Reaching 100 years of age is remarkable enough. But the Navy made it extra special for a former Navy Seabee Dec. 2. Retired Capt. James R. Mims, the nation’s oldest living Seabee, was made an honorary member of Amphibious Construction Battalion 2 by the unit’s top sailor, Command Master Chief (SCW) Johnny DeSarro, during Mims’ 100th birthday party, held at the Oaks Country Club in Richmond, Va.. Mims also received a U.S. flag flown over the Capitol building, a birthday greeting from President Obama and a very cool commemorative paddle. Mims has experienced some remarkable moments in his life. In…
Browsing: SURFLANT
SURFLANT hosted an all-day symposium for Navy women today in Norfolk, an event “designed to provide an interactive forum addressing the challenges that affect women in the surface force.” The idea was to provide a forum for women in the surface force and other communities along with discussion opportunities and interaction with successful surface force role models, and simply to network. Breakout sessions were held on topics ranging from child care, women’s policy and mentorship, as well as with officer and enlisted detailers.
The officer fired Aug. 5 as commander of Beachmaster Unit 2 posted an oblique defense Sunday in the Facebook comments section following the story about his relief posted on navytimes.com. Oblique, because Cmdr. Robert M. Brown said not a word about being fired or the circumstances under which he was fired, instead posting the famous “man in the arena” quote from President Theodore Roosevelt. Brown’s post had attracted a couple dozen comments, most of them expressing support of Brown, and 25 “likes” as of Tuesday afternoon. He had earlier declined to comment until the investigation is complete. Naval Surface Force…
The destroyer Stout came home to Norfolk Saturday following a Med cruise in support of theater security operations and ballistic missile deterrence … … and just in time for Father’s Day: Stout took part in the coalition strikes on Libyan forces that began in mid-March. Stout was the first ship on station and fired multiple salvos of Tomahawk cruise missiles at Libyan air defenses, surface-to-air sites and communications nodes, along with the destroyers Stout and Barry, the attack submarines Providence and Scranton and the guided missile submarine Florida, according to the Navy. The crew also had to deal with the…
SURFLANT and the San Antonio wanted to tout what officials are calling a successful second phase of sea trials for the much-troubled ship, so they invited me and five other reporters and photogs to ride out from Rudee’s Inlet in Virginia Beach aboard an 11-meter RHIB Wednesday morning and conduct interviews on board as the amphibious transport dock ship sailed back to Norfolk. The sea state out where San Antonio was steaming was about a 2, a sailor told me. But at the inlet, he said, it was more like a 4 or 5. It made for an interesting 7…
