SEATTLE — Wreckage of the World War II aircraft carrier USS Hornet rests on the floor of the South Pacific Ocean around the Solomon Islands, 5,400 meters (nearly 17,500 feet) below the surface as discovered last month by the expedition crew of Paul G. Allen’s Research Vessel (R/V) Petrel, the Navy’s website said in a Feb. 12 post.
Hornet was best known for its part in the fateful Doolittle Raid that was launched in April of 1942, which was the first airborne attack of Japanese homeland targets including Tokyo. Led by U.S. Army Lt. Col. James Doolittle, all of the 16 B-25 planes that were launched from Hornet were unable to land at their designated airstrip in China, but the raid provided a boost to American morale, and put Japan on alert about our covert air capabilities.
In June, Hornet was one of three American carriers that surprised and sunk four Japanese carriers at Midway, turning the tide of war in the Pacific.
The ship was sunk during the exceptionally vicious Battle of Santa Cruz Island that started Oct. 25, 1943. Hornet proved an especially determined ship over the next 24 hours. Enduring a relentless, coordinated attack by Japanese dive-bombers and torpedo planes, her crew was ultimately forced to abandon the ship due to damage and resulting fires. She then defied American efforts to scuttle her with 16 torpedoes and 369 rounds of 5-inch shells. When Japanese forces approached shortly thereafter and fired four torpedoes from two Japanese destroyers late in the evening of Oct. 26, Hornet finally succumbed and slipped beneath the surface. She lost 111 Sailors from her crew of nearly 2,200.
“With the loss of Hornet and serious damage to Enterprise, the Battle of Santa Cruz was a Japanese victory, but at an extremely high cost,” said retired Rear Admiral Samuel Cox, director of Naval History and Heritage Command. “About half the Japanese aircraft engaged were shot down by greatly improved U.S. Navy anti-aircraft defenses. As a result, the Japanese carriers did not engage again in battle for almost another two years.”
“Naval aviation came of age in World War II and American Sailors today continue to look to and draw inspiration from the fighting spirit of ships and crews like USS Hornet (CV 8),” Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Bill Moran added. “Although her service was short-lived, it was meteoric.
“In the dark days following the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, she and the Doolittle Raiders were the first Americans to punch back at Japan, giving hope to the nation and the world when things looked bleakest,” Moran said. “She was there when the American Navy turned the tide in the Pacific at the Battle of Midway, and she was there when America started the long drive to Tokyo in the Solomon Islands. Mortally wounded during the vicious campaign at Guadalcanal and abandoned after all attempts to save her failed, she was finally sent below by the Japanese destroyers Akigumo and Makigumo.
“As America’s Navy once again takes to the sea in an uncertain world, Hornet’s discovery offers the American Sailor a timeless reminder of what courage, grit and commitment truly look like,” Moran continued. “We’d be wise as a nation to take a long, hard look. I’d also like to thank the crew of Petrel for their dedication in finding and honoring her sacrifice.”
The discovery of Hornet was made during R/V Petrel’s first mission of 2019 after relocating from the Philippine Sea to the Solomon Islands to spend winter months in this arena. Operating out of Guadalcanal, the area is rich in history and prominence in terms of naval engagements.
“We had Hornet on our list of WWII warships that we wanted to locate because of its place in history as an aircraft carrier that saw many pivotal moments in naval battles,” said Robert Kraft, director of subsea operations for Vulcan. “Paul Allen was particularly interested in historically significant and capital ships, so this mission and discovery honor his legacy.”
The 10-person expedition team on the 250-foot R/V Petrel was able to locate Hornet’s position by piecing together data from national and naval archives that included official deck logs and action reports from other ships engaged in the battle. Positions and sightings from nine other U.S. warships in the area were plotted on a chart to generate the starting point for the search grid.
In the case of Hornet, she was discovered on the first dive mission of Petrel’s autonomous underwater vehicle and confirmed by video footage from the remotely operated vehicle, both pieces of equipment rated to dive down to 6,000 meters.

MOBILE, Ala. — The future USS Cincinnati (LCS 20) successfully concluded acceptance trials in the Gulf of Mexico Feb. 8, following a series of in-port and underway demonstrations for the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey, the Program Executive Office-Unmanned and Small Combatants said in a Feb. 12 release.

