Tag: usn

USS Gerald R. Ford breaks record for longest post-Vietnam deployment

The world’s largest aircraft carrier officially earned the distinction of having the longest modern deployment Wednesday, when it marked 296 days at sea.

The USS Abraham Lincoln previously held that record, having deployed for 295 days in January 2020.

The USS Nimitz was at sea for a record 341 days in 2020 and 2021, but parts of that deployment were plagued by quarantine periods intended to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, which saw the carrier stationed ashore. The Nimitz was forward-deployed in support of American security interests for only 263 days, factoring in those isolation periods, according to USNI News.

The Ford’s record didn’t come as a surprise.

During a March 31 appearance at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle said the carrier would likely see a “record-breaking deployment.”

And Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. James Kilby told lawmakers at a Senate Armed Services Committee in March that he expected the Ford to reach an 11-month extended deployment.

The current record for longest deployment, modern or historic, is held by the USS Midway, which was at sea for 332 days during the Vietnam War.

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Gerald R. Ford out of commission for one year: What’s wrong with America’s most advanced carrier?

The nuclear-powered USS Gerald R. Ford, the most advanced aircraft carrier in the United States Navy and the only vessel in its class, is presently anchored in Croatia’s port of Split for repairs ‌and maintenance. Media reports have indicated the ship is there to stay, since repairs after a major “laundry fire” and prolonged deployment could take between 12 and 14 months.

Delivered years behind schedule in May 2017, the Ford was by far the most expensive American warship ever constructed, costing $13.2 billion. The latest prolonged deployment of the ship began on June 24 and included combat operations during the US raid on Venezuela to kidnap President Nicolas Maduro, as well as in the ongoing US-Israeli attack on Iran.

The supercarrier ended up hastily withdrawn from the Middle East theater in mid-March, having suffered a supposedly non-combat-related fire. The ship briefly moored at Crete for damage assessment before heading to Croatia for maintenance. 

Laundry fire?

The deployment exceeded 260 days and ranks as one of the longest carrier patrols since the Vietnam War, ending on March 12 shortly after the ship transited the Suez Canal and entered the Red Sea. According to official statements from US Central Command, it was then that the vessel “experienced a fire that originated in the ship’s main laundry spaces.”  

“The cause of the fire was not combat-related and is contained. There is no damage to the ship’s propulsion plant, and the aircraft carrier remains fully operational. Two sailors are currently receiving medical treatment for non-life-threatening injuries and are in stable condition,” CENTCOM stated at the time.

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Feds charge 11 in Florida for marriage fraud scheme targeting US service members

Federal authorities have unsealed a sweeping indictment charging 11 people in connection with a marriage fraud conspiracy that allegedly recruited U.S. military service members, particularly Navy personnel, to enter sham marriages with Chinese nationals to evade immigration laws and provide illicit benefits, including unauthorized access to military installations. 

The three-count indictment, announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, alleges the conspiracy operated from March 2024 through February 2025 and spanned multiple states, with fraudulent weddings staged in Florida, New York, Connecticut and Nevada.  

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Mysterious ‘vehicle of unknown origin’ hidden at US Navy Base raises questions about secret UFO program

A mysterious UFO has been allegedly stored at a little-known US Navy base on the East Coast for decades as the military continues to reverse-engineer its secrets. 

A new report has claimed that Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, better known as Pax River, has kept an ‘exotic vehicle of unknown origin’ secretly housed there, possibly since the 1950s.

According to anonymous sources tied to Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), which is headquartered at Pax River, certain military programs at the base have been involved in analyzing and exploiting technology recovered from non-human craft for years.

NAVAIR is a major part of the US Navy, which handles everything related to naval aircraft, weapons, and aviation systems. It designs, builds, tests, buys, repairs, and keeps Navy and Marine Corps aircraft ready for use.

Speaking to the Liberation Times, the unnamed sources claimed that two types of aircraft have been trying to spy on what the US has at Pax River. One is allegedly drones from China, and the other are non-human UFOs.

Recently, this spying activity has allegedly increased and moved closer to land, including right around the Navy base on the Chesapeake Bay.

Although the claims could not be confirmed by the Daily Mail, UFO whistleblower Luis Elizondo stated in written testimony to Congress that a specially built hangar was constructed at Pax River specifically for the transfer of extraterrestrial technology.

Under oath, Elizondo described a plan where this hangar would help major defense contractor Lockheed Martin move non-human technology to another company called Bigelow Aerospace for further study and analysis.

