GRAY FLEET

            General Dynamics Bath Iron Works completed trials on the USS CARL LEVIN (DDG- 120) and will deliver it to the Navy for their tests before acceptance. Senator Levin was chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee for many years. This ship is similar to the DANIEL INOUYE (DDG-118) that was delivered and accepted last year. Inouye is remembered for his leadership during the Congressional Watergate Hearings. The DDG-118 construction was highly criticized for cost overruns, delays in delivery, and labor disputes. 

            Other Guided Missile Destroyers in the mill are the JOHN BASILONE (DDG-127), HARVEY BARNUM (DDG-124), PATRICK GALLAGHER (DDG-127), LOUIS WILSON (DDG-126), WILLIAM CHARETTE (DDG-130) and QUINTEN WALSH (DDG-132) are currently under construction.

 Basilone was a WWII Marine who earned a Medal of Honor at Guadalcanal and was brought home to tour the nation selling War Bonds. He demanded that he be sent back to the Pacific to fight. He was killed at Iwo Jima.

Harvey Barnum was with the 3^rd Marine Division (The Walking Dead) in Viet Nam where he earned his Medal of Honor. He eventually became Assistant Secretary of Navy for Manpower.  Pat Gallagher was born in Ireland and moved to the U.S. Serving in the Marine Corps 3^rd. Division, he was the target of a Viet Cong grenade that he quickly tossed away, a second grenade fell next to him and his three cohorts and he immediately threw himself on the grenade to protect the others. It failed to detonate. He continued to cover his team in their evacuation.

On Asan Beach, Guam, fifty years to the hour of the landings in WWII, my father sauntered up to a tall, erect, flinty-looking gray-haired gentleman and asked if he remembered a small stream running down the mountains to the beach. The man laughed and said he did. Dad turned to me and said, “That’s where Lou won his Medal of Honor.”  LOU??!! You mean General Louis Wilson, Medal of Honor and former Commandant of the Marine Corps! Yes, that Louis Wilson of the Marine 3rd Division who was severely wounded but refused treatment while he led his team for two days during the battle to liberate Guam. My dad (who was with the 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division) had a photo of Wilson in his workroom for as long as I can remember. It now hangs in my hallway.

Once again Russian planes and ships harassed U.S. and Japanese vessels in Japanese air and sea space. People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) destroyers and cruisers sailed into Japanese waters while Russian fighters and bombers flew overhead on two days in mid-December requiring Japan to counter by sending up her own fighters. The Americans immediately ordered several ships into the area as the almost weekly harassment continues. Amphibious transport Dock USS ANCHORAGE (LPD-23), USS MAKIN ISLAND (LHD-8), and the JOHN P. MURTHA (LPD-26) were sent into the region. The MURTHA embarked with the 13^th Marine Expeditionary Unit to participate in a Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training Exercise (CARET).

Congress heard the report on a new class of submarines (SSN-X) that will replace the VIRGINIA-class missile boats. The current sub-force consists of SSBN’s (Ballistic), SSGN’s (Cruise missiles), and SSN’s (general class).  General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, CT and Huntington Ingalls Newport News Shipbuilding of Virginia build our submarines. Many months ago, I wrote in Messing About In Boatsregarding Electric Boat’s incredible shipbuilding operations. Submarine capabilities are beyond imagination, and I remain deeply impressed by the construction teams and crews of our submariners. Bravo Zulu to the Bubbleheads.

The Coast Guard is searching for a missing sailboat bound from Cape May, NJ to Florida with a stop planned for Jupiter, FL. The sailors disappeared with the 30’ blue and white Catalina ATREVUIDA II(Spanish for “Daring”). 65-year-old Kevin Hyde and 76-year-old Joe Ditomasso were aboard.

Miraculously, the Coast Guard found a man who fell overboard from a Carnival Cruise ship. Coast Guard officials were notified of a 28-year-old man missing from the ship around 11 pm on Wednesday in the Gulf of Mexico off New Orleans. A pilot of a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter found him and lowered a rescue swimmer the next day at 8:30 pm. The man was in stable condition after treading water for over 24 hours. The chances of finding a man in the water is very slim, after that long it is virtually unheard of. The Coast Guard chopper was assisted by a rescue boat from Venice, LA, and commercial boats. 

MERCHANT FLEET

The Pacific Merchant Shipping Association reported on the current security assignments under the auspices of Homeland Security and the Customs and Border Office all of which are under the supervision of the Coast Guard. Since 9/11 Washington has been especially concerned about our seaports.

Our security forces are responsible for identifying crew, using canine detection units, screening of baggage and passengers, securing fences, restricting vulnerable points, maintaining X ray machines on all cruise ships, providing guards and patrols, and security certification. That is some responsibility. The world has changed and is more vulnerable than ever before.

PMSA noted the significance of West Coast shipping on the U.S. economy that added $780 billion to the nation’s GNP. The industry employs 16 million people directly or indirectly and pays $210 billion in taxes. 95% of all Asian cargo enters from the West Coast and 40% of all shipping containers enter the U.S. from the west.

