Navy

Navy slashes spending for challenge coins, ball caps

By Sam Fellman on May 22, 2013 Budget, Commanding officers

As many in the fleet found out last week, the Navy is serious about penny-pinching. The Navy’s No. 2 officer ordered all commanding officers and senior enlisted to stop using appropriated money to purchase command coins, those treasured tokens that are practically synonymous with command. It also bars them from buying plaques, ball caps and other souvenirs given to sailors and civilians alike. To be sure, skippers can still use official representation funds, earmarked for banquets, or pay out of their own pocket. Not surprisingly, the Navy’s cutbacks have made command coin dealers gloomy about sales through the rest of…

The Navy This Week, March 14, 2013

By John Bretschneider on March 14, 2013 Carriers, Deployment, Geography, Maps, Maritime operations, Mobile Diving and Salvage, Navy, Persian Gulf, Ships, The Pacific, The Philippines

Here is this week’s Navy Times interactive map, showing what sailors are doing around the world. Information for the week ending March 14 is provided by Navy public affairs. [googlemaps https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=214279882004694880104.0004d7ec9b010499fcffb&hl=en&ie=UTF8&t=p&ll=32.546813,-0.703125&spn=148.622757,9.84375&z=1&output=embed&w=526&h=350]

The Navy This Week, March 7, 2013

By John Bretschneider on March 13, 2013 Carriers, Maps, Navy, Ships

Here is this week’s Navy Times interactive map, showing what sailors are doing around the world. Information for the week ending Feb. 28 is provided by Navy public affairs. [googlemaps https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=214279882004694880104.0004d7d03d3a9b0ed0763&hl=en&ie=UTF8&t=p&ll=21.289374,1.40625&spn=151.485441,9.84375&z=1&output=embed&w=526&h=350]

Late-breaking sequestration shutdown: Navy plans to close archives

By Kevin Lilley on February 28, 2013 Historical

First, head here for all the latest sequestration news as it pertains to sailors and their families, and head here for a roundup of some programs, bases and units throughout the military already feeling the pain of the cuts that could go into effect — on paper, at least — as early as midnight tonight. If you’d like a historical perspective on the cuts as they pertain to the Navy, get it fast — Naval History and Heritage Command plans to close its archives, even to research requests, if the sequestration goes forward, the Navy announced Wednesday. The move will…

Navy twist to boy band One Direction's latest video

By Kevin Lilley on January 3, 2013 Entertainment, Navy

Note to parents of young girls: Do not click on the following video if your child is in the room. High-pitched screaming could result. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHhhPpjeoi0[/youtube] For those a few generations behind, here’s a primer: No, the New Kids on the Block didn’t regroup, get younger and get British (and/or Irish). That’s pop-megagroup One Direction, the latest ridiculously popular boy band, in a teaser for the upcoming video “Kiss You,” soon to melt a YouTube hit counter near you. The boys — Harry, Liam, Louis, Niall, Tito, Jermaine, Lance, Justin, Danny, Jordan, Joey, Ringo and Zayn — are dressed in sailor…

Blessings by the dozen: Navy baby born 12/12/12 at 12:12

By Kevin Lilley on December 13, 2012 Navy

Kennedy Kathleen Robbins can’t walk, talk or sit up. But her sense of timing is already immaculate. The 5-pound, 10-ounce baby girl, daughter of Kristen and retired Master Chief Aviation Ordnanceman Daniel Robbins, entered the world at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Va., at 12 minutes past noon Wednesday. That’s 12:12 p.m. on 12/12/12. “Everyone thought we were lying — no one believed it,” Kristen said in a Navy news release. “When it sunk in, then they said it was a miracle, a sign. Regardless, she’s a blessing.” Kennedy wasn’t due for another week, but doctors at NMCP decided to induce…

First look at the new running suit

By Sam Fellman on June 4, 2012 testing, Uniforms

This summer, a sleek new running suit makes it debut. The blue exercise attire features the latest in athletic apparel design and state-of-the-art fabric to make exercise in cool weather more comfortable. A wear test begins this summer for a uniform that one day may be worn by all hands. It is the latest design in the five-year effort to find suitable outerwear for the yellow-and-gold physical training uniform. It’s part of the Navy’s push to suit up sailors in “high performance” training gear. The running suit, a totally new design made by New Balance, is essentially a warm-up suit,…

Aussie Navy is hiring

By Sam Fellman on May 8, 2012 Australia, Navy

Interested in sailing with the Royal Australian Navy? The U.S. Navy may be cutting jobs, but the Australian Navy is adding new ships — and seeking former U.S. sailors and officers to crew them. “The Royal Australian Navy welcomes enquiries from both officers and sailors who are interested in a new career and new life in Australia,” the Australian defense department said in its recruitment posting. “In the coming decade, the RAN is delivering new capabilities in amphibious warfare, air warfare and also helicopter systems.” They’re looking for submariners, medical officers and technicians, among others. Aegis experts are needed aboard…

Hunting narco-subs remains a challenge, officials say

By Sam Fellman on March 14, 2012 Submarines

Drug cartels rely on trucks, small planes, ships and speed boats to smuggle narcotics into the United States. And in recent years, they’re building increasingly sophisticated submarines, some of which can travel submerged. These drug-running subs are proving to be an issue for the Navy and the Coast Guard, a top official acknowledged Tuesday. “It’s a very expensive proposition to try and find them, follow them, detect them as they work through the maritime environment,” Gen. Douglas Fraser, the Air Force general who heads U.S. Southern Command, said at a Senate hearing when asked about the subject. In July, Coast…

Meme: What my LPO thinks I do

By Sam Fellman on February 27, 2012 Entertainment, Humor

Doctors have one. So do karaoke singers, movie directors, librarians, pilots, journalists and disc-jockeys. Now, sailors can claim their own What-people-think-I-do meme. For the uninitiated, that’s the Navy’s top enlisted man, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (SS/SW) Rick West, mugging in the top center photo. Scoop Deck thinks the rest of the 6-photo slide, designed by a sailor, speaks for itself — and with its own salt.

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