Acceptance trials are the last significant milestone before the ship is delivered to the Navy, which is planned for this summer. During trials, the Navy conducted comprehensive tests of the Independence-variant littoral combat ship (LCS) to demonstrate the performance of the propulsion plant, ship-handling and auxiliary systems.

“I can’t say enough about the positive results achieved by the Navy and industry team during these acceptance trials of the future USS Cincinnati,” said Capt. Mike Taylor, LCS program manager. “She’s well into her journey to be delivered to the Navy this summer and will provide needed and cost-effective warfighting capability to the fleet and the nation.”

Following delivery and commissioning, Cincinnati will join her nine sister ships already homeported in San Diego, USS Independence (LCS 2), USS Coronado (LCS 4), USS Jackson (LCS 6), USS Montgomery (LCS 8), USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10), USS Omaha (LCS 12), USS Manchester (LCS 14), the future USS Tulsa (LCS 16) and the future USS Charleston (LCS 18).

Four more Independence-variant ships are under construction at Austal USA in Mobile. Final assembly is well underway on the future USS Kansas City (LCS 22) and Oakland (LCS 24). Modules for the future USS Mobile (LCS 26) are under construction in the module manufacturing facility and construction on the future USS Savannah(LCS 28)commenced last summer. Additionally, Austal is preparing for construction of the future USS Canberra (LCS 30), Santa Barbara (LCS 32), Augusta (LCS 34), Kingsville (LCS 36) and Pierre (LCS 38).

LCS is a highly maneuverable, lethal and adaptable ship designed to support focused mine countermeasures, anti-submarine warfare and surface warfare missions. The Independence-variant LCS integrates new technology and capability to affordably support current and future mission capability, from deep water to the littorals.

LCS is now the second-largest surface ship class in production. In 2018, five LCSs were delivered to the Fleet and three will be delivered in 2019 — a pace not seen since the 1990s.

WASHINGTON — Naval officials need to seek solutions from industry and academia to meet the technological and acquisition challenges of the future, the civilian head of the Navy and Marine Corps said.
“One of the drums that I beat to everybody up and down the ladder is, if you are acquiring things, if you are looking for solutions to your problem, look outside the wire,” said Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer, speaking Feb. 8 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington think tank. “Because I will almost guarantee you: some organization out there, whether large corporate, middle corporate, or small company has probably gone through the same problem you are or have a solution or something that looks like your solution.
“This goes to ‘should cost’ before you find out what it does cost,” he said. “Frame your argument, frame your data which you can glean from the outside. One thing that we have learned in this exercise is that corporate America and academic America will bend over backwards to help the services of this country.”
Spencer said that the Department of the Navy and the defense industry are partners in solution-providing and that the department needs to be a “responsible client” of the defense industry.
“I have to be clear on what I need and what I can provide,” he said, speaking of the need to set clear and firm requirements in an acquisition program.
With the additional resources for readiness provided by Congress in the fiscal 2017 to 2019, “the foundation for readiness has been set,” Spencer said. “Everyone understands they have the resources. This is all being done now to the mantra of urgency.
“We have money, we have plans, we cannot buy time, and that is the biggest stressing point we have right now,” he said.
Spencer said the department is “reviewing every single platform that we have as far as how we’re going to go forward with modernization, what we’re looking at to acquire, and what I call the Force 2.0, which are those weapons systems and concepts that we’re developing.”
Spencer was appearing at CSIS with his Army and Air Force counterparts, Secretary Mark Esper and Secretary Heather Wilson, respectively.

WASHINGTON — The Navy needs to change the structure of its future
carrier air wings (CVWs) in the future to meet future threats,
particularly in high-end combat against potential adversaries such as
China and Russia, a team of defense analysts said in a published
report.

“If the U.S. Navy is going to continue to invest in aircraft carriers, it need to re-consider how it’s going to configure its [carrier] air wings,” said Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington think tank, speaking Feb. 7 at the center about the new report, Regaining the High Ground at Sea: Transforming the U.S. Navy’s Carrier Air Wing for Great Power Competition.

The Navy’s current CVW “is not designed for the way we’re going to
operate in the future,” Clark said. “I would even go further to say,
unless the Navy is going to re-configure its air wings, it should
reconsider its continued investment in aircraft carriers.”

