January 2015 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 21. UNITED STATES NAVY NEWS Continued from Page 8.


Navy Tests New Unmanned Underwater Vehicle at JEBLC-FS


By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Edward Guttierrez III, Navy Public Affairs Support Element East


VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (NNS) -- The U.S. Navy completed tests on the GhostSwimmer unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story (JEBLC-FS), Dec. 11.


GhostSwimmer is the latest in a series


of science-fi ction-turned-reality projects developed by the chief of naval operations’ Rapid Innovation Cell (CRIC) project, Si- lent NEMO.


Silent NEMO is an experiment that explores the possible uses for biomimetic, unmanned underwater vehicles in the fl eet. Over the past several weeks, Boston


Engineering’s tuna-sized device has been gathering data at JEBLC-FS on tides, varied currents, wakes, and weather conditions for the development of future tasks. The GhostSwimmer was developed to resemble the shape and mimic the swim- ming style of a large fi sh. At a length of approximately 5 feet and a weight of nearly 100 pounds, the GhostSwimmer vehicle can operate in water depths ranging from 10 inches to 300 feet.


Its bio-mimicry provides additional security during low visibility intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions and friendly hull inspections, while quieter than propeller driven craft of the same size, according to Navy Warfare Development Command (NWDC).


The robot is capable of operating auton- omously for extended periods of time due to its long-lasting battery, but it can also be con- trolled via laptop with a 500-foot tether. The tether is long enough to transmit information while inspecting a ship’s hull, for example, but if operating independently (without a tether) the robot will have to periodically be brought to the surface to download its data. The CRIC was established in 2012 to provide junior leaders with an opportunity to identify and rapidly fi eld emerging technol- ogies that address the Navy’s most pressing challenges and aims to fi nd ways to quickly employ them in the fl eet.


USS Norfolk Decommissioned By Kevin Copeland, Commander, Subma- rine Force, Atlantic Public Affairs NORFOLK (NNS) -- The Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Norfolk (SSN 714) was decommissioned Dec. 11 during a cer- emony at Naval Station Norfolk. The sub- marine will remain in Norfolk until in leaves in January to begin the decommissioning process at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine.


Norfolk is currently under the command


of Cmdr. Christopher Polk, who became the submarine’s 17th and fi nal commanding offi cer during a ceremony on Oct. 10, 2014. The 360-foot submarine is the third naval ship to be named in honor of its name- sake city of Norfolk, Virginia. It was built by Newport News Shipbuilding and was commissioned May 21, 1983 by then Secre- tary of Defense Casper Weinberger. Norfolk was also the Navy’s 133rd nuclear-powered submarine, the 89th attack submarine, and


SUPER-MAXI COMANCHE Continued from Page 7. out of the northeast. As the two leaders passed Gabo Island


WILD OATS passes COMANCHE and had a 40 mile lead on the next competitors. As the morning hours passed it was found that COMANCHE was moving slowly, stalled by the front in Bass Strait. However her competitor, WILD OATS, maintained her speed and now had a 20 mile lead late in the afternoon. COMANCHE seemed to have found one of the only wind holes on the race course.


During the night the wind was to build to 20-25 knots and this should favour WILD OATS.


Of the 117 boats that started the race, nine had already retired. WILD OATS was less than 100 miles


from the fi nish running down the Tasmanian coast and had a 25 mile lead over COMAN- CHE. Her eighth straight line honours was within her grasp. At the time she was sailing at 17 knots and COMANCHE was in the mid-20s, but would it be enough to change the order of fi nish or would time run out. From COMANCHE’s crewman Kimo


Worthington, “Nothing is over until it is over.” In three hours they had shaved off more than 20 miles on WILD OAT’s lead, which at one point was 40 miles. The hope was to continue this gain and then have a match racing battle up the Derwent River to Hobart. Well, time did run out for COMANCHE


as WILD OATS took line honours in a time of 2 days, 2 hours, 3 minutes and 26 seconds. COMANCHE had closed the gap to 10 miles. Her owned said, “WILD OATS and Mark Richards ran one hell of a race and it’s a really excellent boat. Disappointed we got stuck in that high pressure system, but they managed to sneak through it. And you’ve got to give them credit, that’s the nature of


that boat, they’ve got the balance. We’ll see if we’re back next year, not sure. We have a lot of big plans and I just don’t know whether we’ll make it back or not, we’ll have talk to the crew and see what they think.” Spithill added, “We can’t leave it at


that.” At one point he had the boat up to 32 knots.


