SAN DIEGO — The U.S. Navy accepted delivery of its third expeditionary sea base (ESB) ship, USNS Miguel Keith (T-ESB 5), on Nov. 15, Program Executive Office-Ships said in a release. 

Delivery marks the official transfer of the ship from the shipbuilder to the Navy. The USNS Miguel Keith will be owned and operated by Military Sealift Command. 

“The Navy and industry team overcame significant setbacks in the construction of this ship, and I’m extremely proud of the urgency and determination displayed on everyone’s part to deliver a high-quality ship that will support our operational requirements in the 7th Fleet area of operations,” said Capt. Scot Searles, Strategic Sealift and Theater Sealift program manager, Program Executive Office Ships. “Like the ship’s namesake, those who sail aboard Miguel Keith will embody his dedication to service to our country.” 

ESBs are flexible, modular platforms that are optimized to support a variety of maritime-based missions such as special operations force and airborne mine countermeasures support operations in addition to humanitarian support and sustainment of traditional military missions. 

ESBs include a four-spot flight deck and hangar and a versatile mission deck and are designed around four core capabilities: aviation facilities, berthing, equipment staging support and command and control assets. ESBs will operate as the component commander requires, providing the fleet with critical access to infrastructure that supports the flexible deployment of forces and supplies. 

USNS Miguel Keith was built by General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in San Diego. NASSCO is under contract for detail design and construction of ESBs 6 and 7 with an option for ESB 8.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Dominican Republic navy air and surface units interdicted 52 migrants aboard a makeshift vessel during an illegal voyage on Nov. 13 in the Mona Passage, according to the Coast Guard 7th District. 

The group of migrants included 51 Dominican and one Cuban national, 39 men and 13 women, who were safely returned to the Dominican Republic. The interdiction was the result of ongoing efforts in support of Operation Caribbean Guard and the Caribbean Border Interagency Group (CBIG). 

“The close collaboration and effective communication between the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection and Dominican Republic Navy responding assets led to the interdiction and safe recovery of all 52 migrants,” said Cmdr. Beau Power, Sector San Juan chief of response. “People should not take to the sea as part of an illegal migrant voyage; they are extremely dangerous.” 

The interdiction took place on the morning of Nov. 14, after a CBP Air and Marine Operations DHC-8 patrol aircraft crew sighted a migrant vessel, about 15 nautical miles northwest of Mona Island. Coast Guard watchstanders in Sector San Juan diverted the cutter Donald Horsley to carry out the interdiction and alerted Dominican navy authorities, whom also diverted the Dominican coastal patrol boat Bellatrix to the scene. 

The Bellatrix arrived on scene and stopped the migrant vessel. Shortly thereafter, the Donald Horsley arrived on scene and assisted with the transfer and safe removal of the migrants to the Bellatrix for return to the Dominican Republic.

WASHINGTON — Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer announced a future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer will be named in honor of late Sen. Thad Cochran, a Navy veteran, the secretary’s public affairs said in a release. 

Cochran was commissioned an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1959 after graduating from the University of Mississippi with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and completed his service in the U.S. Navy in 1961. 

He served on the staff of the Commandant of the 8th Naval District in New Orleans; taught military law and naval orientation at the Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island; and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve. 

Cochran went on to serve in the House of Representatives from 1973 to 1978 and represented Mississippi in the U.S. Senate from 1978 to 2018. He was recognized as the 10th longest-serving senator in the U.S. history. He was chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee from 2005 to 2007 and from 2015 to 2018. 

“From his service as a legal officer aboard the heavy cruiser USS Macon, to his dedicated work on behalf of our Sailors and Marines on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Thad Cochran was always a strong advocate for our nation’s defense and a courtly voice for cooperation and civility in American politics,” Spencer said. “We mourned his passing this May, but his legacy will live on wherever this Arleigh Burke-class destroyer may serve.”   

Arleigh Burke-class destroyers conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis response to sea control and power projection. The USS Thad Cochran will be capable of fighting air, surface, and subsurface battles simultaneously and will contain a combination of offensive and defensive weapon systems to support maritime warfare, including integrated air and missile defense and vertical launch capabilities. The ship will be 509 feet long, have a beam of 59 feet and be capable of operating in excess of 30 knots.

WASHINGTON — Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer announced a future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer will bear the name of the late Sen. Richard G. Lugar, a Navy veteran, Spencer’s public affairs office said in a release. 

Lugar served in the Navy from 1957 to 1960 and represented Indiana in the U.S. Senate for 36 years. He died April 28. 

“Senator Lugar dedicated his life to his country, first through service in the U.S. Navy then through service in Congress,” Spencer said. “I am honored to name a future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer after him. It is fitting this class of ship should bear Senator Lugar’s name, just as he served under Admiral Burke in life. This ship and her crew will continue his legacy of service, safeguarding the safety and security of America and her allies all over the world.” 

Lugar attended Officer Candidate School in Rhode Island, with follow-on training in Florida, before serving as an intelligence briefer for Adm. Arleigh Burke, who was chief of naval operations at the time. 

