Category: Navy

Billionaire Paul Allen reports that his crew has discovered the final resting place of USS Lexington, the lead ship in her class of aircraft carriers.

The Gray Lady was scuttled by US destroyers during the Battle of Coral Sea when Japanese planes attacked and ignited aircraft fuel aboard the carrier. USS Lexington had been on patrol during the attack on Pearl Harbor. From Wiki;

Lexington was at sea when the Pacific War began on 7 December 1941, ferrying fighter aircraft to Midway Island. Her mission was cancelled and she returned to Pearl Harbor a week later. After a few days, she was sent to create a diversion from the force en route to relieve the besieged Wake Island garrison by attacking Japanese installations in the Marshall Islands. The island was forced to surrender before the relief force got close enough, and the mission was cancelled. A planned attack on Wake Island in January 1942 had to be cancelled when a submarine sank the oiler required to supply the fuel for the return trip. Lexington was sent to the Coral Sea the following month to block any Japanese advances into the area. The ship was spotted by Japanese search aircraft while approaching Rabaul, New Britain, but her aircraft shot down most of the Japanese bombers that attacked her. Together with the carrier Yorktown, she successfully attacked Japanese shipping off the east coast of New Guinea in early March.

Lexington was briefly refitted in Pearl Harbor at the end of the month and rendezvoused with Yorktown in the Coral Sea in early May. A few days later the Japanese began Operation Mo, the invasion of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, and the two American carriers attempted to stop the invasion forces. They sank the light aircraft carrier Sh?h? on 7 May during the Battle of the Coral Sea, but did not encounter the main Japanese force of the carriers Sh?kaku and Zuikaku until the next day. Aircraft from Lexington and Yorktown succeeded in badly damaging Sh?kaku, but the Japanese aircraft crippled Lexington. Vapors from leaking aviation gasoline tanks sparked a series of explosions and fires that could not be controlled, and Lexington had to be scuttled by an American destroyer during the evening of 8 May to prevent her capture.

From the US Navy Institute;

Billionaire-turned-explorer Paul Allen has discovered the missing wreck of the World War II carrier USS Lexington (CV-2) at the bottom of the Coral Sea.

The crew of his personal research ship R/V Petrel found the missing ship two miles below the surface and about 500 miles off the eastern coast of Australia, he announced on Monday.

“To pay tribute to the USS Lexington and the brave men that served on her is an honor,” Allen said in a statement.
“As Americans, all of us owe a debt of gratitude to everyone who served and who continue to serve our country for their courage, persistence and sacrifice.”

The leadership of the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4, Cmdr. James J. Cho, Lt. Cmdr. Jason M. Gabbard, Command Master Chief Jason K. Holden were canned when the unit’s executive officer (Gabbard) was observed buck-ass naked in nearby woods (except for his boots) after a command gathering for chiefs and officers. The other two tried to cover it up;

NMCB-4 has been in Okinawa since Oct. 14, when it assumed duties as the Western Pacific Naval Construction Force.

Cho, Gabbard and Holden have been temporarily assigned to Naval Construction Group One in Port Hueneme, California, according to Cmdr. Cate Cook, spokeswoman for Navy Expeditionary Combat Command.

I guess tequila makes his clothes fall off.

Mick sends us a link to the story of Command Master Chief Ronald K. Shasky II, who was facing court martial charges for sex crime and fraternization, but he chose suicide instead. He was found dead in his Chesapeake, Virginia, home on January 31;

Officer Kelly Elliott of the Chesapeake Police Department confirmed Thursday that Shasky’s death was a suicide. Chesapeake police and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service are investigating.

Shasky was relieved aboard the destroyer Mason in spring 2017 for misconduct, Hillson said, and was facing an April special court-martial on abusive sexual contact, fraternization and false official statement charges.

HMC Ret sends a link about their new “Sea Hunter”, a sailor-free ship, Medium Displacement Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MDUSV). It was just turned over to the Navy from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Currently, it has no weapons, but it is designed to eventually hunt foreign submarines.

Although there’s no specific timetable for when the Sea Hunter would join active naval operations, the statement from DARPA indicated that it could happen as early as this year. The anti-submarine warfare vessel could be the first of an entirely new class of warship.

“[Sea Hunter] represents a new vision of naval surface warfare that trades small numbers of very capable, high-value assets for large numbers of commoditized, simpler platforms that are more capable in the aggregate,” said Fred Kennedy of DARPA.

The Navy promises that once there are weapons aboard Sea Hunter, a sailor’s hands will be on the controls.

There is video at the link.

AW1Ed sends us a link to the Navy Times which tells the story of Lieutenant Commander Erika Schilling, a nurse midwife at Naval Hospital Bremerton, who was on a ferry last month with her sons when she overheard a fellow passenger pleas for help on her phone;

“I just happened to be there and hear that help was needed. I heard her on the phone saying, ‘this is an emergency.’ My ears went up,” Schilling said.

A passenger had slumped over and was not breathing. The man’s heart had stopped.

Schilling, who has 21 years combined experience with Navy Nurse Corps and as a hospital corpsman, rushed to the scene and immediately laid the man on the ground, where she began performing CPR.

A crew member quickly arrived with an Automated External Defibrillator, while Schilling and a fellow passenger alternated performing CPR. In the end, it took 14 minutes and an exhausting effort by Schilling to save the man’s life.

Lieutenant Commander Schilling credits her Navy training for her actions that day.

The man is currently recovering at his home in Spokane. Schilling has since spoken with him to check on his progress.

She was awarded the Life Ring Award on Jan. 18 from Washington State Ferries, usually awarded only to ferry employees.

Bobo sends us a link from USNI. They report that USS Little Rock (LCS-9), a Freedom-variant littoral combat ship, is spending the winter in Montreal because it was commissioned in Buffalo, New York on December 16th and couldn’t get through the St Lawrence Seaway to join the fleet before it froze over.

“Significant weather conditions prevented the ship from departing Montreal earlier this month and icy conditions continue to intensify,” a Navy spokesperson told USNI News.
“The temperatures in Montreal and throughout the transit area have been colder than normal, and included near-record low temperatures, which created significant and historical conditions in the late December, early January timeframe.”

A sustained blast of Arctic air that extended from late December into January caused ice to form faster than normal within in the Seaway, according to the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp., the agency established by the Canadian government to manage the Seaway. The Seaway closed for the season on January 11. Typically, the Seaway is open between March and December.

Who could have guessed that weather would have prevented the ship from making passage through those icy waters in Winter? You know, besides everyone. I hope our nation’s enemies hold off on any nefarious plans until Spring.