100 Years Ago, Harrowing Voyage of the USS Olympia Carrying the Unknown Soldier Home From France

Posted on by November 13, 2021

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetary commemorated its 100th year anniversary last Thursday. On November 9, 1921, the cruiser USS Olympia arrived at the Washington Navy Yard on the Anacostia River, carrying the casket of an unknown American soldier, to be interred in the tomb on Armistice Day, November 11th.

In celebrating the centennial it seems worthwhile to also remember the harrowing transatlantic voyage of the cruiser Olympia that very nearly ended in disaster as the ship battled mountainous seas in the remnants of two hurricanes, threatening both the ship and its precious cargo.

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Repost: Swimming with Galápagos Green Sea Turtles

Posted on by November 6, 2021

An updated repost. Like so many other species, Galápagos green sea turtles are unique to the archipelago. Here is a short video of snorkeling with Galápagos green sea turtles off Punto Cormorant on Floreana Island in the Galapagos in early November, 2017. 

Galápagos Sea Green Turtles, Floreana Island, Galapagos

USS Enterprise & the Long Goodbye: Scrapping Could Cost $1.5 Billion &Take More Than a Decade

Posted on by November 11, 2021

We recently posted about how the US Navy’s last two non-nuclear carriers were sold for scrap for the modest sum of one cent each. By some standards, that was not such a bad deal.  A recent report by the General Accounting Office (GAO) says that it could cost the Navy more than $1.5 billion to fully dispose of the retired ex-USS Enterprise, a complete process that could take more than an additional decade to finish.

The Enterprise (CVN-65), nicknamed the Big ‘E,’ was the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier when it was commissioned on November 25, 1961.  Likewise, the ship is the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to be scrapped. The Navy is still weighing its options as to what to do with the Big ‘E.’

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Swimming with Sea Lions in the Galapagos

Posted on by November 10, 2021

My wife and I took an incredible trip to the Galapagos in 2017. An updated repost.  We spent a week on Ecoventura‘s 83’ MY Eric and visited six of the more eastern islands of the archipelago. We saw many of the species of plants and animals that helped Charles Darwin formulate his theory of evolution as described in his “On the Origin of the Species” of 1859. One of our favorites were the nearly ubiquitous sea lions which we snorkeled with almost every day.

Shortly after we started snorkeling off the beach at Punta Pitt on San Cristobal, on our first full day in the Galapagos, several sea lion pups swam over to play.  We were barely in waist deep water before two pups began literally swimming circles around us. The short video we shot is below. 

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Chinese Build US Navy Carrier Group Targets in Desert

Posted on by November 9, 2021

The Chinese military has built targets in the shape of an American aircraft carrier and other U.S. warships in the Taklamakan desert as part of a new target range complex, according to photos from satellite imagery company Maxar.

USNI News reports that the full-scale outline of a U.S. carrier and at least two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are part of the target range that has been built in the Ruoqiang region in central China. The site is near a former target range China used to test early versions of its so-called carrier killer DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missiles, according to press reports in 2013.

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Flying on a Candela C7 Electric Hydrofoil Boat

Posted on by November 6, 2021

On Saturday, we posted about the world’s largest electric ferry. Here is a very different electric watercraft, an all-electric hydrofoil runabout that literally flies above the water.

Candela Speed Boat AB has been referred to by Bloomberg as “Sweden’s Tesla of the Sea.” The firm is developing high-efficiency all-electric hydrofoil speed boats. Built of carbon fiber, once on foils the Candela uses 75% less energy than a conventional planing boat. The 25′ long Candela C-7 requires just 28 horsepower to fly along at 20 knots. The C-7 is capable of cruising for 50 nautical miles at 23 knots on a single charge.

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Sunday Repost : A Sail on the Draken Harald Hårfagre in New York Harbor

Posted on by November 6, 2021

What could be more gloriously incongruous than sailing on a replica 9th-century Viking longship and sipping whisky on a blustery Autumn day in New York harbor? Here is an updated repost: 

In late October 2018, I was fortunate enough to have been invited by the good folks at Highland Park Whisky to sail for an afternoon on the Draken Harald Hårfagre in New York harbor. At 115′ feet from stem to stern, Draken Harald Hårfagre is the largest Viking ship built in modern times. 

Built in Haugesund in Western Norway, the ship and her crew made an epic crossing of the Atlantic in 2016, following the old Viking route westward. The ship then toured the Great Lakes before traveling down the Hudson to New York, before wintering over at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut. In 2018, the ship had finished a 14 harbor East Coast tour from Maine to South Carolina.