As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Lugar was a co-creator of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which provided funding and expertise to secure and dismantle nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and delivery systems around the world. In recent years, funding provided through the program has focused on export and border control programs and on the detection of radiological weapons. 

In 2013, Lugar was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

The future USS Richard G. Lugar will be capable of fighting air, surface and subsurface battles simultaneously and will contain a combination of offensive and defensive weapon systems to support maritime warfare, including integrated air and missile defense and vertical launch capabilities. The ship will be 509 feet long, have a beam of 59 feet and will be capable of operating in excess of 30 knots. 

PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane intercepted a suspected semi-submersible smuggling vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Oct. 23 and seized about 5,000 pounds of cocaine, the Coast Guard Atlantic Area said in a release.  

The crew was alerted to the presence of the vessel by the crew of a maritime patrol aircraft on patrol in the region. Boarding teams from the cutter deployed in interceptor boats and stopped the vessel just before midnight. 

The boarding teams took control of the vessel before the four suspected smugglers aboard could sink the craft using installed scuttling valves. Cocaine valued at about $69 million was later removed from the semi-submersible. 

“I am really proud of our crew and the precision and professionalism with which they conducted this interdiction,” said Cmdr. Dorothy Hernaez, commanding officer of the Harriet Lane. “It was an all-hands-on-deck effort to properly position the cutter and to safely make the seizure. This interdiction was made possible by great teamwork, including excellent air support provided by Joint Interagency Task Force South and assistance from Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf’s crew in off-loading the bulk contraband from the vessel.” 

Coast Guard assets deployed in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean increase the U.S. and allied presence in these known drug transit zones off the coasts of Central and South America, in support of the Coast Guard’s Western Hemisphere Strategy.  Interdictions are in support of Campaign Martillo, a regional initiative targeting illicit trafficking that threatens security and prosperity at the national, regional and international levels. 

The interdictions are facilitated by detection and monitoring information from Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF) South, located in Key West, Florida. The law enforcement phase of counter-smuggling operations in the eastern Pacific is conducted under the authority of the Coast Guard 11th District headquartered in Alameda. Interdictions, including the actual boarding, are led and conducted by Coast Guard law enforcement personnel.

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding division marked the start of fabrication of the U.S. Coast Guard’s newest Legend-class national security cutter, Calhoun, on Nov. 12, according to a company release. The start of fabrication signifies that the first 100 tons of steel for a ship have been cut. 

“Each new ship in this class has been an exciting opportunity to build on our legacy,” said Jay Boyd, Ingalls’ NSC program manager. “This is the 10th cutter in the class and a steady production line has allowed our shipbuilders to continually improve on how we build and deliver these technologically advanced cutters to the nation.” 

NSC 10 is named for Master Chief Petty Officer Charles L. Calhoun, who was the first MCPOCG. He served in the U.S. Navy for three years during World War II and was honorably discharged in February 1946 as a torpedoman second class but enlisted in the Coast Guard that September. Over the course of 14 years he held various Coast Guard leadership positions, serving as MCPOCG from August 1969 until August 1973. 

Ingalls has delivered eight Legend–class NSCs, two more are under construction and one additional is under contract. Stone, the ninth NSC, is scheduled for delivery in 2020. 

NSCs can meet all maritime security mission needs required of the high-endurance cutter. They include an aft launch and recovery area for two rigid-hull inflatable boats and a flight deck to accommodate a range of manned and unmanned rotary wing aircraft.

The Legend class is the largest and most technologically advanced class of cutter in the Coast Guard, with maritime homeland security, law enforcement, marine safety, environmental protection and national defense capabilities. NSCs enhance the Coast Guard’s operational readiness, capacity and effectiveness at a time when the demand for their services has never been greater.

NEW YORK — The U.S. Coast Guard will name two of its new Sentinel-class fast-response cutters in honor of two public servants and Coast Guardsmen who lost their lives responding to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City, the Coast Guard 1st District announced in a Nov. 12 release. 

Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz made the announcement in New York’s Battery Park flanked by Mayor Bill de Blasio, Police Commissioner James O’Neill and Fire Chief John Sudnik. 

The two new cutters will be named for Vincent Danz and Jeffrey Palazzo. 

Palazzo served as a Coast Guard reservist and New York firefighter at Rescue 5 in Staten Island. He died while helping others at the World Trade Center. Danz, also a Coast Guard reservist, was a police officer with the emergency services unit in the Bronx and was helping victims at Ground Zero when the Trade Center collapsed. 

“We are humbled and grateful for the opportunity to honor these brave men whose service and sacrifice spanned three great first-responder organizations,” Schultz said. “Their broad military and public service to both the nation and City of New York demonstrated their incredible dedication and character. When the call came, they answered. We are certain that the men and women who serve aboard Coast Guard Cutter Vincent Danz and Coast Guard Cutter Jeffrey Palazzo … will proudly carry on their sense of honor, respect and devotion to duty.” 

“On the day we needed them most, our city’s brave first responders ran toward danger without hesitation,” de Blasio said. “Officer Vincent Danz and Firefighter Jeffrey Palazzo lived and died in service to our city and our country, and I join the U.S. Coast Guard, NYPD and FDNY in remembering the sacrifices they made to keep us safe. They were heroes, plain and simple, and their spirit will live on through these vessels as they continue to protect our city and nation from harm.” 

