The Trim Pump Publication of Ussvi Nebraska Base April 2021
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THE TRIM PUMP PUBLICATION OF USSVI NEBRASKA BASE APRIL 2021 The Trim Pump can now be found at http://www.wildbill631g.com/ ********************************************************************************************** Starting next year I have decided that I will no longer mail any hard copies of the TRIM PUMP. This one will be the last hard copy. The TRIM PUMP can be obtained on my website http://www.wildbill631g.com/ or emailed to you. Email me at [email protected] ********************************************************************************* What a 'bumping' incident 33 years ago says about the a similar one in the Black Sea in 1986 — and the Soviets US Navy's future showdowns with Russia and China usually reacted by shadowing US ships and lodging protests Christopher Woody, Business Insider, February 16 afterward. But the 1988 encounter "was somewhat of a seminal A close encounter between US and Soviet warships in event," James Foggo, who commanded US naval forces in the Black Sea more than 30 years ago has new relevance amid Europe until retiring as an admiral in 2020, said last year. rising tensions between the US and Russia and China, which While it wasn't unprecedented, word of it did spread through are fielding larger and more capable navies. the Navy, Jerry Hendrix, a retired Navy captain, told Insider The February 12, 1988, incident began with Navy this month. cruiser USS Yorktown and destroyer USS Caron conducting Despite the danger inherent in physical contact between ships, what the US called an innocent passage — transiting a state's there was a high degree of professionalism on display, Hendrix territorial waters without conducting military operations — off said. of Crimea. An innocent passage requires the passing ship, the US The US ships "entered the 12-mile limit claimed by vessels in this case, to maintain course and speed, while the the Soviet Union as part of a Navy policy of occasionally onus was on the Soviets "to make contact with the Americans asserting the right of passage in waters exceeding the 3-mile in the safest manner possible and then attempt to use their own territorial limit recognized by the United States," The New mass, their engines, and their rudders to move the American York Times reported at the time. out of the way," Hendrix said. The ships entered Soviet territorial waters near "We were able to maintain ... our course despite the fact the Sevastopol — Caron about 7 miles off the coast and Yorktown Soviets were trying to move us out" of their waters, Hendrix about 10 miles — around mid-morning and sailed eastward. said. Within minutes, Soviet frigate Bezzavetnyy intercepted 'They're doing their homework' Yorktown, while Soviet frigate SKR-6 intercepted Caron. Both The 1988 incident prompted the US and the Soviets to reach ships, smaller than their US counterparts, told the Americans several agreements regarding potentially dangerous encounters to leave Soviet waters or they would "strike" them. at sea. (They agreed in 1972 to limit a maneuver known as Around 10 a.m., SKR-6 "bumped" Caron, scraping the "shouldering," which caused numerous collisions.) paint on the US ship's hull. Minutes later, Bezzavetnyy did the In the 1990s and 2000s, concern within the Navy same to Yorktown, causing minor damage to its hull and to about another such encounter was "almost negative," due to the two of its Harpoon missile launchers, while the Soviet ship's size of the US fleet and its ships, as well as other navies' shift starboard anchor was torn away. to smaller ships, Hendrix said. With the Soviets close by, the US warships continued In recent years, however, as the Russian and Chinese their transit, leaving Soviet waters around noon without further navies have grown and tensions with those countries have encounters. risen, the risk of a repeat has increased. Transits through areas controlled or claimed by US CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 rivals are a long-standing mission — Yorktown and Caron did How the U.S. Military Can Compete with The same technologies . you investigate at I/ITSEC (Simulation and Training) are the ones that will allow us to Russia and China's New Weapons move to an agile and adaptive acquisition framework and Kris Osborn, National Interest, December 1 be much more agile,” Shaffer said in the essay. “Digital The pace at which China is adding carriers, engineering, digitization, modular open systems destroyers and amphibious ships is staggering, the Russians architecture and model composability are all key within the reportedly already operate hypersonic missiles and possibly I/ITSEC community They’re also the bedrock for an agile even satellite-launched missiles and both Iran and North acquisition framework and will provide us the tools we Korea seek advanced nuclear weapons such as need to cut development time,” he said. intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and tactical Shaffer went on to explain that simulation can also nuclear-armed rockets. assist weapons development through wargaming and threat