Twilight of the USS Enterprise

In a few years,the world's first nuclear aircraft carrier,the USS Enterprise(CVN 65)will be decommissioned.From that date until 2015,the U.S. Navy will be short an aircraft carrier.In 2015,the USS Gerald R Ford will join the fleet,bringing the number of carriers back to 11.
The Enterprise was commissioned on 25 November,1961.Since then,she has served in every major combat operation.Originally built to last 25 years,through excellent maintenance the ship will soon surpass 50 years of service life.So far,more than 100,000 Sailors and Marines have served on her.The Big E is the second oldest ship in the fleet after the wooden-hulled USS Constitution.
The Big E was last deployed on 13 January,2011 in the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean.On that cruise with her strike group of a Carrier Air Wing,guided missile cruiser and three guided missile destroyers,she participated in operations which captured 75 Somali pirates and launched missile strikes against the repressive Gaddafi regime in Libya.
The Enterprise has one or two more deployments ahead of her.A deployment typically lasts about six months.In 2013,the ship will be decommissioned,then deactivated and defueled at Huntington Ingalls Industries in Newport News,Virginia.It is uncertain whether the Enterprise can become a museum following this massive and unprecedented safing process,which will involve dismantling much of the warship.
Huntington Ingalls Industries(HII)

Hostages Perish,But Navy Commandos Kill,Capture Pirates

U.S. Navy SEALs attempted to rescue four Americans being held hostage by Somali pirates Tuesday,but found them already dead when they boarded the hijacked yacht SV Quest that had been taken off the coast of Oman,near Yemen and Somalia.The yacht,the Adams' 58-foot sloop, had been shadowed by a Navy task force of four warships:an aircraft carrier;two destroyers;and a cruiser.
At one point,a Somali pirate on the yacht fired a rocket-propelled grenade at one of the warships and gunfire was heard below deck on the yacht.The SEALs were dispatched in an orange life raft to rescue the hostages and,in the event,killed two of the pirates on the Quest,arresting 13 others.Two other pirates were found dead on the yacht,and another two were negotiating with the FBI on one of the warships;they were also detained.
The fifteen surviving pirates are being held on one of the Navy ships.They will go through the appropriate process to hold them accountable,said Vice Admiral Mark Fox of U.S. Central Command.
The hostages were Scott Adams and his wife Jean of Marina del Rey,California,as well as Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle of Seattle.They were apparently on a mission to distribute bibles,having just participated in a sailing rally,and were aware that they were in dangerous waters,asking for prayers to be protected from the pirates.
At present,Somali pirates are holding some 30 other ships and 660 hostages.The Navy is sending three more warships from San Diego to join the anti-piracy effort.

Somali Piracy Update:South Korean SEALs Retake Freighter

In a remarkable predawn raid last Friday,South Korean navy commandos wrested control of the freighter Samho Jewelry back from Somali pirates,killing eight of them and arresting five.All 21 hostages on the freighter,which had been transporting chemicals from the United Arab Emirates to Sri Lanka,were freed in the five-hour operation that involved a destroyer and helicopter providing covering fire as the commandos used ladders to board the merchant ship.
The ship's captain was shot in the stomach by a pirate.Seok Bae-gyun,58,was flown off the freighter by a U.S. helicopter to a friendly nation for medical care.He was expected to make a full recovery.
So far this year,Somali pirates have seized four vessels.They currently hold a total of 31 ships with 716 hostages on board.An international flotilla,including U.S. Navy warships,continues to conduct anti-piracy patrols near Somalia,with sporadic successes such as the South Korean raid to show for its efforts.Four days before the raid,a U.S. Navy boarding party had disrupted a suspected Somali pirate operation in the Gulf of Aden.

