The Navy Vol_67_No_2 Apr 2005 - Navy League of Australia

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Flash TrafficThe ship honours Medal of Honorrecipient Rear Adm. Isaac CampbellKidd. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio,on March 26, 1884, and graduated fromthe U.S. Naval Academy in 1906. OnDec. 7, 1941, Kidd was commander ofBattleship Division One and the seniorofficer present afloat during the Japaneseattack on Pearl Harbor. From the bridgeof his flagship, the USS ARIZONA,Kidd directed the counterattack againstenemy aircraft until the magazine ofARIZONA was exploded by enemyordnance, eventually sinking the ship,and a direct hit to the bridge took hislife.Two previous U.S. Navy destroyershave been named in honour of Kidd. Thefirst ship was a Fletcher-class destroyerthat was in service from 1943-1974.It is now a floating veterans memorialand museum in Baton Rouge, La. Thesecond, a Kidd-class destroyer wasalso built at Northrop Grumman ShipSystems. It served from 1981-1998 andwas then sold to Taiwan.KIDD is the 50th ship in the ArleighBurke class of guided-missile destroyers.Singapore to acquireSeahawkSix new Sikorsky S-70B navalhelicopters will join the Republic ofSingapore Navy’s (RSN) operation inthe next few years, the Ministry ofDefence (MINDEF) announced in astatement on recently.Equipped with advanced anti-surfaceand anti-submarine warfare sensors andweapons, the helicopters will operate offthe RSN’s new frigates.The Singaporean Ministry of defencenoted that this acquisition would enhancethe RSN’s capability to undertake awide spectrum of missions and carryout its mission of defending Singaporeand its vital sea lines of communicationsmore effectively.Under a contract signed betweenMINDEF and Sikorsky AircraftCorporation of the United States, thehelicopters are scheduled for delivery tothe RSN between 2008 and 2010.Final Arleigh BurkeorderedThe US Department of Defense hasannounced that Bath Iron Works, a unitof General Dynamics, received a $562.1million modification to its FY02-05DDG-51 class multi-year contractto build the final ship of the ArleighBurke class. As the 34th DDG-51 classdestroyer built by Bath Iron Works,DDG-112 represents the culminationof new construction for the US Navy’sAEGIS shipbuilding program and marksthe beginning of a major transition forthe Navy as it moves from the DDG-51to the next generation of destroyer, theDD(X).The Honorable John J. Young Jr.,assistant secretary of the navy forresearch, development and acquisition,described the action as another“landmark on the highway” of AEGISshipbuilding.“This is the last of 62 DDG-51class ships, the final act of a play thatwill be reviewed as one of the mostsuccessful defence acquisition programsin history,” said Young.The first of the RAAF’s new 737 Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning & Control aircraft over Sydneyduring a recent visit to Australia. The aircraft was visiting the bi-annual Avalon airshow and returnedto the US for further fitting out and tests before returning later this year to enter service with theRAAF’s 2 Squadron based at Williamtown in NSW. (RAAF)Like its other Arleigh-Burke classships, DDG-112 will be a 9,200-tonmulti-mission guided missile destroyercapable of conducting a variety ofoperations, from peacetime presenceand crisis management to sea controland power projection, in support of theNational Military Strategy. DDG-112will be capable of fighting air, surfaceand subsurface battles simultaneouslyand will contain myriad offensive anddefensive weapons designed to supportmaritime defence needs well into the21st century.The ship will be built in Bath,Maine, and the Navy expects deliveryin December 2010. DDG-112will benefit from the considerabletechnological advancements andengineering upgrades that have beendeveloped, tested and installed inthe class since the commissioning ofDDG-51 July 1991.Second French aircraftcarrier design phasebeginsThe French Minister of Defence,Mrs Michèle Alliot-Marie, has launcheda design phase for the French Navy’ssecond aircraft carrier.This step marks the end of theprogram’s preparatory phases, duringwhich the aircraft carrier’s maintechnical and operational characteristicswere defined. They also validated theFrench President’s decision to optfor conventional, rather than nuclear,propulsion for the new ship.Teams from the Ministry of Defenceand participating manufacturers willnow undertake the ship’s detailed design,which will lead to the beginning of theproduction phase, presently scheduledfor 2006.A contract for the design work, worthapproximately 100 million EUROs, willbe awarded by the defence procurementagency, DGA, to DCN and Thales NavalFrance, which will act as joint primecontractors. Other major manufacturersinvolved in the naval sector, such asAlsthom-Chantiers de l’Atlantique andEADS will also participate in the designphase.Inline with the strategic guidelinesdecided during the French-Britishsummit meeting of November 2004, thedesign phase will include risk reductionand co-operative opportunity studies so18 VOL. 67 NO. 2 THE NAVY