China is already working on a second and third assessments, the kinds of exercises that test and assess indigenous carrier and plans to double its fleet of destroyers advanced Red (enemy) forces against Blue (friendly) within just the next five years. Russia and China have both forces. made fast progress modernizing their respective nuclear “We should be able to do a much better job in arsenals. assessing to be fit for purpose by use of simulation and the All of these well-known realities continue to performance of red versus blue systems and simulators to provide new urgency to the longstanding refrain that the really understand how what we are going to buy in the U.S. military is in desperate need of more effective Department of Defense will operate in a real world,” he acquisition reform. The idea, which has actually circulated said. for decades as a huge, yet largely unrealized priority, may ************************************************ actually be happening now thanks to computer simulation, FROM PAGE 1 digital engineering and rapid prototyping. "Tensions in the Black Sea today are actually very high The Pentagon has, finally, actually re-written its again," Lyle Goldstein, a research professor and expert on famous Defense Department 5000 acquisition procedural naval warfare at the US Naval War College, told Insider and legal manual. The specifics of the rewrite might not as this month. of yet be available, yet the development is likely a welcome Russia's 2014 seizure of Crimea added another move for many who have been seeking to streamline maritime dimension to those tensions. lengthy acquisition milestones often unnecessarily set apart "If Ukrainians, obviously, have a claim to Crimea, by years. and we dispute Russia's claim to Crimea, then whether we While no one is advocating any move to cut consider the waters off of Crimea to be within the territorial corners or decrease the effectiveness of weapons waters ... becomes a rather thorny legal issue," Goldstein development, the idea is to leverage newer technologies, said. realize the competitive global environment, and move new US and Russian ships have had close encounters platforms to completion on an expedited, massively elsewhere, but Russian actions in the Black Sea are accelerated basis. This is already happening, as the Air reminiscent of the 1988 incident, Foggo said last year. Force’s prototype sixth-generation stealth fighter has taken The Russians "really have not changed. They've not to the sky years ahead of schedule. embraced international organizations, institutions, The intent is not so much to circumvent essential standards, and norms," Foggo said. procedures, safeguards and certifications, but rather to In the South China Sea, China is pressing concurrently accomplish numerous functions, which have sweeping claims that numerous countries and an previously been spaced years apart and often stalled by international tribunal have rejected. The US frequently cumbersome, bureaucratic and sometimes unnecessary conducts freedom-of-navigation operations to challenge traditional acquisition procedures. those claims. How is all this happening? Rapid advancements in During one such operation by Navy destroyer USS Decatur digital engineering, for example, enable the Pentagon’s in 2018, a Chinese warship came within 45 yards of weapons developers to assess multiple design models of Decatur's bow. Navy footage showed Chinese sailors new systems such as new ICBMs, stealth fighters or even preparing for a collision. armored vehicles through digital computer modeling Repeats of the 1988 incident are "very likely in without having to spend years building and testing multiple coming years," Hendrix said, pointing to China's competing prototypes. This technique is not only gaining investment in the 10,000-ton Type 055-class guided-missile traction but already producing substantial results. destroyer, which is longer than and displaces more than It is on the way to being used in an even greater most US Navy ships, and in the Haixun, a coast guard capacity, Alan R. Shaffer, the Pentagon’s Deputy patrol ship of similar size. Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and China's coast guard, one of its frontline forces in Sustainment, said at the National Defense Industrial contested waters, has harassed US ships and commercial Association's virtual Interservice/Industry Training vessels. Haixun's design suggests more to come. "There's (I/ITSEC), Simulation and Education Conference, no reason to have a Coast Guard cutter that size, except to according to a Pentagon report. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 STRATCOM: U.S. Needs ‘Broader-Based Strategic Smith said at the time. “We have a nuclear arsenal that still Review’ To Assess Threats envisions ‘winning’ a nuclear war; alright, that’s what I find insane.” Mallory Shelbourne, USNI News, January 5 Speaking during today’s call, Richard posited that The United States should conduct a new broad deterrence also requires a holistic approach. strategic review to evaluate global threats and determine its “There’s no such thing as nuclear deterrence all by strategy, the head of U.S.