Clark briefed the audience on worst-case scenario where an adversary such as China could launch a salvo of 600 1,000-pound-class weapons at a carrier strike group and recommended the type of defenses, including a CVW, that would be needed for a carrier to operate in the ocean in a high-end fight.

The report said that today’s CVWs “lack the reach to operate at sufficient ranges from operational areas; the stealth to fight in contested environments; and the specialized capabilities in IRS&T [infrared search and track], EMW [electromagnetic warfare], and ASW [anti-submarine warfare] needed to defeat adversary platforms and systems.”

Clark sees the need for a CVW to move toward including more unmanned aircraft. He recommended development of three new aircraft types: an unmanned air combat vehicle (UCAV); an unmanned refueling aircraft, initially the MQ-25; and FA-XX, a new fighter with a longer strike range.

The report’s recommendations for re-configuring the carrier air wing by 2040 include:

* Sustaining planned procurement of the F/A-18E/F strike fighter through fiscal 2023.

* Sustaining procurement of the F-35C strike fighter through the first half of its planned production, ending in fiscal 2024.

* Develop an FA-XX fighter, a derivative of an existing fighter, by 2024.

* Develop a low-observable UCAV attack aircraft for production by 2025.

* Continue development of the MQ-25 aerial refueling UAV and
increase overall number of tanker aircraft to 12 per air wing. Also,
develop the UCAV as a tanker for the mid-to-late 2030s.

* Retire the EA-18G electronic attack aircraft as they reach the
end of their service lives during the 2030s and replace them with
UCAVs equipped with the Next-Generation Jammer and also with
expendable UAVs and missiles.

* Field a rotary wing MALE [medium-altitude, long-endurance] UAV
(in concert with the Marine Corps) to augment the carrier-based
helicopter squadrons and assume some of the ASW missions.

Clark’s team for the report included Adam Lemon, Peter Haynes, Kyle Libby and Gillian Evans.

RESTON, Va. — The Office of Naval Research’s (ONR) Medium Displacement Unmanned Surface Vessel (MDUSV), Sea Hunter, became the first ship to successfully autonomously navigate from San Diego to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and back without a single crew member onboard, except very short-duration boardings by personnel from an escort vessel to check electrical and propulsion systems, the ship’s builder, Leidos, said in a Jan. 31 release.

Leidos designed and built the 132-foot-long Trimaran, Sea Hunter, an autonomous, unmanned vessel capable of traveling for long periods of time and executing a variety of missions at a fraction of the cost of a manned ship. This recent achievement is part of an extended test phase, which has been ongoing since the end of 2016.

“The Sea Hunter program is leading the world in unmanned, fully autonomous naval ship design and production,” said Gerry Fasano, Leidos Defense Group president. “The recent long-range mission is the first of its kind and demonstrates to the U.S. Navy that autonomy technology is ready to move from the developmental and experimental stages to advanced mission testing.”

Sea Hunter will continue long duration and mission package testing throughout 2019. ONR awarded Leidos a potential $43.5 million contract to develop Sea Hunter II, which is currently under construction in Mississippi. The sister ship will be evolved based upon lessons learned during the first Sea Hunter build, evolving mission requirements and further development of autonomy enhancements.

“Our talented team of engineers, scientists and analytical experts have decades of experience that will allow us to deliver a second highly autonomous vessel designed to keep our servicemen and women safe while monitoring the maritime environment,” said Fasano. “We’re excited to showcase our unique and innovative capabilities for a program of great national significance.”

NORFOLK, Va. — No personnel were injured when a U.S. Navy guided-missile cruiser and dry cargo ship made contact during an underway replenishment off the southeastern coast of the United States, Feb. 5, the U.S. Fleet Forces Command Public Affairs said in a release of the same date.

USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55) and USNS Robert E. Peary (T-AKE 5) were able to safely operate after the incident. Damage will be assessed when the ships pull into port.

The ships had been conducting a replenishment-at-sea when the sterns touched at approximately 4 p.m. EST. U.S. Fleet Forces Command and Military Sealift Command will thoroughly investigate this incident.

The ships were conducting operations in conjunction with the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group.

WASHINGTON — The role of the U.S. Navy as a diplomatic and economic actor in U.S. foreign policy and execution is as strong as ever and likely to remain so for the next several decades, the Navy’s top officer said.