as to determine, by the summer of2005, the feasibility and the scope ofco-operation between the French andBritish aircraft carrier programs.The decision to equip the Frenchnavy with a second aircraft carrierwas included in the multi-year defenceplanning budget for 2003-2008. Thenew ship is to be commissioned in 2014,in time to ensure the French Navy’suninterrupted naval air capabilities whenthe current aircraft carrier, the nuclearpoweredCHARLES DE GAULLE, willbecome unavailable due to its scheduledrefuelling and refit.Navy League Victoriahost CN for CreswellOrationThe Annual Creswell Oration,organised by the Victorian Division ofthe Navy League of Australia, was givenby Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral ChrisRitchie at a luncheon hosted by TheNaval Officers Club, Navy League andNaval Association in the Headquartersof the Returned Services League inMelbourne, on the anniversary of thefoundation of the Australian Navy onMarch 1st 1901.The function was attendedby 80 people. 15 guests includedCN, SNO Vic., the Captains ofFlash TrafficThe Chief of Navy, VADM Chris Ritchie (left),receiving a presentation from CMDR JohnWilkins (Rtd), President Victorian Division ofthe Navy League of Australia, during the annualCreswell Oration in Melbourne. (John Bird)HMAS BALLARAT and NUSHIPTOOWOOMBA and other officersand ratings from HMAS CERBERUS.Also in attendance were ElizabethSevior, the grand-daughter of AdmiralWilliam Creswell, together with hersister-in law, Rosemary Creswell.The luncheon was hosted by JohnWilkins, President of Navy League inVictoria and CN was introduced byElizabeth Sevior.Admiral Ritchie in his address,compared the relatively unfetteredcommand of the Navy by Creswell andthe situation pertaining today, whereCN does not have operational control ofNavy, nor indeed unhindered day to daycontrol of naval personnel. He spoke ofsome of the proposed Navy acquisitionspresently in the pipeline and mademention of critics of the proposed AirWarfare Destroyers, emphasizing theurgent need for these vessels for themaritime defence of the nation.RSS STEADFASTlaunchedThe Republic of Singapore Navy’s(RSN) third Delta class frigate, RSSSTEADFAST, was launched on 28 Jan2005, by Mrs Tony Tan Keng Yam, wife ofDeputy Prime Minister and Co-ordinatingMinister for Security and Defence Dr TonyTan Keng Yam, at Singapore TechnologiesMarine yard. DPM Tan officiated at thelaunching ceremony.The launch of RSS STEADFAST,the second locally built frigate, is animportant milestone in the RSN’s frigateprogram. The RSN’s stealth frigates willbe equipped with advanced sensor andweapon systems, and have enhancedanti-air, anti-surface and anti-submarinewarfare capabilities.When the RSN’s frigates come intoservice from 2007 onwards, the Navy’sability to undertake a wider spectrum ofmissions and carry out its missions ofdefending Singapore and its vital SeaLines of Communications (SLOCs) willbe enhanced.The first Horizon class air warfare frigate, Forbin à quai, was launched on 10 March for the French Navy (Marine Nationale). (DCN)THE NAVY VOL. 67 NO. 2 19
Page 1 and 2: APR-JUN 2005www.netspace.net.au/~na
Page 3 and 4: THE NAVYVolume 67 No 2ContentsTIME
Page 5 and 6: Sea Power Ashore and in the Air2005
Page 7 and 8: Two of the Tomcat’s air-air weapo
Page 9 and 10: An F-14D Tomcat about to ‘trap’
Page 11 and 12: for LANTIRN couldn’t carry a recc
Page 13 and 14: for support from any strike aircraf
Page 15 and 16: Two Ospreys were deliveredin Februa
Page 17 and 18: ‘Emergency Deployment’ capabili
Page 19: Flash TrafficCdr Mooney was made fo
Page 23 and 24: OBITUARY;ADMIRAL MICHAEL WYNDHAMHUD
Page 25 and 26: flagged in either third world or ec
Page 27 and 28: significant contributions to the wa
Page 29 and 30: Soon the ship was well ablaze, smok
Page 31 and 32: A wartime aerial view of the crowde
Page 33 and 34: THE STARVATION BLOCKADES:NAVAL BLOC
Page 35 and 36: ‘Instant Navy’. The heavy lift

The Navy Vol_67_No_2 Apr 2005 - Navy League of Australia

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