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Trump Class Battleships Could Get Megawatt Lasers: Navy’s Top Officer

The U.S. Navy’s top officer wants directed energy weapons to become the go-to choice for the crews of American warships when faced with close-in threats. He also said that more powerful megawatt-class lasers should not be seen as “beyond” the capabilities that could be found on the future Trump class warships. The Navy has been a leader within the U.S. military in fielding laser weapons and is actively pursuing systems that employ high-power microwaves, but there continue to be significant hurdles to these efforts.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle talked with TWZ and other outlets about his service’s directed energy weapon plans at a roundtable at the Surface Navy Association’s (SNA) annual symposium earlier today. Caudle has long been an outspoken proponent of directed energy capabilities.

“My thesis research at [the] Naval Post Graduate School was on directed energy and nuclear weapons,” Caudle said. “This is my goal, if it’s in line of sight of a ship, that the first solution that we’re using is directed energy.”

In particular, “point defense needs to shift to directed energy,” the admiral added. “It has an infinite magazine.”

When it comes to point defense for its ships, the Navy currently relies heavily on Mk 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapon Systems armed with six-barrel 20mm M61 Vulcan rotary cannons and launchers for RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missiles (RAM). Each Phalanx has enough ammunition to fire for a total of around 30 seconds, at most at the lower of two rate-of-fire settings, before needing to be reloaded. RAM launchers available today can hold either 11 or 21 missiles at a time, and the latest versions of those missiles cost around $1 million each. Many ships across the Navy also have 5-inch or 57mm main guns, and/or 30mm automatic cannons, which can also be used against close-in threats.

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Former U.S. Navy sailor gets more than 16 years for selling secrets to China

A former U.S. Navy sailor convicted of selling technical and operating manuals for ships and operating systems to an intelligence officer working for China was sentenced Monday to more than 16 years in prison, prosecutors said.

A federal judge in San Diego sentenced Jinchao Wei, also known as Patrick Wei, 25, to 200 months. A federal jury convicted Wei in August of six crimes, including espionage. He was paid more than $12,000 for the information he sold, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.

Wei, an engineer for the amphibious assault ship USS Essex, was one of two California-based sailors charged on Aug. 3, 2023, with providing sensitive military information to China. The other, Wenheng Zhao, was sentenced to more than two years in 2024 after he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of receiving a bribe in violation of his official duties.

U.S. officials have for years expressed concern about the espionage threat they say the Chinese government poses, bringing criminal cases in recent years against Beijing intelligence operatives who have stolen sensitive government and commercial information, including through illegal hacking.

Wei held a security clearance that gave him access to sensitive national security defense information about the ship’s operations and capabilities.   

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Land Along Southern Border Is Transferred to Navy To Become Part Of ‘National Defense Area’

The Trump administration said on Dec. 10 that it would transfer roughly 760 acres of public land along the U.S.-Mexico border in California to the Navy for three years to support border security operations.

While announcing the decision Wednesday, the Interior Department said the land would become part of a “National Defense Area,” or militarized zone, to bolster immigration enforcement.

The land stretches from roughly a mile west of the California-Arizona state line to the western edge of the Otay Mountain Wilderness Area in San Diego and Imperial counties, according to the Interior Department.

“This corridor is one of the highest-traffic regions for unlawful crossings along the southern border, creating significant national security challenges and contributing to environmental degradation,” the department said.

The Interior Department said the land was originally set aside in 1907 by President Theodore Roosevelt for “border protection purposes,” and the Navy will use it to “strengthen operational capabilities while reducing ecological harm associated with sustained illegal activity.”

Since April, the federal government has transferred large portions of land along the southern border to the military, allowing troops to detain migrants attempting to cross the border or arrest people accused of trespassing on military bases.

The process began with a 170-mile swath of land along the border in New Mexico before the government expanded into Texas and Arizona.

While the Interior Department referred to the Southern California lands as a high-traffic area for illegal border crossings, arrests along the U.S.-Mexico border have dropped to the lowest level since the 1960s as the Trump administration continues its crackdown on illegal immigration.

“President Trump has made it clear that securing our border and restoring American sovereignty are top national priorities,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement.

“This action delivers on that commitment. By working with the Navy to close longstanding security gaps, we are strengthening national defense, protecting our public lands from unlawful use, and advancing the president’s agenda to put the safety and security of the American people first.”