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Bastø Electric, World’s Largest Electric Ferry in Service in Norway

Posted on by November 6, 2021

The Daily Scandinavian reported that last March the world’s largest all-electric ferry went into full operation on the 5.67 nautical mile route between the two Norwegian cities of Moss and Horten, on Norway’s busiest ferry route.

The new ferry, named Bastø Electric, built at Sefine Shipyard in Turkey, is the first of three battery-powered ferries intended to operate on a route across the Oslo Fjord. Bastø Electric measures 139.2 meters in length and is 21 meters wide. Top speed is 13 knots (24 km/h). The Bastø Electric can carry either 200 cars or 24 trucks, as well as 600 passengers. 

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After Suez Damage, Container Ship Ever Given’s Bow Looks like a Dropped Pumpkin

Posted on by November 5, 2021

Photographs have come out of the bow damage to the container ship Ever Given after she ran hard aground in the Suez Canal, blocking the critical waterway for six days last March. The images were taken in Qingdao, China, where the ship is awaiting repairs.

One observer noted that the bottom of her bulbous bow looks like a dropped pumpkin.

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US Merchant Marine Academy Pauses Sea Year Over Sexual Assault Allegations

Posted on by November 4, 2021

The United States Maritime Academy at King’s Point has paused Sea Year, a program that sends cadets to sea aboard commercial ships, after a female midshipman at the school shared an account in September of being raped by a crew member while serving at sea. This is the second suspension of the program in the last six years over allegations of sexual harassment and assault.

In a post on the website of an advocacy group, and in a subsequent interview with the Washington Post, the woman described being assaulted and having to spend several more weeks onboard with her alleged attacker.

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Update: USS Connecticut Hit Uncharted Underwater Seamount

Posted on by November 3, 2021

The worst way to determine the position of a previously uncharted seamount is to run into it underwater. That is apparently what happened to the Seawolf-class attack submarine, USS Connecticut, when it hit an object while submerged on October 2.  

“The investigation determined USS Connecticut grounded on an uncharted seamount while operating in international waters in the Indo-Pacific region,” 7th Fleet spokesperson Cmdr. Hayley Sims told USNI News in a Monday afternoon statement following an earlier version of this post. “Commander, U.S. 7th Fleet will determine whether follow-on actions, including accountability, are appropriate.”

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Derelict Solent Fort Sold for £715,000, Two Refurbished Forts Still on the Market

Posted on by November 2, 2021

Horse Sand Fort Image: Graham Horn

Between 1865-80, four forts were built in the Solent to protect Portsmouth and its harbor from sea attack and bombardment. Locally known as “Palmerston’s Follies” after the Prime Minister of the time, they were built in response to an invasion scare that was long over by the time the forts were completed.

Recently, one of the four forts, Horse Sand Fort, was sold by businessman Mike Clare for £715,000. In American real estate parlance, Horse Sand Fort might be referred to as a “fixer-upper.” The 200′ diameter round fort with two floors, referred to as “derelict” by the BBC,  is in need of considerable refurbishment.

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The Sinking of the USS Rueben James, 80 Years Ago Yesterday

Posted on by November 1, 2021

“Have you heard of a ship called the good Reuben James?” (If you do, it may be from the Woodie Guthrie song.) The destroyer USS Reuben James was sunk by a German torpedo while on convoy duty 80 years ago yesterday, roughly a month before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the US entry into the world war against the Axis powers. 

When the war in Europe broke out in September 1939, the United States declared its neutrality while at the same time establishing combined air and ship “Neutrality Patrols.” The fact that US naval ships were escorting English ships and had orders to “shoot on sight” German submarines, meant American neutrality was honored more in the breach than observance. 

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Piles of Dead Crabs and Fish Wash up on Teesside Beaches in NE UK

Posted on by October 31, 2021

Thousands of dead crabs, lobsters, and fish washed up recently along Teesside beaches on the UK’s North East coast. Waist deep piles of seaweed and dead and dying crustaceans and fish have been reported. Variously described as the “worst case ever seen” and “apocalyptic,” an investigation is underway to attempt to determine the cause.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “Samples of water, sediment, mussel and crab have been collected and are being sent to our labs for analysis, to consider whether a pollution incident could have contributed to the deaths of the animals.”