The new cutters are scheduled for delivery starting in 2023. FRCs are the mainstay of the Coast Guard’s coastal patrol fleet, providing multimission capabilities and interagency interoperability.

They feature advanced command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment; over-the-horizon cutter boat deployment to reach vessels of interest; and improved habitability and sea-keeping. They are replacing 1980s-era Island-class 110-foot patrol boats. 

BALTIMORE — Northrop Grumman Corp. has delivered its 500th APG-81 fire control radar for the F-35 Lightning II strike fighter, the company said in a release. 

The APG-81 active electronically scanned array is the cornerstone of the F-35’s advanced sensor suite, providing unparalleled battlespace situational awareness that translates into platform lethality, effectiveness and survivability.  

“As a principal member of the Lockheed Martin-led F-35 industry team, our continued investment in facilities and equipment, production enhancements in process and design and expanded supply chain capability through second sourcing helped reach this milestone,” said Chris Fitzpatrick, director of F-35 programs for Northrop Grumman. 

The APG-81 radar has long-range active and passive air-to-air and air-to-ground modes that support a wide range of demanding missions. These modes are enhanced by an array of stealth features as well as electronic warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance functions. 

Northrop Grumman plays a key role in the development, modernization, sustainment and production of the F-35. The company also manufactures the center fuselage and wing skins for the aircraft, produces and maintains several sensor systems, avionics, mission systems and mission-planning software, pilot and maintainer training systems courseware, electronic warfare simulation test capability and low-observable technologies.

SEATTLE — Boeing has delivered the first of nine P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft to the United Kingdom Royal Air Force, the company said in a release. 

The U.K. is acquiring the multimission aircraft through the foreign military sales process with the U.S. Navy. The P-8A Poseidon replaces the U.K.’s retired Nimrod aircraft. 

Speaking to attendees at the delivery ceremony, Air Marshal Andrew Turner, deputy commander of capability for the Royal Air Force, spoke of the “profound challenge” of enemy submarines threatening the U.K. and other nations. 

“P-8 is the key to solving this challenge on the surface, the sub-surface and in the waters of the North Atlantic. There is no place [for our enemies] to hide. We will make the oceans transparent and we will prevail.” 

Boeing formally delivered the aircraft on Oct. 29 to the U.S. Navy during a ceremony at the Boeing Military Delivery Center in Tukwila, Wash. From Tukwila, the aircraft flew to the Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida, where Navy leaders officially are to turn the aircraft over to the U.K. At JAX, Royal Air Force crew will work with the aircraft before flying it to the U.K. in January. All nine P-8A aircraft will be based at Lossiemouth, Scotland. 

As part of a collaborative program with the U.S. Navy, pilots and maintainers from the RAF have been stationed at NAS Jacksonville since 2012. Called “Project Seedcorn,” the arrangement has allowed RAF members to fly the P-8A with Patrol Squadron Thirty (VP-30), the Navy’s maritime patrol and reconnaissance fleet replacement squadron, to maintain their maritime patrol skills in advance of receiving the P-8A. 

The P-8 is a long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft capable of broad-area, maritime and littoral operations. In addition, the P-8 performs humanitarian and search and rescue missions around the globe.

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — In a milestone for the DDG 51 program, the keel of the first Flight III destroyer, the future USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), was ceremoniously laid and authenticated at Huntington Ingalls Shipyard on Nov. 7. 

Ruby Lucas and Catherine B. Reynolds, the ship’s sponsors, authenticated the keel by etching their initials into the keel plate. Although the official start of fabrication for the Lucas began in May 2018, authenticating the ship’s keel symbolically recognizes the joining of modular components and represents the ceremonial beginning of the ship.  

“This destroyer was named after an American hero, Medal of Honor recipient Jack Lucas, and I am humbled and honored to be here today as we authenticate the keel on his namesake ship,” said Capt. Seth Miller, DDG 51 class program manager, PEO Ships. “The Flight III ships will bring increased lethality and warfighting capacity to our warfighters, and today’s milestone is the first of many to come as we work to deliver this highly capable ship to the Fleet.”  

DDG 125 will be the first Arleigh Burke-class destroyer built in the Flight III configuration with improved capability and capacity to perform anti-air warfare and ballistic-missile defense in support of the integrated air and missile defense mission. 

The Flight III design contains modifications from the earlier DDG 51 class, enabling the SPY-6 radar, in association with Aegis Baseline 10, which includes larger electronically scanned arrays and the power generation and cooling equipment required to operate the powerful new radar.  

These multimission surface combatants serve as integral assets in global maritime security, engaging in air, undersea, surface, strike and ballistic missile defense as well as providing increased capabilities in anti-submarine warfare, command and control and anti-surface warfare. 

HII’s Pascagoula shipyard also is building the guided missile destroyers Delbert D. Black (DDG 119), Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121) and Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123), amphibious assault ships Tripoli (LHA 7) and Bougainville (LHA 8) and amphibious transport dock ships Fort Lauderdale (LPD 28) and Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD 29).