Category Archives: USN

Latest Freedom Class LCS USS Nantucket for Port visit

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USS Nantucket, LCS-27 arrived in Halifax for a port visit, while on her delivery trip from the builders in Wisconsin.

To date, only LCS-19, USS St. Louis has skipped Halifax, Due to her delivery trip occurring during the Pandemic. There remain 2 more Freedom class LCS’s to be delivered, USS Beloit and USS Cleveland (LCS-31)

Previous ships of the class to stop ave included:
USS Freedom – Nov 2008
USS Fort Worth – Aug 2012
USS Milwaukee – Dec 2015
USS Detroit – Nov 2016
USS Little Rock – April 2018
USS Billings – July 2019
USS Sioux City – Nov 2019 (missed this one)
USS Witchita – Nov 2019
USS Indianapolis – Nov 2019 (Missed this one too)
USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul – June 2022
USS Marinette – Stopped in Oct 2023. (missed it)
USS Cooperstown – November 2022.

Photo to follow.

Fleet Week Review

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Generally i was pretty happy with fleet week, for a first event. The ship selection could have been better, and it would have been better if the week, was actually a week, and not just 4 days.

The American Ship had a not so long line, that took forever to get through, and some signage indicating it was the line for the US Ship only would have been Helpful. (also there was no shade, and the line looked to be around waste containers, and a transformer vent made part of the line quite loud.

Beyond that, Freddy was disorganized, and the Moncton’s gang plank was way to steep.

More in the Video Above.

Fleet Week Visits

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With the first ever fleet week taking place later this week, we have some updates. Yesterday saw the arrival of HMS Portland to the dockyard. USS Porter is due tomorrow.

The Halifax Fleet week tour schedule has been Released, with ships open 9-4 Friday and Saturday. Note that HMS Portland is currently scheduled to only be open Friday. Access to the dockyard is via HMCS Scotian, next to the Casino

HMCS Fredericton @ Tall Ships Quay.
HMCS Moncton @ Sackville Landing
HMCS Glace Bay @ Alderney Landing
USS Porter @ HMC Dockyard
HMS Portland @ HMC Dockyard
HMCS Margaret Brooke @ HMC Dockyard.

I suspect there will be more then 2 foreign vessels participating in the Cutlass Fury exercise, as the original release indicated French and German vessels, as well as USS James E. Williams. If the Tour list is expanded, I will keep this post updated.

Sunday Noon to 1300 is the Sail Past as the ships head out for Cutlass Fury.

UPDATE: Additional Cutlass Fury arrivals Friday morning 0830-0900 at Pilot station: Destroyer USS James E Williams and Supply ship USNS William Mclean, both heading for the dockyard. An unnamed USN nuclear submarine is also due for shearwater.

the USNS William Mclean (Above) is a Lewis and Clark dry supply ship, and is named after the Navy Physicist who developed the sidewinder missile.

The exercise will conclude on the 22nd, and some ships will return to Halifax then.

USS Oscar Austin for Port Visit

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USS Oscar Austin put in for a Port visit this morning tieing up at the dockyard jetty NB next to the Casino. The ship is the 29th Arligh Burke class destroyer, and the first of the Flight IIA variant. She was commissioned in August 2000.

USS Oscar Austin is homeported in Norfolk. ship was named after Pfc. Oscar P. Austin, U.S. Marine Corps, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions during the Vietnam War.

the ship visited St John’s last week.

Halifax Gets a Fleet Week

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Yesterday it was announced that the first Halifax Fleet week would be taking place Sept 7-10, coinciding with the biannual Cutlass Fury Exercise.

The week will feature a number of ships open to the public on Friday and Saturday Including an AOPS, HMCS Margaret Brooke as well as Naval vessels from the US (USS Porter and USS James E. Williams both Arleigh Burke Class Destroyers), UK, France and Germany.

The event will end on Sunday at noon with a Parade out to sea to mark the start of the Exercise.

More Details can be found at hfxfleetweek.ca

** why does the fleet week logo use a Battle Ship?
UPDATE: I spotted this Amazing Fleet week patch on IG. so much better.

USS Cooperstown (LCS 23) brief visit.

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The latest Freedom class LCS, USS Cooperstown (LCS 23) stopped in Halifax yesterday for about 8 hours. the ship arrived in the morning and sailed from the dockyard at 4:30.

The freedom class LCS program has been beset by a number of issues, including problems with the combining gear that connect the diesel engines and the turbines to the shafts, given the location of that combining gear, the navy has mothballed many of the early ships of the class, as the repair is too costly.

USS Gerald R Ford

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The USS Gerald R. Ford offered a media availability yesterday, which i had the privilege to attend. All manner of tour boats, and a Halifax transit ferry were pressed into service to move people form the carrier to shore and back, including tour vessels from Oak Island and Lunenburg – sort of a mini Dunkirk.

The carrier is designed for stern boarding, and a barge was used as a floating dock. from there, its up two flights to the hanger deck.

Those doors lead to the hanger deck.

The flight deck is several flights of stairs up from the hanger deck.

(below) the view form vultures alley, the lowest balcony on the tower.

Most of the Air wing looked to be on deck, and was made up up of F-18 hornets. This one had a kill; a SU-22 in 2017.

(above) E-2 Hawkeye (below) SH-60 seahawk (which is the naval variant of a blackhawk)

As Part of the Media availability, various officials spoke of the the importance of the deployment, both to test the Ford, but also to hone interoperability between navies, and show that nato can work together as a unified force.

The Ford has on board a liaison officer from each of the participating navies. (Denmark, Netherlands, Germany and Spain. These officers also spoke to the importance of the work

A full gallery of the tour can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/hfxshippingnews/albums/72177720303273562/page1

The Strike group is set to depart Tuesday. HMCS Montreal and NRU Asterix will be joining the group.

Carriers

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HMS Prince of Wales, the UK’s second aircraft carrier sailed for a North American Deployment a couple of days ago. On the way out of Portsmouth, it appears the ship may have struck bottom, and suffered an issue with her Starboard shaft or propeller. She is now at anchor, undergoing inspections.

HMS Prince of Wales was reportedly due to visit Halifax this fall, and under go some exercises with a US Carrier Group.

This brings us to the C-2 greyhound, the US Navy’s carrier capable cargo plane, a variant of the E-2 Hawkeye, the plane features a bigger body, but same engines, tail and wings. This particular plane arrived at YHZ yesterday from Norfolk, and returned this afternoon. Flying as Rawhd75, the plane belongs to VRC-40 rawhides squadron.

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