Category: Marines from all over the world

U.S. Navy: The last three remaining Ticonderoga cruisers

Of the 27 Ticonderoga-class cruisers, the first five (Flight I) were decommissioned in 2004, as conversion to Mk 41 vertical silos would have been too costly. The "Ticos" of Flight II (2nd batch) have 122 launch cells (VLS), in which all missiles from the Standard Missile 2, Evolved Sea Sparrow, U-Jagd-FK ASROC to the Tomahawk cruise missile are carried - with the exception of the Harpoon anti-ship missile. The remaining 22 cruisers were commissioned between 1986 and 1994 with a planned service life of 35 years. In the last three years, the US Navy has decommissioned thirteen units, six of which...

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USA: Constellation frigate - continuing construction or a new start

Breaking tradition with consequences: US Navy and the Constellation debacle When the US Navy decided to use the Italian FREMM frigate design from Fincantieri for its new FFG-62 Constellation class, this marked a break with 200 years of naval tradition: until then, all major surface combatants had been developed in-house by American shipyards. One reason for this turnaround may also lie in the only moderately successful in-house developments of recent decades - such as the Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) or the futuristic but problematic Zumwalt-class destroyers. However, five years after the contract was awarded and three years after construction of the "Constellation" began, there is now great disillusionment: only around 10 %s of the...

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U.S. Navy: "Harvey Milk" is renamed

All eleven units of the US Navy's John L. Lewis-class fuel supply ships - including those still under construction - bear the names of famous civil rights activists. Not everyone likes that. Now a particularly controversial case is causing a stir: The ship "Harvey Milk", which is currently in the shipyard, is to be renamed quickly. The reason: Harvey Milk, who served as a diving officer on the submarine rescue ship "USS KITTIWAKE" during the Korean War and had to leave the navy in 1955, publicly came out as homosexual around 70 years ago. After his military service, he became politically active in California and in 1978 became the first openly gay politician in...

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U.S. Navy: first LCS as minehunter in the Persian Gulf

Three Avenger-class minesweepers (68 metres, 1,400 tonnes), which date back to the 1990s, are permanently stationed at the U.S. Naval Base in Manama, Bahrain, for any minesweeping work that may be required in the Persian Gulf. To reduce their magnetic radiation, the hull consists of a wooden shell covered with fibreglass-reinforced plastic. However, this construction method is proving to be excessively expensive to maintain with increasing age. In addition, the boats' technical equipment is outdated and they are slow - even on the best days, it is almost impossible to achieve more than 15 knots. The eleven boats...

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USA - Hypersonic weapon HALO sidelined

Too expensive - and not available before 2030 In mid-April, it was announced that the US Navy had unexpectedly cancelled the ambitious project for an airborne hypersonic weapon against sea targets as part of a review of its investment programmes. Launched in 2021, the Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare System (HALO) project was previously considered time-critical and a priority in order to close a technological gap with Russia and China before the end of this decade. Raytheon and Lockheed Martin had already been awarded initial contracts for the development of HALO in 2023 - not least because they are already working on a similar hypersonic cruise missile solution for the US Air Force. Now...

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