ALLISIONS, COLLISIONS, and SHIPWRECKS

            Daily ships smack other ships or some stationary objects like bridges and docks with damage from mere cosmetic paint scrapping to sinking with all crew. The website, https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-122.1/centery:37.9/zoom:10, shows almost all vessels underway, and it is easy to see why so many problems exist. Pick a spot anywhere on the waterways and you will see dozens of ships looking as if you could walk across the oceans to any coast in the world.

            Some of the more recent accidents include a motorboat carrying refugees that sank in the Niger River killing 76 people. MAHAN NAKHON 2 was a barge under tow when it struck the U.S. flagged ship, VASI STAR, and promptly sank in Bangkok. No injuries were reported.

            The SS PEARL caught fire and became housing for oceanic bottom-feeders. Davy Jones will be without additional crew since PEARL’S crew was saved.  TREMONT, an 1115’ fishing boat, smacked the MSC RITA and sank 60 miles off the Virginia coast. 12 crew members were found in a life raft and rescued by the ATLANTIS, but the boat’s captain was evacuated via a Coast Guard helicopter. L’ECUMELLironically hit the ferry, COMMODORE GOODWILL, near Jersey off the Channel Islands. Three people were killed. 

            While this is an ancient news item, I simply had to share. As the author of THE WORLD’S WORST SAILOR, I totally understand, commiserate, empathize, and pity the Officer of the Watch on the RMS MULHEIM, a cargo ship carrying 2,200 tons of scrap plastic, because his pants led to a disaster. It seems that that poor guy was running the ship fairly close to shore when he decided to stand up from the wheelhouse chair but his pants pocket caught the chair’s arm knocking the poor officer off his feet and the resulting fall rendered him unconscious. The unlucky vessel slammed ashore just off Land’s End al the Cornwall coast. The 6-man crew had to be airlifted to safety but the ship sustained significant hull damage and was declared a total loss whereupon she simply split in half. 

            The Royal Thai frigate, HMS SUKHOTHAI (FS-442) was hit by a freak storm wave that allowed water to enter the electrical spaces knocking out all power and steerage. She quickly started sinking. Nearby ships rushed to her aid and 78 of her crew were airlifted to safety; however, 6 died in the water and the remainder are listed as missing. 

ENVIRONMENT

            Turnabout is fair play. After years of battling the Asian carp in U.S. rivers that have hammered the river and lake ecology, China is having problems with the invasive and elusive alligator gar that evidently came into the country via the exotic pet trade. The pest can grow to ten feet, has razor-sharp teeth, and few natural predators. It has been known to attack humans.

            Dakota County Minnesota is begging farmers to limit nitrate use because drinking water has been found to contain nitrates, pesticides, and chloride. The county is already sinking about $750,000 annually to keep these hazardous chemicals contained. The city of Hastings, a virtual suburb of the Twin Cities, experienced problematic issues with its water that is greatly dependent on groundwater because of sandy soil and fractured bedrock. Worse, the private wells in the county are particularly susceptible to PFAS (the forever chemicals).

            Several Iowa communities have been fined for water treatment violations. Blue Grass, a small town between Davenport and Muscatine, was penalized for not doing daily water testing in their very shallow well. A manure spill in Northwest Iowa killed 100,000 fish. It is the fifth violation in 20 years for that particular dairy. Preston, IA was fined for failing to monitor and test the water running off a golf course.

            My favorite story is the matter of herpes among carp! Herpes was responsible for a massive fish kill in Storm Lake, IA because the water reached temperatures over 70 degrees. It would be fun to say, “Don’t kiss the carp.” But Koi Herpes is not contagious to humans.

            Northwestern University is working on a probable means to break down polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances that are classified as “Forever Chemicals”. Their research is on how to filter these organic compounds from entering the environment, but it is not about those chemicals already in the system.

            Although I have often written about the Dead Zone in Louisiana, it continues to astound me that we have been unable to cope with this ecological disaster. In 2022, the size of this Gulf region has remained twice the size that the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Taskforce set as their 2035 goal. Agricultural fertilizers stimulate algae growth that, in turn, feeds bacteria that use up oxygen in the water to the point that neither fish nor plant can survive.

            Big Ag Chemical companies and the Farm Bureau have opposed most regulations that would impact the Dead Zone. At best, the pair make cosmetic improvements and pat themselves on the back, loudly and publicly, for their environmental ethos. 

INLAND WATERWAYS

            The Mississippi is a fairly wide river; however, collisions happen with unusual frequency such as a cabin cruiser and a johnboat near Hastings, MN, where a 59-year-old was killed.

            A towboat and a train collided(!) near Gallan, IA which caused about $1.9 million in damages. According to the NTSB, the tow boat pushed several barges into a bank on which the train was running. The barges destroyed the bank plunging into the river. The Tow captain ignored a little exclamation mark on his charts that showed where such an occurrence could happen. You mean that those little marks on a chart actually stand for something??!

SHAMELESS SELF-INDULGENT PLUG