Navy Halts Suspected Pirates

Last Monday,a boarding party from the destroyer USS Laboon(DDG 58)stopped a skiff sailing in the Gulf of Aden,off the coast of Somalia,which was likely perpetrating acts of piracy.The Laboon had been tailing the skiff for hours before the boarding party was dispatched.It seized fuel and equipment that Somali pirates use in their commandeering of merchant vessels.
The sailors reportedly witnessed the skiff's crew dumping weapons and ladders into the Gulf as the Laboon approached them.No arrests were made,NATO alliance sources said.The Laboon has been assigned to a NATO task force for anti-piracy and other missions since August 2010.It is armed with missiles and a Mk45 5-inch/54 caliber gun,as well as Mk32 torpedo tubes.

Navy Helo Thwarts Attack

A Navy helicopter broke up a pirate attack on the merchant ship Ice Explorer early on Monday morning,the NATO defence alliance revealed.The ship,which was in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia,radioed a mayday when the crew spotted suspicious activity.The USS Kauffman(FFG 59)dispatched the helicopter,and the pirates dumped weapons and other items into the sea when they realized they'd been detected.A Navy boarding party seized some of the pirates' gear.
The Ice Explorer's alert crew was pivotal to the successful outcome,a Navy officer said.They caught the pirates in the act before it was too late.At least 17 ships and several hundred mariners are currently being held by Somali pirates,who demand millions of dollars of ransom for their release.NATO,as well as Russia,China and India have been staging naval patrols off the Somali coast for some time,with mixed results.Even when prates have been apprehended,there is often nowhere to send them and they are released.
The USS Kauffman is an Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate.It can carry two Seahawk helicopters.Displacing 4100 tons,the relatively small warship can cruise at 29 knots.
The 9 August incident closely resembles several other engagements between Somali pirates and naval helicopters in recent years.Confronted with military opposition,the pirates seldom resist.

Pirate Attacks Ramp Up

Pirate activity in the Indian Ocean is keeping warships busy.In one recent incident,a U.S. Navy frigate,the USS Nicholas(FFG47)was fired on by a pirate skiff and responded with a 50-caliber machine gun,sinking the skiff.Sailors arrested three pirates from the skiff and two more on the mother ship.This occurred near the Seychelles islands,far from the pirates' customary range.The Nicholas has a speed of 29 knots.
In another encounter,the USS Farragut(DDG99),an Arleigh Burke class destroyer,arrested 11 more pirates.These pirates had to be released,as Kenya had no more room in its jails.The Farragut has a speed of 30+ knots.A South Korean warship also began pursuing pirates.The pirates had seized an oil tanker with more than 100 million dollars' worth of oil on board.

Cruiser Crew Visits Gettysburg

Six crew members from the USS Gettysburg(CG64) are visiting their namesake town of Gettysburg,Pennsylvania.Sponsored by the USS Gettysburg Society,the sailors presented a book to city hall documenting their recent activities in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Aden,where they captured 36 Somali pirates.They were hosted at a Cumberland Township restaurant before retiring for the night to a fire station.On Wednesday,they will visit a middle school and high school before touring the Civil War battlefield and other sites in the historic town.The visit concludes on Thursday.
The USS Gettysburg is a Ticonderoga class guided missile cruiser.Homeported in Mayport,Florida,the crew is a frequent guest in the Southcentral Pennsylvania town made famous by the epic battle and Abraham Lincoln's address at the National Cemetery.The ship's motto is "Deeds Not Words."She received the USS Arizona Award for combat performance in July,2009.Besides intercepting pirates,she has also disrupted drug trafficking in concert with the U.S. Coast Guard.

AFRICOM Augments Anti-Pirate Efforts

The U.S. Africa Command has added three U.S. Navy P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft and 112 sailors,deploying them to the Seychelles islands.They are from the VP-26 Tridents in Maine.Captain John Moore,commodore of Combined Task Force 67 in Signorella,Italy said that the aircraft are uniquely suited to counter-piracy missions,given their ability to cover a wide area for long periods of time.They can stay on patrol for up to eight hours.AFRICOM says the Orions will be unarmed.
Captain Moore said the mission had gone well so far.It started last month.Its goal is to provide intelligence,surveillance and reconnaissance for the Horn of Africa.The mission will last for several months at least,AFRICOM stated.