On the turning point in the race Read


said, “We were about a quarter of the way into Bass Strait and expecting a westerly breeze, and all of a sudden Stan (navigator Stan Honey) came up from down below and said ‘I just got a new weather fi le, this is not looking good.’ We were two miles ahead of them, in bumpy seas, and they literally went by us, probably going a knot or two faster at the time, and they just sailed into more pres- sure and just kept extending on the whole fl eet. You can already see COMANCHE is already changing sailing as we speak,” “WILD OATS deserves all its success,” added Read. “They deserve their eighth record, Lord knows we tried hard to take it from them. This team, our team, did an un- believable job, and special credit to the boat builders and the design team because Lord knows we tried to break it, and it wouldn’t break!”


Read already had made a list of changes for COMANCHE, all of course secret. De- signer Xavier Guilbaud also had also made notes. His fi rst thing was to lighten the boat up more so as to increase her performance in light air. He also thought that some of the deck hardware needed to be moved; sail confi guration and improve the sail shapes. The winner on corrected time was Rog-


er Hickman’s Farr 43 WILD ROSE with a time of 3 days, 7 hours, 4 minutes and 43 seconds.


The next real test for COMANCHE


will be in the Transatlantic Race beginning in June.


the 24th Los Angeles-class submarine. In addition to Polk, Mayor Paul Fraim, city of Norfolk, retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Joseph J. Krol, Norfolk’s second commanding offi cer and former associate administrator for the National Nuclear Se- curity Administration’s Offi ce of Emergen- cy Operations, and Capt. Paul Snodgrass, commander, Submarine Squadron 6 were the featured speakers.


The ship returned from its maiden de- ployment in the Mediterranean Sea in No- vember 1984 and returned to its homeport in Norfolk from its last deployment on Aug. 26, 2014, where it operated in the European Command and Central Command areas of responsibilities.


During its 31 years of active service, Norfolk completed 15 deployments to the North Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, U.S. Central Command and U.S. European Com- mand. The ship has received six Battle Effi - ciency awards; two Arleigh Burke awards; four Meritorious Unit Commendations; a Navy Unit Commendation; and two Armed Forces Service Medals.


Almost 140 Sailors will be on Norfolk when it leaves in January for the trip to Ports- mouth Naval Shipyard and begin the formal decommissioning process. Ninety-three Sailors will stay after the fi rst crew release scheduled in February 2015. Twenty-nine of those 93 Sailors will be moving families and 24 Sailors will travel unaccompanied. All lament being the fi nal crew, but understand there is still work ahead.


Navy Moving Forward With LCS From the offi ce of the Secretary of the Navy


WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Secretary of De- fense Chuck Hagel has directed the Navy “to move forward with a multi-mission small surface combatant based on modifi ed Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) hull designs.” Consistent with the Fleet’s views on the most valued capabilities delivered by a small surface combatant, the modifi ed LCS ship will be more lethal and survivable. It will provide multi-mission anti-surface warfare (SUW) and anti-submarine warfare capabilities (ASW), as well as continuous and effective air, surface and underwater self-defense. Adding to current LCS Flight 0+ baseline confi gurations, which include the 57mm gun and SeaRAM missile sys- tem, this ship will be equipped with over-


the-horizon surface-to-surface missiles, air defense upgrades (sensors and weapons), an advanced electronic warfare system; advanced decoys; a towed array system for submarine detection and torpedo defense, two 25mm guns, an armed helicopter capa- ble of engaging with either Hellfi re missiles or MK-54 torpedoes, and an unmanned FireScout helicopter for surveillance, recon- naissance, and targeting.


Modularity design features will also be retained to augment SUW and ASW capabil- ities as directed by the Fleet Commanders. Available mission modules include Long- bow Surface to-Surface Missiles (Hellfi re), two MK46 30mm guns, and two 11M RHIBs for Surface Warfare, or a variable depth sonar for submarine warfare which, when added to the ship’s organic multi-function towed array and embarked helicopter, make this an extremely effective anti-submarine warfare platform.


In addition to the improved weapon systems capabilities for this ship, which reduce its susceptibility to being hit by a threat weapon, the small surface combatant will also include improved passive measures - measures that will reduce the ship’s signa- ture against mine threats, and measures that will harden certain vital spaces and systems against potential damage caused by weapon impact - to further enhance its overall sur- vivability.


From an operational perspective, the sum of these improvements will increase the ship’s capability and availability to partici- pate in SUW Surface Action Groups, ASW Search and Attack Units; escort of High Value Units, and support of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) SUW and ASW operations. With increased lethality and survivabil-


ity, the modifi ed LCS will provide the fl ex- ibility to operate both independently and as a part of an aggregated force. This decision allows the Navy to add organic multi-mis- sion capabilities to the small surface com- batant force while leveraging the benefi ts and affordability of the LCS program. The modifi ed LCS ships will complement the planned 32 LCS ships, resulting in a 52 ship Small Surface Combatant Fleet in keeping with the Navy’s Force Structure Analysis. The 32 LCS ships, with their full modular capability, will allow the Navy to deploy assets to meet the Navy’s mine warfare,


Continued on Page 22.


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