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NJ Gubernatorial Candidate Needs To Tell The Truth About Her Cheating Scandal

Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat congresswoman and candidate in the competitive race for the New Jersey governorship, is under fire for serious ethical lapses. One of those is her still unexplained but suspicious involvement in a widespread cheating scandal at the U.S. Naval Academy (USNA). She still refuses to provide a full public accounting by stonewalling any release of USNA’s disciplinary records that would show the nature and extent of both her and her husband’s involvement in the cheating scandal.

Sherrill’s continued cover-up raises even more questions that only she can clear up.

A Stolen Exam and the Investigation

The cheating in which Sherrill was implicated occurred in December 1992. As The Baltimore Sun has reported, a master copy of the final exam for the electrical engineering course (EE 311) was stolen days before the exam was scheduled. Copies of the stolen exam were then circulated and even sold to some midshipmen, not all of whom have ever been identified. According to The Sun, “more than 130 midshipmen were implicated by the Navy’s inspector general in the theft and distribution of the exam.”

After several midshipmen sent emails to faculty the day of the exam, telling them that the exam had been compromised, the Navy inspector general launched a formal investigation.

The investigation was complicated and lengthened by the decisions of many midshipmen not to cooperate and even to lie to investigators. It concluded on Jan. 20, 1994, with a 30-page report of investigation. The report notes numerous instances where midshipmen refused to answer questions either because they wanted to protect themselves or because they did not want to “bilge” their classmates by giving truthful answers about the cheating.

Sherrill was interviewed, but the record of her interview is still being withheld.

The IG’s report details how some midshipmen lied repeatedly to investigators, even when under oath. Others retained attorneys who advised them to “plead the Fifth” by refusing to answer questions, even after the academy superintendent dropped a criminal investigation and granted them immunity from criminal charges. The IG also found “much evidence that midshipmen conspired to conceal their involvement” in the cheating scandal, including efforts “to coordinate and perfect the testimony they would give.”

All of this hindered the search for the truth.

The report was finalized and approved by the secretary of the Navy just weeks before the 1994 graduation. His final disciplinary decisions included 29 expulsions and other punishments for 42 others.

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Active duty Navy chief who witnessed UFO convinced doubtful colleagues with radar expertise: ‘It was like checkmate’

An active-duty Navy chief saw four tic-tac shaped UFOs off the coast of California while working on the USS Jackson — and convinced a doubting radar officer the craft were real with an undeniable “checkmate.”

US Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Alexandro Wiggins witnessed multiple UFOs on radar on the evening of February 15, 2023 — observing the first one emerge seamlessly out of the ocean, he said.

“What am I seeing?” recounted Chief Wiggins, who spoke to The Post on behalf of himself as an individual and not as a representative of the Navy. “From my observations, it did in fact come from the water.”

“It was first seen on radar and once I saw it on radar, I wanted to confirm visually what I was seeing on radar if it was clouds and atmospherics and something else.”

Wiggins then moved out to the core bridge wing of the USS Jackson and went through his mental checklist of things the object could be — but was convinced by an odd maneuver it made that it was not standard human technology.

“It [was] rising into the air high enough to where I’m like, alright, that’s definitely: A. too fast and B. not something I’ve seen before,” the 21-year Navy veteran said.

The keen-eyed officer saw three other objects moving in coordination roughly 8 nautical miles away from the USS Jackson — then reported the unknown objects to a tactical officer and rushed to observe the craft on a Sapphire radar.

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NYT: Seal Team 6 Killed Civilians During Mission In North Korea

Today the New York Times revealed U.S. Navy SEALs killed North Korean civilians during a failed covert operation in 2019.

In 2019, U.S. Navy SEALs embarked on a clandestine mission to install a listening device inside North Korea, at a time when then-President Trump was engaged in landmark discussions with Kim Jong Un. 

The operation was reportedly green-lit by Trump.

The mission went awry when the SEALs encountered civilians fishing or diving for shellfish at night. The Americans opened fire, resulting in the deaths of all aboard the fishing vessel.

A subsequent classified Pentagon review deemed the killings justified under the established rules of engagement.  

The disclosure is significant as many have wondered how President Trump got the reclusive and belligerent North Korean leader to be so docile in the public face of the peace negotiations at the time.

There has also been rumors that Trump threatened Kim with assassination via SEAL Team 6.

The origin of those rumors now seems more clear.

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