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Pint & Dale’s Spooky Songs of the Sea Halloween Live Stream Concert

Posted on by October 30, 2021

On Halloween, Sunday, October 31, at 2:30 Pacific Time (5:30 Eastern TIme), William Pint and Felicia Dale are hosting Spooky Songs of the Sea in an online live streaming Facebook event. They will perform songs about ghostly sailors, haunted ships, cursed captains, and other scary favorites of the season. Anyone on or off Facebook is welcome to tune in. For more information and to join the event, click here.

Update: USS Texas Drydocking & Repairs Scheduled

Posted on by November 6, 2021

For years, we have been following the valiant efforts to keep the battleship USS Texas afloat at its berth in the Buffalo Bayou at the San Jacinto Battleground Historic Site in La Porte, Texas. Now, the Battleship Texas Foundation has announced that the historic ship, commissioned in 1914 and the last surviving dreadnought as well as the only battleship in existence today that fought in both World War I and World War II, will move to a drydock in 2022 for critical repairs.

From the announcement:

The Battleship Texas Foundation (BTF) has selected Gulf Copper & Manufacturing Corporation’s Galveston shipyard as the location for the repair of the Battleship Texas. With the support of the Battleship Texas Foundation and Valkor Energy Services (BTF’s project management and engineering firm for the ship repair), Gulf Copper recently acquired a floating drydock capable of lifting the Battleship Texas out of the water for necessary and extensive hull repairs.

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Golden Ray Salvage Finally Completed, Massive, But Not Necessarily The Largest Wreck Removal

Posted on by October 28, 2021

Golden Ray & SS Normandie

The last section of the car carrier Golden Ray has been removed from St. Simons Sound near Brunswick, Georgia, and is on its way to a scrapyard. The 656-foot car carrier was carrying 4,100 vehicles when it capsized in September 2019. The cost of the ship, cargo, and wreck removal totaled roughly one billion US dollars.

Commander Efren Lopez, US Coast Guard Federal On-Scene Coordinator, said that the salvage of the Golden Ray was “the largest wreck removal in US history,” in a briefing on Tuesday.  While the salvage was certainly massive, it is not clear that the removal was the “largest in US history.”

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Ecuadorian Sail Training Ship Guayas Interdicts Narco Sub

Posted on by October 27, 2021

In one of the stranger maritime stories of late, the Ecuadorian Navy announced that last week, their sail training ship, the three-masted barque Guayas stopped and captured a drug-laden high-speed craft; a low profile vessel (LPV) powered by three outboard motors. While not submersible, the craft is colloquially referred to as a “narco-sub.” Four crew aboard the LPV – three Ecuadorians and a Colombian – were arrested. The cargo, likely cocaine of between 1.5 and 6 tons based on the imagery released, is carried in the forward hull, surrounded by fuel tanks.

The incident took place in international waters between the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Colombia and Ecuador’s Insular Exclusive Economic Zone (IEEZ), which surrounds the Galapagos islands, on Oct. 22.

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No “Ice Liberty” on Icebreaker USCGC Healy in the Northwest Passage

Posted on by October 26, 2021

One of the traditions of US icebreakers operating in the Arctic is “ice liberty.” When an icebreaker encounters a thick ice floe, the crew is allowed liberty to get off the vessel to walk about or play games from touch football to hockey. 

This year as the icebreaker USCGC Healy transited the Northwest Passage for the first time since 2005, ice liberty was canceled. In the melting Arctic, no ice floe was thick enough to be suitable.

“A lot of the floes had melt ponds with holes in them like Swiss cheese,” said Capt. Kenneth Boda, commander of the Seattle-based icebreaker told the Seattle Times. “We couldn’t get the right floe.”

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Carbon Dating Pinpoints Year of Norse L’Anse aux Meadows Newfoundland Settlement

Posted on by October 23, 2021

In 1960, the archaeological remains of Norse buildings were discovered at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. Until recently the settlement date was estimated within about a sixty-year span around 1000 CE. On Wednesday, scientists published a study in the journal Nature pinpointing the arrival date to 1021 CE, or 470 years before Christopher Columbus reached the Bahamas in 1492.

Archaeologists identified three trees at the site that were cut with metal tools, which the Norse had, while indigenous peoples did not. The archaeologists were able to accurately date when the trees were cut based on markings on the tree rings from a rare solar storm — called a Miyake event — that took place in 992 or 993 A.D. With the date of that inner ring fixed, “all you need to do is count to when you get to the cutting edge,” said Michael Dee, a study co-author from the University of Groningen. 

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