8 replies to this topic

[gemerson]

Enjoy these news snippets. Maybe it will help to develop some "what if" scenarios. Enjoy ...

FWFS,
Greg Emerson, DM1(SW), USN-Retired
Renton, WA, USA

Naval News Summary:

23 December
CHILE
Update: Together with dock landing ship FOUDRE (renamed SARGENTO ALDEA) the French navy also sold CDIC landing ship RAPIERE and two CTM landing craft (CTM-19, CTM-24) to the Chilean navy.

28 December
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE

RUSSIA
KUZNETSOV deployment: Frigate LADNIY pictured in Valetta, Malta.

29 December
RUSSIA
KUZNETSOV deployment: Tanker SERGEI OSIPOV arrives at Valetta, Malta.

30 December
HAITI
Officials in Turks and Caicos have intercepted a boat carrying 117 migrants from Haiti, making this the fourth boat in about a week to be found … were brought ashore and will be detained, processed and repatriated as appropriate.

INDIA
During a signing ceremony at the Russian Bolshoi Kamen ship building facility in the (Far East) Primorye region, AKULA (mod) class submarine NERPA was handed over to the Indian navy… in a ten-year leasing agreement … two years later than originally planned … will sail from Russia in mid-January to arrive at future home base Visakhapatnam in February and be commissioned by the Indian navy in March.

IRAN
On the seventh day of exercise “Velayat 90”, Iranian navy divers “detected and neutralized mines”

RUSSIA
+++ Update: Fire at DELTA-IV class submarine YEKATERINBURG extinguished. Initial assessment reportedly shows repairs will take “no less than a year”.
(rmks: most media had reported fire “aboard” the submarine, however, flames obviously had engulfed only the anechoic rubber coating covering the submarine’s outer hull: Russian official: there was never a danger of the fire spreading to the inside of the YEKATERINBURG; part of crew even had stayed on board throughout the incident.)
+++ Some media spread a story that there had been four torpedoes on board theYEKATERINBURG, of which the crew could remove only three while the fourth had remained stuck throughout the entire episode.
(rmks: unconfirmed; weapons routinely are offloaded before yard period with dry-docking)

USA
The CARL VINSON Carrier Strike Group has ended its visit to Hong Kong and continues its scheduled Western Pacific deployment which eventually will bring it to the 5th Fleet area of operations.


31 December
IRAN
+++ Third phase (“power phase”) of exercise “Velayat 90” started with ships conducting live artillery firing at sea targets.
+++ Iranian media reported on live missile tests in / near the Strait of Hormuz, which actually did not take place (officials: “postponed on short notice”). Speculation on possible deliberate bluff as for nearly five hours not a single ship dared to sail the narrows, obviously waiting for the tests to be over.


01 January
IRAN
+++ In continuing exercise “Velayat 90”, the Iranian navy test-fired a
+++ new indigineous “medium-range” and “radar-evading” surface-to-air
+++ missile dubbed Mehrab … allegedly capable of ballistic missile defence” (rmks: many media have mixed this up with a medium-range ballistic missile). Associated photos and video show a missile looking somewhat like a Standard Missile (SM) fired from KAMAN (COMBATTANTE-II) class missile boat P-228 GORZ. (rmks: some Iranian vessels incl. KAMAN class missile boats reportedly have carried SM-1 to be employed in an anti-ship mode) Exercise schedule also saw live firing of anti-ship missiles from both naval vessels and ashore Naval “artillery assets” engaged in a “mock battle with the enemy”.
+++ GHADIR class midget submarines targeted surface vessels with PT47 torpedoes.

MALAYSIA
French DCNS confident to soon “formalize” a contract for six GOWIND type corvettes for the Malaysian navy … to be built in partnership with local Boustead … first to be delivered in 2017 … total value 2.1 billion Euros. 107-m variant similar to that envisioned for the Bulgarian navy.


02 January
IRAN
Final day of exercise “Velayat 90”; live firing of “long-range” Nour and Ghader anti-ship (coastal defence?) missiles announced.
(rmks: you may well expect many international media to mix up long-range anti-ship missiles - up to 300 km - with long-range ballistic missiles – 3,000 km)


UPCOMING / PLANNED EVENTS

PIRACY (09 Feb)
Kenya will host an anti-piracy conference at heads of state level (organized in conjunction with the UN) on 09/10 Feb in Nairobi … expect regional heads of state to attend … prepare for a broader conference on Somalia being hosted by Britain on 23 Feb.

[Silent Hunter UK]

Very interesting. Please keep this up.

[CV32]

In continuing exercise “Velayat 90”, the Iranian navy test-fired a new indigineous “medium-range” and “radar-evading” surface-to-air missile dubbed Mehrab … allegedly capable of ballistic missile defence” (rmks: many media have mixed this up with a medium-range ballistic missile). Associated photos and video show a missile looking somewhat like a Standard Missile (SM) fired from KAMAN (COMBATTANTE-II) class missile boat P-228 GORZ. (rmks: some Iranian vessels incl. KAMAN class missile boats reportedly have carried SM-1 to be employed in an anti-ship mode) Exercise schedule also saw live firing of anti-ship missiles from both naval vessels and ashore Naval “artillery assets” engaged in a “mock battle with the enemy”.

Kaman class fast attack craft Gorz (P-228) was fitted with a pair of Mk 32 Standard Missile box launchers in 2000.

Since the rest of the class has received Chinese C-802 anti-ship missiles, looks like Gorz is the trials platform for Mehrab.

[gemerson]

That's good info. Also concerning Iran, they recently test-fired an SSM from one of their Wellington class ACV. This combined with the overall material condition of their KAMAN's seems to indicate they may be searching for a workaround, if one of the IRGCN's primarly platforms goes kaput.

FWFS,
Greg Emerson, DM1(SW), USN-Retired
Renton, WA, USN

[gemerson]

BTW,
For those interested, I can continue posting naval news summaries as I receive them.

FWFS,
Greg Emerson, DM1(SW), USN-Retired
Renton, WA, USN

[broncepulido]

Very interested, thanks, and welcome

[Warhorse64]

Yes, please continue.

[Silent Hunter UK]

Can I suggest keeping them all in one thread? It's easier for all concerned, I'd say.

(Of course, that's the mods' call)

[CV32]

I think that's probably a good idea if Greg intends on this being a regular thing.