A Few Photo's From Freedom

Since I am bunking with Chris Cavas and he decided to write a bit about the "tension-filled" situation on USS Freedom (LCS 1), I thought I would add a bit of context. There are certainly tense moments, I have about a dozen stories of tense moments on this trip, but for me it is really about watching this ship make a difficult trek out of the Great Lakes and getting the difficult work accomplished. I'm a New Yorker, I asked for this leg because I knew it was hard and I wanted to see this ship do something besides sport its sexy speed.

Instead of trying to explain this, I've uploaded a few pictures to get a feel for the trip Chris is describing. This is what it looks like to go through a lock up here.
This ship was not designed for this, and every civilian consultant, pilot, observer, tug driver, hockey fan, ice fisherman, and industry professional has said "wow this would be so much easier with front thrusters." Well, Freedom doesn't come with front thrusters, because going through dam locks isn't what this ship is about. There are actually other reasons, we'll discuss later though. So what does that mean? It means sailors doing what sailors have been doing for centuries, manning the lines and working to get their ship through tough spots. It has been exactly what I wanted to see to be honest, a way to see this "hybrid" sailor concept in action, and learn the various details missed in the brochure.

Hybrid sailor is what I would call "what those old salts bitching in Proceedings have been looking for" from the US Navy, because on this ship the posers would stand out as village idiots. There are no posers here, the only people standing around doing nothing is the industry folks who came aboard in Buffalo to be ready if we had problems with the engines and electronics. We have not had any problems with either, none, and I have been able to see the entire ship.

I'll talk more about this later, but I will tell you, the US Navy is cheating with Freedom, man for man only maybe a nuclear ballistic submarine has a crew better trained. I'm serious about this, the quals and experience is what seems to make this concept work. I'll talk more about this later too.

These guys work hard, I've admired both the fore and aft sections man the lines. This photo is of the forward group taken from the starboard bridge wing. As for the aft group, I watched them do lock 1 Tuesday night, and the Navy.mil guy was running around with the video camera. I assure you, that evolution will become a training video.
Navigating this ship through the locks is not easy, as I could easily quote any number of the Canadian civilians who have come aboard to say exactly that as this ship makes it through the locks. To give you a sense, Chris and I went to one of the top decks, above the RAM deck, what would probably be deck 3 if there was such a thing. Instead it is near the stacks and kind of warm, and it smelled like Krispy Creame because the mess stack is somewhere near there and someone was baking cookies.

Check out this pic, That is the RAM, we are over it, and you can see how deep these locks are. You get about 3 yards on each side sailor, you better know your job or your going to smash the Navy's latest ship into Canadian concrete, and that won't look good on You Tube.
This is tough as hell during the day, so clearly in the cold at night is no picnic. I have about 800 pictures so far, so I'll upload a bunch and set them to release through the day tomorrow assuming bandwidth allows me to get them posted tonight. Click the images for better resolution.

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Recent comments on PLAN Carrier

Recently, a Chinese Major General surprised much of the media with his comments Chinese carrier program. Of course by now, we all know that China is building one. The fact that it is no longer actively denying it simply shows that there is no more debate within PLA on whether or not this project will go ahead. We've also seen the model of JN shipyard building a carrier and news about training 50 naval pilots.

There are different ways to react to this. Richard Fisher, one of the well known China threat advocate, said that

"China has waged an at times sophisticated and at times facile campaign of disinformation surrounding its aircraft carrier program. The [People's Liberation Army] will seek to couch their missions in defensive terminology, However, the usual approach ... is to assess the capability of the platform, its electronics and weapons, and then assume they will be used to the maximum envelope of those capabilities for any range of offensive and defensive missions."

Of course, that has been the long discussion, why does China really need aircraft carrier?

I think a lot of what General Qian said in the interview are logical. As the next great power in the world and also a member of the permanent 5, it is actually strange that China doesn't already have a carrier when countries like Thailand and Brazil have one. China seems to do a lot of things for national pride and honour, having one of more aircraft carriers certainly would provide a lot of that.

The other question is what is whether the aircraft carrier is offensive or defensive in nature. I think that any future carriers would be mostly used for the Taiwan scenario and also for protection of China's energy route. It's true that USN is already protecting this route, but China really trust in US, the country that regards it as the most likely enemy? Would US trust China guarding its sea lanes? The other thing is that China's priority may change in the next 20 years. By 2020, China may wish to have a much more pro-active defensive posture. If they don't start building a carrier now, they won't be prepared for that likelihood. So generally speaking, I find it very hypocritical of US to question China's intent for having a carrier. And I think General Qian is voicing the opinion of many mystified Chinese people about why some people in a country with 11 carriers asks the intention for a country without even one.

Conversation With Expeditionary Strike Group 5

This is from the bloggers roundtable November 12th, 2008 with Commodore Peter Dallman, Commander, Boxer ESG/Amphibious Squadron Five; Colonel David Coffman, Commanding officer, 13th MEU; and Captain Mark Cedrun, Commanding Officer USS Boxer. As you read, I think you'll note like I did that Col. Coffman steals the show, at least in regards to my question.

