News & Analysis

Navy Announces New NAVWAR Commander, Task Force Commanders

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The Navy announced several appointments today for high-level jobs, including a new director of warfare integration and a new commander of Naval Information Warfare Systems Command.

Rear Adm. Douglas Small has been selected to receive his second star and will serve as the next commander of Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR), formerly the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), in San Diego, Calif.

Small currently serves as the program executive officer...

https://news.usni.org/2020/07/13/navy-announces-new-navwar-commander-task-force-commanders

Fire Fight Intensifies on USS Bonhomme Richard, 5 Sailors Still Hospitalized

200712-N-BL599-1081 SAN DIEGO (July 12,2020) – Sailors and Federal Firefighters combat a fire onboard USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) at Naval Base San Diego, July 12. On the morning of July 12, a fire was called away aboard the ship while it was moored pierside at Naval Base San Diego. Local, base and shipboard firefighters responded to the fire. USS Bonhomme Richard is going through a maintenance availability, which began in 2018. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class...

https://news.usni.org/2020/07/13/fire-fight-intensifies-on-uss-bonhomme-richard-5-sailors-still-hospitalized

BREAKING: Sailors Injured, Explosion Reported in USS Bonhomme Richard Fire

USS Bonhomme RIchard (LHD-6) on July 12, 2020 as a fire rages aboard. Image via CBS 8

This post will be updated with additional information as it becomes available. 

Sailors have been hurt in a fire aboard amphibious warship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) that’s docked the pier at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., local officials said on Sunday.

According to the San Diego Fire Department, several sailors are being treated for injuries and local news has reported explosions from the fire.

Explosion with...

https://news.usni.org/2020/07/12/breaking-sailors-injured-explosions-reported-in-uss-bonhomme-richard-fire

Darwin Marine Tests Positive for COVID-19

U.S. Marines with Marine Rotational Force – Darwin receive COVID-19 test at Royal Australian Air Force Base Darwin in NT, Australia on June 18, 2020. US Marine Photo

A Marine assigned to the rotational force in Northern Australia has tested positive for COVID-19, the service announced early Friday.

“The Marine arrived with the most recent wave of Marines on July 8, 2020. We are currently awaiting confirmation of this result and the results for the remainder of the most recent wave,” read a...

https://news.usni.org/2020/07/10/darwin-marine-tests-positive-for-covid-19

Marine Corps Identifies Lance Cpl. Who Died In Tuesday Shooting at Twentynine Palms

Twentynine Palms

The Marine Corps identified Lance Cpl. Casey Hayden as the Marine involved in a self-inflicted gunshot incident earlier this week that temporarily locked down Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms in California.

“We can confirm the individual who sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound aboard Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California on July 7, 2020, has passed away. We are saddened by this loss of one of our brothers, a Marine with 7th...

https://news.usni.org/2020/07/09/marine-corps-identifies-lance-cpl-who-died-in-tuesday-shooting-at-twentynine-palms

USS Theodore Roosevelt Returns to San Diego Following Deployment Interrupted by Outbreak

USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) returns to San Diego, Calif., on July 9, 2020. US Navy Photo

USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) is back in San Diego after completing a deployment that was cut in half with two months of battling a COVID-19 outbreak that kept the carrier at a pier in Guam.

The carrier left San Diego in January for a planned Western Pacific deployment that was interrupted in late March after the outbreak was discovered following a TR port visit to Vietnam.

More than 1,200 of the 4,800...

https://news.usni.org/2020/07/09/uss-theodore-roosevelt-returns-to-san-diego-following-deployment-interrupted-by-outbreak

Defense Minister Says U.S. Troop Moves From Germany Tied to Future NATO Commitments

U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, arrive at Albrecht Duerer Airport Nuernberg in support of Atlantic Resolve in Germany on June 22, 2020. US Army Photo

Where the Trump administration chooses to re-deploy 9,500 American service members now in Germany would send a signal to Europe about its commitment to NATO, Germany’s defense minister said Wednesday.

Annegert Kramp-Karrenbauer, speaking at the ninth European Union-Brookings Institution...

https://news.usni.org/2020/07/09/defense-minister-says-u-s-troop-moves-from-germany-tied-to-future-nato-commitments

Carrier Truman Enters Shipyard for Short Repair Period After Back-to-Back Deployments

USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) arrived at Norfolk Naval Shipyard on July 7 for an Extended Carrier Incremental Availability. US Navy Photo

Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) arrived at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard yesterday to begin a short maintenance period following significant underway time since 2018.

Truman has had a busy last three years: In July 2017, the carrier left Norfolk Naval Shipyard to head to the nearby Naval Station Norfolk after completing a 10-month planned incremental...

https://news.usni.org/2020/07/08/carrier-truman-enters-shipyard-for-short-repair-period-after-back-to-back-deployments

Navy Suspends Second Round of Physical Fitness Assessments To Avoid COVID Spread

Sailors assigned to Navy Recruiting District Philadelphia participate in the Navy’s bi-annual physical readiness test at Naval Supply Activity Philadelphia Fitness Center on Oct. 24, 2019. US Navy photo.

Sailors will not have to take a fall 2020 physical fitness assessment (PFA) as part of the service’s efforts to minimize the spread of COVID-19.

A July 7 NAVADMIN announced that this would be the second consecutive fitness cycle suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic and that personnel...

https://news.usni.org/2020/07/08/navy-suspends-second-round-of-physical-fitness-assessments-to-avoid-covid-spread

Russian Black Sea Sub Deployments to Mediterranean Could Violate Treaty

Kilo-class submarine Rostov-on-Don heading for the Mediterranean Sea. Photo by Yörük Işık‏ used with permission

The Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet recently has been deploying its submarines to the Mediterranean, despite a decades-old international treaty which many thought would prevent those deployments.

The Montreux Convention, agreed to in 1936, prohibits submarines from passing through the Bosporus Strait, which connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. There are exceptions in the treaty...

https://news.usni.org/2020/07/08/russian-black-sea-sub-deployments-to-mediterranean-could-violate-treaty

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