Russian Naval Blockade of Ukraine Called Attack on Global Food Supply

Posted on by May 26, 2022

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine grinds to a bloody stalemate, the Russian navy is effectively blockading the northern Black Sea, cutting off maritime trade at Ukrainian ports, in what world leaders call a deliberate attack on the global food supply chain. 

Foreign Policy is reporting that Western governments are scrambling to find ways to break the blockade and ease the strains on the global commodities and agricultural markets rocked by the war. Ukraine, referred to as the “breadbasket of Europe,” feeds some 400 million people around the world and is a top grain supplier to dozens of developing countries, including politically unstable Middle Eastern and African countries that have seen food prices skyrocket since Russia first launched its invasion of Ukraine in late February. 

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Report: USS Connecticut Seamount Grounding was Preventable

Posted on by May 24, 2022

On Monday, the US Navy released the report of its investigation of the underwater collision of the Seawolf Class submarine, USS Connecticut, with a seamount in the South China Sea. From the report’s Executive Summary:

On 2 October 2021, Connecticut grounded on an uncharted bathymetric feature while operating submerged in a poorly surveyed area in international waters. This mishap was preventable. It resulted from an accumulation of errors and omissions in navigation planning, watchteam execution, and risk management that fell far below U.S. Navy standards. Prudent decision-making and adherence to required procedures in any of these three areas could have prevented the grounding. Continue reading →

Cetacean Morbillivirus : Like Covid For Dolphins

Posted on by May 23, 2022

“Social distancing” during an outbreak of a contagious disease is difficult for dolphins as well as for humans. Researchers are now investigating how dolphin social interactions may help spread the virus that has resulted in significant dolphin strandings and die-offs in recent years. 

Cetacean morbillivirus is a lethal and highly contagious virus that infects marine mammals including dolphins, porpoises, and whales. First discovered in Virginia and Maryland waters in 1987, the virus is related to measles in humans. It can spread rapidly among dolphins, as it did from 2013 to 2015 in populations along the Atlantic Coast. 

Delmarva Now reports that during that outbreak, more than 1,600 dolphins washed ashore on beaches from New York to Florida, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Altogether, an estimated 20,000 dolphins died from the virus, and the region’s population of coastal dolphins shrank by about 50%.

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“Jaws” Child Actor Appointed Police Chief on Martha’s Vineyard, Island Where Movie was Shot

Posted on by May 22, 2022

Jonathan Searle, 1975 & today. Images: screen capture & Jeanna Shepard

In 1975, 9-year-old Jonathan Searle appeared in Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster movie “Jaws.” In the movie, Searle and his real-life brother, Steven, memorably played two pranksters who caused mass panic on the beach after swimming into the ocean with a cardboard fin.

Now, 47 years later, Jonathan Searle has been appointed police chief on Martha’s Vineyard, the island where the iconic movie was filmed. 

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Solo Sailor on Tiny Big C Hopes to Set Record For Smallest Boat to Cross the Atlantic

Posted on by May 20, 2022

Andrew Bedwell hopes to set a new world record for sailing the smallest boat to cross the Atlantic. His vessel, Big C is just over 1m/3.2ft long. If all goes according to plan he will set off in May 2023 from St Johns, Newfoundland, and finish off Lizard Point in Cornwall.

The smallest boat to cross the Atlantic to date was 5ft 4inches long, sailed by American sailor, Hugo Vihlen in 1993.

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US Navy to Name Destroyer For Telesforo Trinidad, Only Filipino Medal of Honor Recipient

Posted on by May 20, 2022

U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro has announced that a future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer will be named the USS Telesforo Trinidad in honor of a Filipino sailor who rescued two crew members when their ship caught fire more than a century ago.

The Washington Post reports that Fireman Telesforo De La Cruz Trinidad is the only Filipino in the US Navy to be awarded the Medal of Honor. He received the honor for his actions on the USS San Diego in 1915 and at a time when it could be awarded for non-combat valor.

“Since being sworn in as Secretary, I have wanted to honor his heroic actions by naming a ship after him,” Del Toro said in a statement released Thursday. “This ship and her future crew will be a critical piece in strengthening our maritime superiority while also emphasizing the rich culture and history of our naval heritage.”

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Update: Good and Bad News From Flooded Museum Ship USS The Sullivans

Posted on by May 17, 2022

The museum ship, the retired United States Navy Fletcher-class destroyer USS The Sullivans,  partially sank after taking on water at its berth in the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park, in mid-April. Now that the historic ship has been refloated, an assessment of the damage from the casualty has been underway. There is both good and bad news.

The good news is that many of the historic artifacts aboard the ship at the time of the flooding were either undamaged or may be salvageable. 5,000 folders of ship blueprints survived untouched while many documents stored in the ship’s office were submerged and all but ruined.  An attempt will be made to freeze many of the papers in an attempt to preserve them.

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Overboat Personal Foiler — Silent Alternative to Jetskis?