You can find the entire transcript of what I thought was a really good coversation here (PDF). Below was my questioning as part of the conversation.

I thought the first bits were interesting, but I really think the conversation opened up when the topic shifted to USS New Orleans (LPD 18). This was the same day as the Time magazine article that called the San Antonio the Floating Fiasco. I have added some commentary and observations.

Q. Galrahn: I have a question on the make-up of the strike group. I noticed that the USS Milius had been mentioned as part of the strike group up until this point, and the captain did not mention the ship. I was wondering if there was a reason. Did it -- is it different tasking or just no longer part of the group?

A. COL. COFFMAN: Well, that's a good question. Milius had been previous -- had been part of our group, but it's been decided that she's going to deploy separately and not as part of our group -- (inaudible) -- missions.

In other words, the strike group consists of:

USS Boxer (LHD 4)
USS New Orleans (LPD 18)
USS Comstock (LSD 45)
USS Lake Champlain (CG 57)
USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93)
USCGC Boutwell (WHEC 719)

Q. Galrahn: The second question was in regards to the Boutwell. I know that in the Pacific you guys have deployed cutters with your ESGs in the past. I'm just curious. I understand the cooperative function that is gained when you have all three of the maritime services together. I'm just wondering if there is a specific role or purpose for the inclusion of the cutter as part of the strike group? Is there -- are you planning exercises that emphasize more law enforcement? Is that the reasoning? Is there some sort of specific reason that you're bringing the Boutwell along?

A. COL. COFFMAN: You want me to answer that? Okay. Because I -- we took one on (inaudible.) I mean, the primary reason is because countries, potential countries --

A. COMMODORE DALLMAN: Go ahead, Mark.

A. CAPT. CEDRUN: Yeah, this is Mark Cedrun, CO of the Boxer. You're pretty much on target. I'll echo what the colonel said and that we don't specifically know what our tasking is going to be once we go, but having done a CARAT deployment, which is a cooperative and readiness afloat training deployment with the Coast Guard cutter Morgenthau, the possibility exists that if we are tasked to go to a country en route to wherever they're sending us that a lot of these folks are very interested in our Coast Guard and how the Coast Guard operates off American shores and they like to mirror that and apply that to their own country. And that's what I saw when I did CARAT in 2002 when we went to various countries in Southeast Asia.

So they were very interested in coastal patrol, law enforcement, coastal defense and bringing a Coast Guard cutter along with us. You've got the pros from Dover and they're very interested in how our Coast Guard operates. So that's the primary purpose.

A. CAPT. CEDRUN: And I would also add in there that, obviously, there's a broad array of maritime missions and tasks that the Navy side -- that we're tasked to do in maritime environment, which is not only the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard pitch into the fight, but also, you know, obviously, we're working with many coalition partners to fulfill those tasks in order to create stable conditions at sea which are going to allow economic prosperity to continue and enhance global security. So the whole idea of the Coast Guard is pitching into the fight and helping us continue to support from the maritime side in order to fulfill those missions of the combatant commanders.

Q. Galrahn: Did you guys request the cutter, or was it assigned to you from your boss? How did that come about to where the cutter gets to be integrated into the strike group?

A. CAPT. CEDRUN: Well, that's probably more of a question for the Coast Guard. They -- obviously, they're aware of our schedules and we work the Navy and Coast Guard together in order to get to an agreement where they would deploy with us.

So it's a little bit above my pay grade to articulate exactly how that was discussed, but, you know, certainly it's a handshake agreement between the Navy and the Coast Guard to reach an agreement on how and when they are going to deploy ships with strike groups. As a matter of fact, the Boxer did have a Coast Guard cutter with us last time we deployed as well, so it certainly is not uncommon.

For the record, I have asked the Coast Guard and hope to get more information regarding the deployment of the USCGC Boutwell (WHEC 719). These are the deployments we can expect the National Security Cutter to make in the future, so we might as well be talking about them now. I believe these deployments have a lot in common with the recent deployment of the USCGC Dallas (WHEC 716) off Africa, and later to Georgia. Anytime the Coast Guard is deploying forward, this blog is interested.

Q. Galrahn: And the final question I was going to ask about the ships is, this will be the first deployment for the USS New Orleans and -- I mean, even today, Time Magazine runs a story -- I think, the quote was pretty brutal. Something about a floating fiasco when they were talking about the San Antonio. Are you guys concerned about this? Is this -- are you taking any measures to account for the possibility that the New Orleans may run into some problems per se on its first deployment similar to how the San Antonio was?

A. COL. COFFMAN: Yeah. This is Colonel Coffman from the 13th MEU. We are always concerned with the material condition and readiness of the ships, but I can tell you we've done two underways with my Marines on that deck. We have elected and we are the first to do this. They didn't do it with San Antonio. I have put my battalion landing team headquarters on New Orleans.