Who The Pirates Are

Somali pirates have struck again in the Gulf of Aden,seizing two more merchant vessels and taking 45 crew hostage.That brings this year's total to 324 attacks on 37 ships with 8639 hostages.Warships from more than 12 countries,including the U.S.,U.K.,France,Netherlands,Russia,China and India have had sporadic success combating the pirates,but for the most part have only pushed them out into the far reaches of the Indian Ocean to ply their trade.
There are an estimated 1200 Somali pirates.Among them are many ex-fishermen and warlord militiamen,lending useful expertise to their criminal enterprise.The Somali government wants the millions spent on naval patrols to be spent on inland poverty as well,which they think is the root of the problem.The pirates are reaping millions of dollars in ransom with their dangerous escapades at sea.Once monsoon season lets up,they are able to begin another cycle of plunder in their small boats.Their latest victims are the British chemical tanker St.James Park and a Panamanian cargo ship.

Frigate Participates

An Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate,the USS Halyburton(FFG40),participated in the anti-pirate operation off the coast of Somalia that freed Captain Richard Phillips,the merchant mariner who commanded the Maersk Alabama at the time it was attacked by the pirates.A replacement crew has since boarded the freighter in Mombasa,Kenya.The Perry class frigates are armed with a 76mm/62 caliber gun,as well as a Phalanx Close-In Weapon System and six torpedo tubes.They can sail at 29 knots and have a complement of 209.The Halyburton was built by Todd Pacific Shipyards,Seattle.She is homeported in Mayport,Florida.Frigates are among the smaller warships in service today.They are relied on for escort and patrol missions by many navies.The U.S. Navy has 30 of the frigates,keeping eight of them for reserve use.

Navy Photos Show Cargo

U.S. Navy photos depict a cargo of what is apparently three million dollars in ransom,dropping by parachute onto a Saudi oil tanker that pirates have held since 15 November,2008.A negotiator told The Associated Press the Somali pirates had released the ship in exchange for the money.The pirates had originally demanded 25 million for the ship and its two million barrels of oil,which was worth about 100 million dollars.The tanker had been taken more than 500 miles,or 804.65 km,out to sea in the Indian Ocean.This was despite the patrols of warships in the region.Although the security effort has been stepped up,with ships from the U.S.,U.K.,Germany,France,India and China now participating,it is unlikely maritime patrols alone can stop all,or even most,of the pirates.There are too many pirates with too many weapons for that.Only a stable Somalia with good economic prospects can ultimately solve the problem,and those conditions are nowhere in sight.

The Piracy Menace

Admiral Mullen observed that piracy is a greater concern for the maritime forces.The overall number of attacks is growing and starting to have an impact on the commercial side.It's a growing issue and we're gonna have to continue dealing with it.The pirates are very good tactically and well-armed.It becomes very hard to get them off because they hold hostages.Countries have by and large been paying the ransom that the pirates ask,Admiral Mullen reported to the Pentagon journalists.

Navy Watches Pirates

Six U.S. Navy warships have surrounded the Ukrainian freighter MV Faina,which has been commandeered by pirates off the coast of Somalia.Among the warships is the USS Howard(DDG83),an Arleigh Burke class destroyer.The warships have been sending helicopters to observe the pirates,who are holding 20 hostages,including Ukrainians,Latvians and Russians.Another hostage appears to have taken ill and died.There are 33 tanks,as well as other weapons and ammunition,aboard the freighter,which the Navy is concerned will aid militants in the region.The pirates are believed to be armed with automatic weapons,anti-tank weapons and grenades.They say that no one can tell them what to do,and that they are prepared to die if need be.There have been about 30 pirate attacks in the area this year.The Navy leads patrols along the 1880 mile Somali coast-or about 3025 kilometers.The Canadian navy also patrols off Somalia.Somalia has the longest coast in Africa,and is near key shipping lanes.A Russian frigate should arrive on scene within days.