“In general, we’re looking at 25 to 50 years — easy — of a maritime-centric world,” said Adm. John M. Richardson, chief of naval operations, speaking Feb. 6 to an audience at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank. “[There will be] lots of responsibilities for maritime forces coming in the next 50 years.

“Those responsibilities are not the only military dimension of national power, but the Navy has a tremendous history of enhancing the diplomatic element of national power,” Richardson said. “There have been major treaties and leader summits conducted on U.S. warships. Gunboat diplomacy—there is something to that still. When we visit foreign ports, it’s almost a given that the U.S. ambassadors to that country will host a reception on the ship because its sovereign U.S territory.”

The CNO noted the Navy’s rich role in U.S. diplomatic history, saying that there is “a role for that going forward.”

Regarding influence on economic power, Richardson said the Navy’s role “in preserving sea lines of communication — 90 percent of the world’s trade goes over the seas.”

Richardson said the maritime rules set developed over decades since World War II “provide that level playing field” that has benefited the nations, “perhaps most especially China, which has grown tremendously.

“We need to advocate for preserving that,” he said.

Richardson has advocated consistency in complying with and enforcing international rules regarding freedom of navigation in current areas of tension — the South China Sea and the Taiwan Straits — as necessary to preserve the freedom of maritime commerce in international waters.

WASHINGTON — The Navy’s effort to field an electromagnetic rail gun has taken too long to develop but is yielding other technological advances, the Navy’s top officer said.

“I would say that rail gun is the case study that would say, ‘this is how innovation maybe shouldn’t happen,’” said Adm. John M. Richardson, chief of naval operations (CNO), speaking Feb. 6 to an audience at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank.

“[The rail gun project] has been around 15 years, maybe 20; ’rapid’ doesn’t come to mind in a time frame like that,” the CNO said, having just addressed the need for rapid prototyping and acquisition agility in order to maintain a technological edge in great power competition.

“Now we’ve learned a lot [from the project], and the engineering of building something like that that can handle that much electromagnetic energy and not just explode is challenging,” he said. “So, we’re going to continue after this — we’re going to install this thing, we’re going to continue to develop it, test it. It’s too great a weapon system so it’s going somewhere, hopefully.”

Richardson said that it was not uncommon in innovative approaches to yield unforeseen benefits.

The projectile conceived for the rail gun “is actually a pretty neat thing in and of itself,” he said. “The high-velocity projectile is also usable in just about every gun we have. It can be out in the fleet very, very quickly independent of the rail gun. So, this effort is breeding all sorts of advances. We just need to get the clock sped up with respect to the rail gun.”

KAUAI, Hawaii – The U.S. Navy’s AN/SPY-6(V)1 Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) successfully tracked a ballistic missile target, Jan. 31, the Naval Sea Systems Command said in a Feb. 5 release.

The short-range ballistic missile target was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility. An AN/SPY-6(V)1 AMDR searched for, detected and maintained track on the target as predicted. The flight test, designated Vigilant Nemesis, is the final developmental test in a series of ballistic missile defense flight tests for the AN/SPY-6(V)1 AMDR.

“The radar performed exactly as predicted. This completes our rigorous developmental test program to support the on-time delivery of the Navy’s newest Flight III destroyer,” said Capt. Seiko Okano, major program manager for Above Water Sensors, Program Executive Office-Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO IWS).

Based on preliminary data, the test successfully met its primary objectives. Program officials will continue to evaluate system performance based upon telemetry and other data obtained during the test.

Integrated air and missile defense testing commenced in March of 2017 with the successful completion of the first live ballistic missile flight test mission for the AN/SPY-6(V)1 radar named Vigilant Hunter. Vigilant Nemesis was the capstone ballistic missile test for the AN/SPY-6(V)1 AMDR and the 15th live ballistic missile test for the radar’s development phase.

BATH, Maine — General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, a subsidiary of General Dynamics, has been awarded a Navy contract to continue providing planning yard services for DDG 51 Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers. The contract is valued at $126 million for the first year with four option years, which, if exercised and fully funded by the Navy, would bring the total value of the contract to $719 million.

Planning yard services include design, material kitting, logistics, planning and execution. The majority of the planning yard services work will be performed in Maine.

Bath Iron Works also currently manages post-delivery maintenance and modernization activities for DDG 1000-class ships and LCS-class ships.