Yeah, with the capacity of the New Orleans -- and I know you're familiar with that from your question regarding San Antonio -- with this three ship amphibious group out of the West Coast here with LHD Class with Captain Fedrins ship, San Antonio class with the New Orleans and then our LSD, we've got a tremendous leap in capacity in terms of vehicle stowage and, or vehicle cube or square feet and cube stowage. So one thing is we've got a tremendous increase from what has become a very challenging problem for us here, as marine equipment has gotten bigger and heavier with armoring up and whatnot. So we're the -- really the first West Coast MEU here in the last few years that's been able to kind of get all of our stuff well established on board and be able -- (audio break) --

So we were the first MEU to be able to get this much stuff aboard, so that's -- and to put it across the decks to permit the distributed ops of the ships working separate areas. And that's, of course, led us to putting -- I have a flag on each ship. My CLB is on the LSD (sp); my BLT headquarters is on New Orleans; and the MEU command element and squadron, of course, are on the flagship over here.

And what I was going to tell you was we've gained great confidence in New Orleans' ship and crew and have done what the ship was bought to do, particularly over the two (inaudible) periods here of integrated training. We've been able to execute a mechanized raid profile off the New Orleans, basically as an independent platform with our amtrack and tanks and LCACs (sp) working off of that deck. So we're very excited about the increased capacity and capability of that ship. So as far as the employment end of it, which is my part of the business, we're really excited to have New Orleans aboard and have gained increased confidence during the workup period here. And I can probably throw it back to Commodore Dallman if he wants to talk about blue side material condition or any questions regarding that. Do you want to pick that part up, Pete?

Chuck Simmons at America's North Shore Journal also picked up on this, and asked a follow up question later on the topic. One thing forgotten about the LPD-17 class is how the Marines, who have become heavy due to Iraq, are able to get more equiment aboard. Col Coffman describes it as getting all his stuff onboard. This becomes a major theme of the rest of the blogger roundtable discussion.

A. COMMODORE DALLMAN: Sure, sure. Obviously we have specifically addressed the material concerns that we had from before and we're continually working to improve materials -- (inaudible). As the colonel said, we are always concerned about the material status of our ships. That's something that's very top of our list. But I would echo his confidence in this ship's abilities, capabilities to deploy on time and task, and be able to be flexible to respond to tasking from our, from our group, from the Colonel, or me or from higher authorities.

A. COL. COFFMAN: And let me jump back in on that too because I hit the bottom for the well deck and vehicle deck which were laid out beautifully to be able to do mech work and LCAC (sp) work. And the other improvement, as you probably know, is enhanced aviation capabilities. So the ship is designed to hold an aviation deck. We have exercised three different models of that during our workup in terms of the type of aircraft mix we would send over there. So again, it allows us to take that ship and kind of give it an entire mission to itself with a decent aviation compliment upstairs and then the way we put it together in terms of our assignment to shipping with mech capability coming out of the well deck. So for the employment and great capability and flexibility at how to employ that platform.

Q. Galrahn: Now Colonel Coffman, you said three different types of aviation on the LPD, are you talking about not just 46s but also you're talking about the H-1s as well, different groups or -- what does that mean?

COL. COFFMAN: Yeah, that's correct. So for example, if we were going to put the New Orleans against their mechanized raid or more of a kinetic mission then we can go ahead and put their fire support over there as well.

So we have exercised putting a AH-1 and UH-1 get over there which gives them there, basically self-contained capability with rotary-wing casts and then mechanized forces out of the well deck. If we were to send New Orleans, or focus them on less kinetic or humanitarian assistance or other ops, I can put assault helicopters over there, 46's or even 53's and give them assault support that has evacuation or those type of missions. So we're playing with the right kind of combinations to maximize the utility of that deck. As you probably know, I mean we started with the expanded spot LPD's some years ago to increase the aviation capabilities across the decks. But again, with this mix, and I'll throw in Comstock as well, so the increased capacity of the New Orleans has permitted us to reclaim the flight deck of Comstock. Over the last 10, 15 years we have frequently had to put cargo and vehicles up on top of Comstock, on top of LSDs, again because of our space issue. We are able to get what we wanted aboard. Clear two spots on Comstock so we have a good ready divert deck on Comstock. We have a secondary airport on New Orleans. And, of course, here with Captain Fedrin's ship, we have our primary air platform. So I would argue the same way, the addition of the New Orleans has got us back to a really good quality spread in terms of aviation capability to operate across all three of the amphib platforms. So we're delighted with that as well and so we're just kind of writing, or practicing the procedures and kind of the SOPs, the standard operating procedures of what kind of decks would best fit over there and best work over there with that enhanced aviation capability.

Q. Galrahn: Thank you very much.

was an emphasis in strategic Sea Basing evident in the discussion, and I was left with a completely different opinion of New Orleans (LPD 18) than I had going in. If you are familiar with loading plans, you can get a feeling for what the LPD-17 class is doing to the MEU, but also get a good feeling for what the LPD-17 class gives as a stand alone platform. Very interesting...

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