MetaFilter posts tagged with military and navy

Navy moves to put women on submarines

Joe Beese — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:53:13 -0800

A handful of female seniors at the Naval Academy or in the Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Corps could very well be the first women to be assigned to a U.S. submarine. And if initial plans fall into place, those women — joined by some seasoned supply and surface nuke lieutenants already in the fleet — will be included in four crews assigned to two Ohio-class submarines by late 2011. Some say move overdue; others worry about wrecked marriages - MSNBC

Military pictures from around the world.

Mitheral — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 01:14:42 -0800

Pictures of military subjects , many of them annotated, from all over such as Russia, Malaysia, Japan (Special Police), Ireland, Cyprus, Sri Lanka and Canada. Forum photo topics also include pre Great War, dogs (airborne), cats, aircraft carriers, riot police, women, destroyed tanks, camouflage, art, accidents, and daily threads of random images.

"Ships currently have no defense against a ballistic missile attack."

Keter — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:46:47 -0800

The aircraft carrier, a majestic and grand symbol of American naval might... susceptible to swarming small-boat assault and weak against ballistic missiles, nevermind an anti-ship ballistic missile. Is it time to reevaluate the role of the aircraft carrier in a modern naval strategy?

Put simply: it could be taken out by a WWII Japanese kamikaze pilot.

justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:24:12 -0800

What's as big as a battleship, looks like a star destroyer, and can't do much of anything? A Zumwalt class destroyer! (US Navy DDG-1000) $10 billion spent on research so far, and (assuming typical cost overruns) it may cost as much as $5 billion per ship. Due to its cost, the Zumwalt program was already in trouble when, on Thursday, the navy revealed for the first time that the ship can do far less than advertised. Most importantly, contrary to its manufacturer's design specifications, "the DDG-1000 cannot perform area air defense; specifically, it cannot successfully employ the Standard Missile-2 (SM-2), SM-3 or SM-6." "Area air defense" means using surface-to-air missiles to shoot down enemy anti-ship missiles while those anti-ship missiles are still far away. This is not a new idea; the "Standard" series of missiles dates back to the start of the Vietnam war. Since anti-ship missiles are now quite commonplace (Hezbollah seems to have used one in 2006), a Zumwalt could not go anywhere without an also-very-expensive escort to defend it. Informed bloggery can be found here .Thanks to "Fauxmaxbaer," whose comment at this blog here gave my post its title. Yes, the post title is hyperbole, but not by much.

Secret Military Patches

Miko — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:30:29 -0800

I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to Be Destroyed by Me is a new book by author and interesting person Trevor Paglen. He collects patches designed by military personnel to commemorate secret "black-ops" projects.

Nellis AFB Air Show.

saladin — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 07:16:13 -0800

Wednesday morning plane pr0n.

High speed, wave-piercing catamaran

QuestionableSwami — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 20:32:53 -0800

The USNS Swift (HSV-2) looks like something a Bond villian would own, but it's actually one of the most advanced ships owned by the US Navy. Highly manueverable and having a top speed of 51mph, it's heavily automated, capable of handling helicopters, carrying cargo, and launching both manned and unmanned vehicles -- all with only 42 people. It's assisted with relief efforts in Indonesia, Lebanon, and after Hurricane Katrina. But the best thing about the ship? It can be remote controlled through a web browser.

This Thread Has Been Pre-Godwin'd For Your Convenience.

brain_drain — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 10:24:51 -0800

An Unfortunate View From the Sky. The U.S. Navy has decided to spend as much as $600,000 for landscaping and architectural modifications to obscure the fact that one its building complexes looks like a swastika from the air.

The Sin of Competence

bardic — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 18:27:50 -0800

Lieutenant Commander Charles Swift is the Navy lawyer who took the case of defending Salim Ahmed Hamdan (aka Osama bin Laden's driver). A quick plea-bargain was expected, but Swift managed to get his client a hearing before the Supreme Court in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. While a complicated and nuanced decision, most would agree that "Swift, one of five judge advocate general lawyers assigned to represent the first round of commission defendants, determinedly stepped through this looking glass, defying skepticism at home and abroad that he and his colleagues would do more than a perfunctory job." However, despite all of his efforts and obvious legal abilities, he was recently passed over for promotion and effectively fired under the military's "up or out" promotion system. (Previously: [1] [2] [3])

Valiant Shield '06

Fidel Cashflow — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 10:39:41 -0800

The largest gathering of Navy ships in the Pacific since the Vietnam war is happening right now, off the coast of Guam. Valiant Shield 06, the first in a series of proposed biennial joint war-games, is a massive military training exercise involving three Carrier Strike groups, more than 300 air craft, and 22,000 personnel. While primarily an ASW event, all branches of the military are there practicing one thing or another. The Department of Defense has invited a number of other counties to watch the games, including China for the first time ever. Some believe the game was just designed to put a scare into North Korea (Not true, it's been in planning for a year).

But how does one run a massive war simulation? Well, you just find yourself a copy of OneSAF [FAQ] or JSAF (uh, among others [.ppt-to-html]) and you're good to go. (Previously on Metafilter: MC '02 [2])

Peril in the deep

stonerose — Tue, 17 May 2005 19:44:36 -0800

Adrift 500 Feet Down, a Minute Was an Eternity. A chain of error brings the U.S. Navy close to its own Kursk tragedy.

We have all been to Iraq, and we support anyone who stands in nonviolent opposition

amberglow — Fri, 13 May 2005 19:58:14 -0800

... I told the judge that the war violates the United Nations Charter, which forbids the use of force, unless carried out in self-defense or with the approval of the Security Council, neither of which obtained before Bush invaded Iraq. ...--testimony of Marjorie Cohn, professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in the case of Petty Officer 3rd Class Pablo Paredes, on trial for court-martial--he refused to board his ship bound for the Gulf.
"I think that the government has successfully proved that any service member has reasonable cause to believe that the wars in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq were illegal."--the presiding officer at the court-martial, Lt. Cmdr. Robert Klant
The sentence? Reduction to the lowest rank. Two months' restriction to the 32nd Street Naval Station. Three months of hard labor, but no jail time. Court adjourned.

One hell of a good sailor

matteo — Sun, 24 Oct 2004 07:17:48 -0800

Devil and the deep blue sea. A devil-worshipping non-commissioned officer in the Royal Navy has become the first registered Satanist in the British Armed Forces. Chris Cranmer, a naval technician serving on the Type 22 frigate Cumberland, has been officially recognised as a Satanist by the ship's captain. That allows him to perform Satanic rituals aboard and permits him to have a funeral carried out by the Church of Satan should he be killed in action. A spokesman for the Royal Navy insisted that Mr Cranmer's unconventional beliefs would not cause problems on board ship. "We are an equal opportunities employer and we don't stop anybody from having their own religious values".
Followers of the Church of Satan live by the Nine Satanic Statements, which include Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek”

revbrian — Tue, 26 Jun 2001 18:34:17 -0800

Commander Porn, at your service! "...one of Canada's top naval commanders has been suspended from duty and humiliated in front-page headlines for accessing ''Penthouse-like sites'' on a portable computer provided to him by the military. "

Commodore Eric Lerhe, the 52-year-old chief of Canada's Pacific fleet, acknowledged to higher brass that he had on occasions downloaded images of naked women while off-duty and alone in officers' quarters during an assignment in the United States.

Isn't this overkill? A reprimand I could see, but does it make sense to punish this to this degree?