Russia

Adm. Foggo Warns of Russian Submarines Challenging U.S. Defenses

A P-8A Poseidon aircraft assigned to Patrol Squadron (VP) 45 is parked on the flight line of Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland. US Navy Photo

A P-8A Poseidon aircraft assigned to Patrol Squadron (VP) 45 is parked on the flight line of Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland in 2016. US Navy Photo

The head of naval forces in Europe warned that Russia is preparing an underwater battlespace in the Northern Atlantic and that U.S. naval presence is more important now than any time since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Adm. James Foggo said in the second episode of his “On the Horizon” podcast that Russia’s national security policy seems to be to...

https://news.usni.org/2018/10/03/adm-foggo-warns-of-russian-subs-preparing-an-atlantic-undersea-battlespace

Russia calls on South Korea to release detained sanctioned tanker

Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned South Korea’s ambassador in Moscow on Monday and demanded that Seoul allow a Russian vessel to leave South Korea’s port of Busan, Reuters reported.

The vessel, named ‘Sevastopol’, was one of six Russian-flagged vessels targeted by United States sanctions in August for their alleged breach of United Nations restrictions on North Korea.

Namely, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) added in August the Russian company Gudzon...

https://safety4sea.com/russia-calls-on-south-korea-to-release-detained-sanctioned-tanker/

Truman Carrier Strike Group Leveraging Unusual Deployment to Work on Undersea Warfare, Strengthen Northern NATO Partnerships

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) conducts flight operations in the Atlantic Ocean on Sept. 18, 2018. US Navy photo.

The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group is in the midst of an unusual deployment – currently operating in the North Sea, in Act II of its deployment that had a working port visit intermission – but the strike group commander said the deployment has allowed his sailors to focus on high-end warfare and train in ranges not usually available to them.

Rear...

https://news.usni.org/2018/10/02/truman-carrier-strike-group-leveraging-unusual-deployment-to-work-on-undersea-warfare-strengthen-northern-nato-partnerships

Declining Commercial Nuclear Industry Creates Risk for Navy Carriers, Subs

USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) is pushed by tugboats as the ship enters Huntington Ingalls Newport News Shipbuilding to begin Post Shakedown Availability. US Navy Photo

The Navy’s ability to maintain and manufacture aircraft carrier and submarine propulsion systems is at risk, a panel of experts say, because the commercial nuclear industry has been in failing health for two decades.

Today, the Navy operates more nuclear reactors than the entire U.S. commercial reactor industry. The Navy’s 101...

https://news.usni.org/2018/10/02/37045

Coast Guard Renames New Icebreaker Program ‘Polar Security Cutter’

Crew of U.S Coast Guard icebreaker USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10) in 2014. US Coast Guard Photo

The U.S. Coast Guard changed the name of its heavy icebreaker program to highlight its importance to national security, as funding for the first-in-class ship may be in jeopardy.

Now dubbed the Polar Security Cutter, Coast Guard leadership and backers on Capitol Hill are determined to secure funding for the planned new class of heavy icebreaker – the first for the Coast Guard in more than four decades – by...

https://news.usni.org/2018/09/27/36846

EU to continue trade with Iran bypassing US sanctions

The Ministerial Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of China, France, Germany, Russia and the UK will set up a legal entity to facilitate legitimate financial transactions with Iran and allow European companies to continue trade with Iran.

Namely, the participants considered ways forward to ensure the full and effective implementation of the JCPOA in all its aspects. They also took analyzed the process of finding and operationalising practical solutions for issues arising from the withdrawal of the...

https://safety4sea.com/eu-to-continue-trade-with-iran-bypassing-us-sanctions/

HASC Panel Questions Pentagon’s Syria Strategy

A U.S. Marine with 3d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, attached to Special
Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force, Crisis Response-Central Command, fires
an FGM-148 Javelin, a shoulder-fired anti-tank missile, at his target during
a live fire demonstration near At Tanf Garrison, Syria September 7, 2018. Marine Corps photo.

CAPITOL HILL — In Syria, the Pentagon appears poised to embark on a conflict with no clear end-strategy, members of the House Armed Services subcommittee on oversight and...

https://news.usni.org/2018/09/26/36861

LNG shipped from Yamal LNG exceeds 5 million tons

Yamal LNG announced that the 68th cargo offloaded from the Yamal LNG project onto the Arc7 ice-class tanker ‘Christophe de Margerie’, exceeding 5 million tons of LNG produced since the start of the first LNG train in December 2017.

The first two liquefaction trains with total annual production capacity of 11 million tons have been operating within their nameplate design parameters.

As commissioning of the third LNG train continues, the first firing of a compressor gas turbine was achieved...

https://safety4sea.com/lng-shipped-from-yamal-lng-exceeds-5-million-tons/

Poland to build Baltic Sea canal to bypass Russia

Poland wants to build a canal through a narrow strip of land that blocks the Vistula Lagoon on the north-east coast from the Baltic Sea. The president of Poland’s ruling party noted the canal will be built through a split of land near the Russian border.

Currently, Polish ships leaving from the port of Elblag have to pass through Russian waters to get to the open sea. The canal will show the Russians the days they dictated to Poland are over, Jaroslaw Kaczynski said.

Earlier this month Russia...

https://safety4sea.com/poland-to-build-baltic-sea-canal-to-bypass-russia/

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