Royal Australian Navy Destroyer Sinks Former U.S. Amphib with Naval Strike Missile During RIMPAC 2024

Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam residents watch as the decommissioned amphibious assault ship ex USS Tarawa (LHA 1), is escorted out of Pearl Harbor during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024, July 16. U.S. Navy Photo

Royal Australian Navy destroyer HMAS Sydney (DDG-42) successfully fired a Naval Strike Missile and sank former amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa (LHA-1) in the waters off Hawaii during the biennial Rim of the Pacific 2024 exercise.

The Australian Department of Defense...

https://news.usni.org/2024/07/22/royal-australian-navy-destroyer-sinks-former-u-s-amphib-with-naval-strike-missile-during-rimpac-2024

Carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower Returns Home Following Seven-month Fight With Houthi Drones, Missiles

Commanding Officer Capt. Christopher “Chowdah” Hill greets his family after arriving home to Naval Station Norfolk, Va., on June 14, 2024. USNI News Photo

ABOARD AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER – “Home Sweet Home” by Motley Crue blasted through the ship’s speakers as Commanding Officer Capt. Christopher “Chowdah” Hill made his morning announcement.

Up on the flight deck, Lee Greenwald’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” and Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child of Mine” played while sailors performed their...

https://news.usni.org/2024/07/20/carrier-dwight-d-eisenhower-returns-home-following-seven-month-fight-with-houthi-drones-missiles

Army Unit Deploys Hypersonic Weapon in Navy-led Exercise

Soldiers assigned to Bravo Battery, 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery (Long Range Fires Battalion), 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, prepare one of the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon Transporter Erector Launchers to fire during exercise Resolute Hunter 24-2 on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., June 25, 2024. U.S. Army Photo

An Indo-Pacific-assigned U.S. Army unit designed to counter anti-access, area denial networks deployed its hypersonic missiles for the first time last month during a Navy-hosted...

https://news.usni.org/2024/07/19/army-unit-deploys-hypersonic-weapon-in-navy-led-exercise

China’s Shandong Carrier Strike Group Wraps Up 10-Day Philippine Sea Deployment

CNS Shandong launches aircraft in the Philippine Sea. JMSDF Photo

China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy Shandong Carrier Strike Group sailed back into the South China Sea on Thursday, ending a ten-day deployment to the Philippine Sea that began on July 9, Japan’s Joint Staff Office reported.

On Friday, the JSO issued a news release that reported on the Shandong CSG’s activities and location on Wednesday and Thursday. The JSO had earlier issued a release covering the CSG up to Monday, but Friday’s...

https://news.usni.org/2024/07/19/chinas-shandong-carrier-strike-group-wraps-up-10-day-philippine-sea-deployment

Chinese PLAN and Russian Navy Finish South China Sea Exercise

Guided-missile destroyer CNS Dalian (105) attached to the PLA Southern Theater Command sails during a far-sea joint training drill in early April, 2023. Chinese MoD Photo

China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy and the Russian Navy wrapped up a joint exercise in the South China Sea and a separate joint naval patrol this week. 

The two navies finished what the PLAN calls Joint Sea 2024, which is known as Maritime Interaction 2024 to the Russians. The drills began on Monday in the South China Sea,...

https://news.usni.org/2024/07/18/chinese-plan-and-russian-navy-finish-south-china-sea-exercise

Navy Exonerates 256 Black Defendants of 1944 Port Chicago Explosion

View of loading activity at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine munitions pier, circa 1943/44 U.S. Navy/National Park Service Photo

Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro announced the full exoneration of the remaining 256 Black defendants of the 1944 Port Chicago general and summary courts-martial that followed a disastrous explosion at the California ammunition-handling facility.

Del Toro made the announcement Wednesday on the 80th anniversary of the disaster that claimed 320 lives, injured 400 others,...

https://news.usni.org/2024/07/18/navy-exonerates-256-black-defendants-of-1944-port-chicago-explosion

Report to Congress on Gerald R. Ford Aircraft Carrier Program

The following is the July 12, 2024, Congressional Research Service report, Navy Ford (CVN-78) Class Aircraft Carrier Program: Background and Issues for Congress.

From the report

The aircraft carriers CVN-78, CVN-79, CVN-80, CVN-81, and CVN-82 are the first five ships in the Navy’s new Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) class of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers (CVNs). The Navy’s proposed FY2025 budget requests $2,143.9 million (i.e., about $2.1 billion) in procurement funding for Ford-class ships,...

https://news.usni.org/2024/07/18/report-to-congress-on-gerald-r-ford-aircraft-carrier-program-3

Gen. C.Q. Brown Visits Philippines, Tours EDCA Site Ahead of New Projects

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown, Jr., left, meets with Philippine Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. in Manila, Philippines, July 16, 2024. DoD Photo

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. C.Q. Brown touched down in the Philippines on Tuesday for the first stop of his second trip to the Indo-Pacific to discuss security cooperation with Washington’s oldest treaty ally in the region.

Meetings with Philippine Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo...

https://news.usni.org/2024/07/17/gen-c-q-brown-visits-philippines-tours-edca-site-ahead-of-new-projects

Pentagon Announces End to Gaza Pier Operation

U.S. Army LSV-1 departs the Trident Pier after delivering humanitarian aid, June 21, 2024, off the coast of Gaza. US Navy Photo

The temporary U.S. military pier built to ferry aid to civilians in Gaza will shut down and the international community will now deliver aid to Israel’s Ashdod port, officials announced Wednesday.

“Our assessment is that the temporary pier has achieved its intended effect: to surge a very high volume of aid into Gaza and ensure that aid reaches the civilians in Gaza in a...