Posted on by May 16, 2022

Here is a short demonstration video from Toby Hodges at Yachting World of Neoocean’s Overboat electric personal foiler. Unlike the noisy and generally noxious jetski, the Overboat is practically silent, uses roughly 80% less energy than a comparable outboard motor-driven boat and produces zero emissions on the water. It is capable of running for 2 hours at 12 knots on three lithium batteries, riding on four computer-controlled foils. One downside is that, like most new technology, it is a bit pricey, at around £20,000. With luck, the price will drop as the technology matures and production increases.

Does Overboat’s silent personal foiler spell the end of Jetskis and pedalos?

Autonomous Cargo Ship Completes 500-Mile Voyage in Congested Tokyo Bay

Posted on by May 16, 2022

In January, we posted about the successful test demonstration of the world’s first fully autonomous ship navigation systems on a large car ferry on a 240-km route from Shinmoji (Northern Kyushu) to Iyonada, Japan.

Now, ​​Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line), partnering with Israeli based software platform designers, Orca AI, has demonstrated an autonomous 750 gross-ton commercial cargo ship, Suzaka, on a 40 hour, 500-mile voyage in the congested waters of Tokyo Bay, traveling without human intervention for 99% of the trip.   

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Super Flower Blood Moon Total Lunar Eclipse This Sunday Night

Posted on by May 13, 2022

Skywatchers in portions of the Americas, Antarctica, Europe, Africa, and the East Pacific will see a Super Flower Blood Moon total lunar eclipse this Sunday night and into Monday morning, weather permitting. May’s full moon is traditionally called the Flower Moon since this is the time of year when flowers bloom in abundance.

On the US East coast, observers can expect to start seeing the lunar eclipse at 10:27 p.m. and will be able to see the total eclipse at 11:29 p.m. for 84 minutes, according to NASA. While the full moon is wholly in the Earth’s shadow, enough light will escape around the globe to turn the moon a deep reddish hue, thus earning the nickname “blood moon.”

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Endangered Whale Sharks Threatened by Ship Strikes

Posted on by May 13, 2022

Ship strikes — collisions between ships and large marine life — are a serious threat to whales and other large marine creatures.  According to the non-profit Friend of the Sea, ship strikes kill more than 20,000 whales every year.

Now, new research, published in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), has identified ship strikes as a likely cause for the alarming decrease in the population of the world’s largest fish, the whale shark.

Whale sharks are slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet sharks that can grow up to 70′ long. Whale sharks were declared endangered in 2016. Over the last several decades, more than half of all whale sharks have vanished from the ocean. Some populations have fallen by more than 60 percent.

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World’s Largest Oyster Restoration Project Completed on Piankatank River

Posted on by May 22, 2022

We recently posted about the dire conditions of Texas and Gulf Coast oyster beds that have been devastated by floods, droughts, and hurricanes. In contrast, here is good news about oyster bed restoration in the Chesapeake Bay.

The Virginia Mercury reports that Virginia’s Piankatank River, with more than 438 acres of restored oyster reef, is home to what Nature Conservancy Virginia Chesapeake Bay Program Director Andy Lacatell says is “the largest completed oyster restoration project on the planet.”

“Water quality and fish is really what it boils down to,” said Lacatell. “Oysters improve water quality, and they provide habitat for fish and crabs and other critters that are both recreationally and commercially important.”

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Update: Superyacht Scheherazade Impounded By Italian Authorities, Ties to Putin Suspected

Posted on by May 11, 2022

In early March we posted The Mystery of the Superyacht Scheherazade — Who is the Owner?. The 495′ long superyacht, valued at $700 million, was drydocked undergoing repairs in Marina di Carrara, a small Italian town on the Tuscan coast. Recently, as the yacht came off the dock and may have been making preparations to leave, it was impounded by Italian authorities.

The Washington Post reports that in announcing its action, Italy’s Finance Ministry said the yacht’s owner had “prominent” links with Russians already under European Union sanctions. The name of the owner was not specified, and Italy said only that its government had asked the E.U. to add the person to its sanctions list.

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Repost: Sailors’ Tattoos on Mother’s Day

Posted on by May 8, 2022

An updated repost appropriate for Mother’s Day.

Sailors choose their tattoos for various reasons. Among the most popular sailor tattoos are anchors, hearts, and swallows.  Not infrequently, “Mom” also made an appearance as a reminder of loved ones and home.  On Mother’s Day, it seems appropriate to look at sailors’ tattoos that reminded them of “Mom.”

Remy Melina, in the Live Science blog, writes about the popularity of “I Love Mom” tattoos:  The “I Love Mom” tattoo first became popular during World War II. As they traveled around the world, U.S. Navy sailors got tattoos to document their achievements and memories. Tattoo parlors began to pop up near military bases and patriotic tattoos came into vogue, according to John Gray’s book “I Love Mom: An Irreverent History of the Tattoo.” Continue reading →

The War in the Black Sea — Ukrainians Hit Russian Patrol Boats, Landing Craft, and Possibly a Frigate

Posted on by May 7, 2022

Admiral Makarov

As brutal combat continues in the eastern part of Ukraine, the war in the Black Sea continues to heat up.

