BBC – The US navy says it has deployed further vessels to surround a cargo ship loaded with 33 tanks and hijacked by pirates off Somalia last week.
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BBC – A US Navy destroyer has made visual contact with a Ukrainian ship which was seized by pirates last week and is now moored off the Somali coast.
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Armed Forces Journal – Critical US Navy anti-submarine warfare skills that have been allowed to atrophy must be restored
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CNN – Security forces aboard the oiler USNS John Lenthall fired warning shots toward two approaching small boats off the Somali coast Tuesday.
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Associated Press – The nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier USS George Washington arrived Thursday at its new home port just south of Tokyo, welcomed by a mix of cheering crowds and protesters.
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Associated Press – The flagship of the U.S. Navy’s Mediterranean fleet, the USS Mount Whitney, anchored Friday outside the key Georgian port of Poti, defiantly delivering humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged U.S. ally in a slap at Moscow.
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Virginian Pilot – As two new tropical storms roll through the Atlantic, the amphibious assault ship Bataan left Norfolk Naval Station this morning to conduct hurricane relief exercises.
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Los Angeles Times -The Navy took the unusual step of abruptly canceling construction of its expensive new class of destroyers last month because the ships lack abilities that top commanders believe are necessary to protect U.S. interests, according to the service’s senior officer.
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Virginian Pilot – The US Navy on Saturday ordered the big-deck amphibious ship Bataan to deploy and prepare for disaster relief as Hurricane Gustav grew in intensity and bore down on the Gulf Coast.
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Wall Street Journal – After passing a U.S. Navy review, Lockheed Martin Corp. is closing in on delivering a new warship that will be a milestone in the defense contractor’s expanding foray into shipbuilding.
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Christian Science Monitor – Drug cartels have turned to a new and effective vehicle to smuggle their goods, using small, homemade “semi-submersibles” that are hard to detect and yet effective at carrying millions of dollars worth of cocaine and other illicit drugs that end up in the United States.
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Virginian Pilot – The quick delivery of more than 50 tons of humanitarian aid to war-torn Georgia on Sunday left the crew of a Norfolk-based destroyer “extremely enthusiastic about the opportunity to help” and ready to do more.
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Navy Times – The Navyís traditionally safe P-3 Orion patrol aircraft community has suffered six in-flight mishaps this fiscal year ó including its first Class A mishap in at least 10 years. But despite a steady uptick in mishaps, and the December grounding of 39 P-3s because of fears that wing sections could break off in flight, Navy and civilian officials insist the Orion is still safe to fly.
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BBC – A US warship has arrived in the Georgian port of Batumi carrying the first delivery of aid supplies by sea.
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Virginian Pilot – The carrier George Washington left San Diego on Thursday, bound once again for Japan after undergoing several months of repairs caused by a shipboard fire.
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New York Times – Turkey refuses a US request to allow the hospital ship Comfort to transit the Bosphorus Straits to deliver aid to Georgia.

Baltimore Sun – USNS Comfort won’t go to Georgia
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Associated Press – The Navy has changed course and decided to push for construction of a third DDG-1000 destroyer that would be built at Bath Iron Works.
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Washington Post – A National Research Council blue-ribbon panel of defense experts is recommending development and testing of a conventional warhead for submarine-launched intercontinental Trident missiles to give the president an alternative to using nuclear weapons for a prompt strike anywhere in the world.
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Virginian Pilot – Port of Call – Iraq???
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Defense Technology International – Tests this summer of Raytheon Standard Missile 2 weapons from the Aegis cruiser USS Lake Erie were intended to demonstrate technology for a quick-reaction defense against ballistic missiles in their terminal phase. In the dry terminology of missile defense, this may not sound critical, but it indicates that the Navy is very worried about a new threat: the anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM).

Indications are that China, in particular, is developing an ASBM – an intermediate-range ballistic missile tipped with a guided warhead. The weapon outranges any sea-based weapon, including strike aircraft, and is hard to intercept with the most widely used versions of the Standard Missile, which are designed to hit aircraft.

The Navy is responding rapidly, according to RAdm Alan Hicks, program director for Aegis missile defense at the Missile Defense Agency.
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Associated Press – A U.S. nuclear-powered submarine leaked radiation for more than two years, releasing the bulk of the material in its home port of Guam and at Pearl Harbor.
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Defense News – Top Navy acquisition officials dramatically reversed course during a congressional hearing July 31, saying the service needed to purchase more Arleigh Burke-class DDG 51 destroyers, and no longer needs the next-generation destroyer it has been pushing for over the past 13 years.
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Virginian Pilot – Debate has long raged over how the military’s use of sonar to detect enemy submarines affects dolphins and whales, which use sound to navigate, communicate and locate food. Now, researchers are moving closer to getting some solid answers.
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Virginian Pilot – The Navy on Wednesday relieved the two top officers of the aircraft carrier George Washington from duty, following a fire that caused about $70 million in damage.
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Virginian Pilot – The US Navy continues to emphasize fire-fighting training???
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