U.S. 4th Fleet
Top Stories 2021: COVID-19 Pandemic
Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Omar Bowen, left, assigned to Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Unit Bahrain, administers the COVID-19 vaccine to Lt. j.g. Kory Hill, anti-terrorism officer aboard amphibious transport dock ship USS San Diego (LPD-22), in Manama, Bahrain on Feb. 26, 2021. US Navy Photo
The COVID-19 pandemic continued to affect the Navy’s functioning, even as vaccines were rolled out to the fleet. The past year brought ebbs and flows in terms of the number of cases with peaks...
https://news.usni.org/2021/12/28/top-stories-2021-covid-19-pandemic
USS Milwaukee Kept Pierside in Guantanamo After COVID-19 Infects Crew
Sailors heave line on the fo’c’sle as the Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Milwaukee (LCS-5) arrives in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on Dec. 20, 2021. US Navy Photo
USS Milwaukee (LCS-5) is in port after sailors aboard the Littoral Combat Ship tested positive for COVID-19, the Navy announced on Friday.
Milwaukee is now in port at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after an unspecified variant of the COVID-19 virus infected the crew.
“The crew is 100 percent immunized and all COVID-19 positive...
Ecuadorian Navy Sailing Ship Interdicts Drug Smugglers in the Pacific
BAE Guayas and low-profile vessel on Oct. 22, 2021. Ecuadorian Navy Photo
A three-masted training ship interdicted a drug-laden high-speed smuggling vessel off the coast of Colombia on Friday, the Ecuadorian Navy announced.
Sailing ship BAE Guayas caught the low-profile vessel within the 200-nautical miles of the Colombian exclusive economic zone, the service announced.
“The Guayas School Ship, carrying out its International Instruction Cruise, was able to interdict this vessel for its subsequent...
CNO Gilday: Keeping Littoral Combat Ships Nimble Key to Pacific Deployments, No Plans for 1st Fleet in Singapore
An MH-60S Knight Hawk helicopter assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 21 (HSC 21) lands on the flight deck of the independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Tulsa (LCS-16) on July 5, 2021. US Navy Photo
KUALA LUMPUR — The Navy is making Littoral Combat Ship deployments in the Indo-Pacific region more flexible and unpredictable, allowing the service to respond to impromptu engagement opportunities and ensuring the LCS are not tied to any fixed location for too long, Chief of Naval...
PACFLEET CO: Numbered Navy Fleets Don’t Need to be Tied to Geography
Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, addresses the crew of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Hopper (DDG-70) following the completion of their maintenance availability on June 29, 2021. US Navy Photo
The U.S. Navy’s numbered fleets are by tradition tied to a specific geographical region, but that doesn’t mean commanders in California can’t command ships in the Western Pacific or any other part of the world, the new U.S. Pacific Fleet commander said on Wednesday.
The commanders...
https://news.usni.org/2021/06/30/pacfleet-co-numbered-navy-fleets-dont-need-to-be-tied-to-geography
Six Littoral Combat Ships to Deploy by Year’s End as Navy Continues to Refine Operations
USS Charleston (LCS-18) arrives for a contactless port visit ahead of Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Sri Lanka on June 23, 2021. US Navy Photo
The Navy will have six Littoral Combat Ships deployed by the end of the year – a record for the program, several Navy officials have confirmed to USNI News.
Later this year, two Independence-class LCS will join USS Tulsa (LCS-16) and USS Charleston (LCS-18) in the Western Pacific. The two ships kicked off an expansive deployment across...
7th Fleet CO: Deployed LCS USS Gabrielle Giffords ‘Pretty Much Owned’ South China Sea
The Independence-variant littoral combat ships USS Montgomery (LCS 8), bottom, and USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10) operate in the South China Sea, accompanied by an MH-60S Sea Hawk assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23, Jan. 28, 2020. US Navy photo
The Navy is now pushing the Littoral Combat Ships out into the Pacific in force after more than a decade of stops and starts and studies.
Today, there are two LCS deployed to the western Pacific – USS Tulsa (LCS-16) and USS Charleston...
SOUTHCOM’s Faller: China Used Pandemic to Expand ‘Corrosive, Insidious Influence’ in Central, South America, U.S. Influence ‘Eroding’
Adm. Craig Faller, commander of U.S. Southern Command, visited troops assigned to Joint Task Force-Bravo in Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras on Dec. 11, 2020. US Army Photo
China has used the COVID-19 pandemic to rapidly expand its “corrosive, insidious influence” – from money laundering for transnational gangsters to using its own ships to illegally fish protected waters and benefit from illegal logging and mining – “in our neighborhood,” U.S. Southern Command’s top officer said Tuesday.
“I can’t...
CO: USS Gabrielle Giffords Deployment Showcased LCS’s Flexibility, Naval Strike Missile
Amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA-6) sails alongside Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10). US Navy photo.
USS Gabrielle Giffords’ (LCS-10) recently completed 17-month deployment to the Pacific will refine how the Navy thinks about operating and maintaining the Littoral Combat Ship forward, the ship’s gold crew captain told USNI News.
Armed with the Navy’s latest anti-ship missile, Giffords deployed from September 2019 until January 2021, making it the...