Three weeks ago, Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles hit and subsequently sank the guided-missile cruiser and the flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet, Moskva.  Previously, Ukrainian missiles destroyed the Russian Alligator Class landing ship Orsk in the occupied Ukrainian port city of Berdyansk.

Last week, the Ukrainian military released video of the two Russian Raptor-class patrol boats operating near Snake Island, being blown up in attacks by Ukrainian Bayraktar TB2 drones.

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Dentist Visit Helps Locate Site of Punic War Naval Battle of 241 BC

Posted on by May 6, 2022

An intriguing account by the BBC of archeological serendipity that began with a trip to the dentist. 

The Battle of the Aegates was a naval battle fought on 10 March 241 BC between the fleets of Carthage and Rome during the First Punic War. The Roman fleet’s victory ended the 23-year-long war and established Rome’s dominance over the Mediterranean, which would last for almost 700 years.

While the battle took place near the Aegates Islands, off the western coast of the island of Sicily, archaeologists had never located exactly where the battle took place. According to legend, the battle took place near Cala Rossa, a cove on the island of Favignana – the largest of the Aegadian Islands. Cala Rossa is so-called because of the intense color of the rocks, which were said to have been dyed by the blood of the Carthaginians who died in the battle. In reality, it is simply red algae that have colored the rocks. Researchers searching nearby found no trace of the battle.

In the early 2000s, the late archaeologist Sebastiano Tusa was visiting the home of a dental surgeon in the town of Trapani when he noticed a ram bow, the bronze beak of a Roman ship, known as a rostrum, on display. Continue reading →

Carnival Spirit Personnel Overwhelmed by COVID-19 Cases

Posted on by May 5, 2022

Is the cruise industry ready to get back to business in the “new normal” of the late pandemic or will cruise ships remain the floating Petri dishes that typified some ships in the early part of the COVID-19 outbreak? Unfortunately, a recent 16-day voyage from Miami to Seattle via the Panama Canal on the 3,000-passenger Carnival Spirit does not provide an encouraging answer to the question.

While Carnival would not comment on the number of cases, passengers on the Carnival Spirit that docked Tuesday in Seattle say more than 100 people aboard the ship tested positive for COVID-19, despite testing and a vaccination rate above 95%.  As alarming as the number of cases may be, passengers also recount that the ship was not prepared to manage the outbreak, that infected passengers were not properly isolated, and that the staff was overwhelmed.

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Texas Oysters Devastated by Floods, Droughts, and Hurricanes

Posted on by May 4, 2022

The cumulative impact of hurricanes, floods, drought, and oil spills has had a devastating impact on Texas oyster beds. Across the Gulf Coast region, an estimated 50-85% of the original oyster reefs have disappeared, according to a report by the Nature Conservancy. This has a major impact because the Gulf Coast region produces 45% of the nation’s $250 million oyster industry, according to NOAA fisheries. In Texas, the industry contributes an estimated $50 million to the state economy.

NPR reports that 25 of Texas’ 27 harvesting areas are already closed. The season normally runs from Nov. 1 through April 30, but many of the areas have been closed since mid-December – a move the state says is necessary for future sustainability.

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More Than 200 Sailors Moved Off Carrier USS George Washington Following Multiple Suicides

Posted on by May 3, 2022

CNN reports that more than 200 sailors have moved off the USS George Washington aircraft carrier after multiple deaths by suicide among the crew, including three in less than one week in April, according to the Navy.

The sailors are moving to a local Navy installation as the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier continues to go through a years-long refueling and overhaul process at the shipyard in Newport News in Virginia. Over the past 12 months, seven members of the crew have died, including four by suicide, prompting the Navy to open an investigation into the command climate and culture onboard the Nimitz-class carrier.

In addition to the four suicides in the past year, three more sailors assigned to the carrier died by suicide in 2019 and 2020. The carrier has been docked at Newport News Shipbuilding for a major overhaul since 2017.

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First New Polar Icebreaker Delivery Delayed Until 2025

Posted on by May 2, 2022

In 2019, we posted that US Coast Guard was finally getting an appropriation to build three new heavy polar icebreakers, followed by the construction of three new medium polar icebreakers. The Coast Guard currently has one heavy icebreaker, USCGC Polar Star, which is 46 years old and has suffered repeated breakdowns. It has been kept operating primarily by scavenging from a sister ship, Polar Sea which has not been in service since 2010. The Coast Guard also has one medium icebreaker, the ten-year-old USCGC Healy.

The first new icebreaker was due to be delivered in 2024. Last fall, however, the Coast Guard announced that delays due to the pandemic and design-related work will push the first new icebreaker to an expected 2025 delivery date, as reported by National Defense Magazine. 

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