is there no longer a need for surface warship refitting in Plymouth?"

Babcock paid £350 million for DML in July 2007. However, the firm announced plans to axe up to 600 posts – more than 10 per cent of its Plymouth workforce – in February this year, saying the move was in response to a drop in Royal Navy submarine work.

The switch to Rosyth is also likely to prove unpopular with HMS Campbeltown's crew, many of whom live in Devon and Cornwall. A skeleton crew will have to be maintained during the refit, forcing many to spend long periods away from home.

A spokesman for Babcock Marine said the helicopter carrier HMS Ocean was currently in refit, while two others were in the pipeline.

He added: "HMS Campbeltown's refit at Babcock Marine in Rosyth is part of an ongoing programme of warship upkeep periods, agreed through the Ministry of Defence's Surface Ship Support arrangement which aims to provide industry with levels of work which sustain future capability to meet MoD support requirements.

"Babcock Marine at Devonport is currently completing the refit of HMS Ocean, which will be followed by the refit of HMS Albion in October 2008 and HMS Westminster in March 2009."

HMS OCEAN OUT TO SEA FOR TRIALS