Month: January 2024

Source: United States Navy

The Ticonderoga-class guided missile destroyer USS Normandy, a part of the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group (CSG) transited the Strait of Gibraltar and entered the Atlantic Ocean on Jan. 5, 2024.

Normandy entered the 6th Fleet area of operations in June 2023 to support the Ford CSG on its inaugural deployment.

Normandy and the Ford CSG worked extensively with regional allies and partners over the course of deployment to demonstrate the U.S. and NATO commitment to maritime security in Europe and Africa. In addition to conducting air defense exercises to increase interoperability with allies, Normandy and the Ford CSG provided a persistent stabilizing force in the Eastern Mediterranean following the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel by Hamas.

“Transiting the Strait of Gibraltar is a time-honored rite of passage for military and civilian mariners alike,” said Lt. Donald Luchau, ship’s navigator. “The Strait guards access to the Mediterranean Sea, one of the most significant operating areas for the U.S. Navy. With its close proximity to land, and high traffic density, bridge watch standers are tasked with the highest levels of bridge resource management, ship-handling, and navigation to undertake this important milestone.”

The strait is 7.7 nautical miles wide at its narrowest point with heavy traffic consisting of ferries, merchants and fishing boats from both continents.

“I have served onboard Normandy for seven years and this will be my tenth time crossing through the Strait,” said Fire Controlman (AEGIS) 1st Class Calvin Espich. “Even though I have done it so many times, I always come up topside to watch the view.”

The Ford CSG is currently on an 8-month deployment to support maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts.

The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group is comprised of its flagship and namesake, the Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW-8), Destroyer Squadron Two (DESRON-2), the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG-60), and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Ramage (DDG 61), USS McFaul (DDG 74), and USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116). The squadrons of CVW-8 embarked aboard Gerald R. Ford are the “Tridents” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 9, the “Spartans” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 70, the “Bear Aces” of Airborne Command and Control Squadron (VAW) 124, the “Ragin’ Bulls” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 37, the “Blacklions” of VFA-213, the “Golden Warriors” of VFA-87, the “Tomcatters” of VFA-31, the “Gray Wolves” of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 142, and the “Rawhides” of Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VRC) 40.

Source: United States Navy

The U.S. Navy’s largest and most advanced aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), and embarked staff from Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 12, transited the Strait of Gibraltar and exited the Mediterranean Sea after conducting operations in the U.S. Sixth Fleet area of operations, Jan. 5, 2024.

Since June, Ford has conducted training, exercises, and operations in the U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command areas of responsibility in support of maritime stability and security in defense of U.S., Allied, and partner interests.

“Throughout our time in the Mediterranean, the ship and crew both performed remarkably.  Our sailors breathed life into the ship’s advanced technologies to demonstrate the extraordinary capabilities Ford-class carriers will provide to future generations,” said Capt. Rick Burgess, commanding officer of Ford.  “At the height of our readiness and proficiency, we were called to the Eastern Med, and proved to be the right ship at the right time to answer our nation’s calling.  The Gerald R. Ford is everything our nation hoped it would be, and more.”

The Strait of Gibraltar connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean and is one of the busiest waterways in the world, with approximately 300 ships crossing the Strait every day. Completing this transit and entering the Atlantic Ocean is a major milestone and one of the last scheduled operations of Gerald R. Ford’s 8-month deployment.

Gerald R. Ford is the U.S. Navy’s newest and most advanced aircraft carrier. As the first-in-class ship of Ford-class aircraft carriers, CVN 78 represents a generational leap in the U.S. Navy’s capacity to project power on a global scale. Ford-class aircraft carriers introduce 23 new technologies, including Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, Advanced Arresting Gear and Advanced Weapons Elevators. The new systems incorporated onto Ford-class ships are designed to deliver greater lethality, survivability and joint interoperability with a 20% smaller crew than a Nimitz-class carrier, paving the way forward for naval aviation.

The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group (GRFCSG) is conducting a scheduled deployment in U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. Sixth Fleet area of operations, demonstrating the commitment and power projection capability of the Navy’s globally deployed force. The GRFCSG provides an inherently flexible naval force capable of deploying across combatant commands to meet emerging missions, deter potential adversaries, reassure allies and partners, enhance security and guarantee the free flow of global commerce. In total, the GRFCSG is deployed with more than 5,000 Sailors across all platforms ready to respond globally to combatant commander tasking.

The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group consists of Carrier Strike Group 12, Carrier Air Wing 8, Destroyer Squadron 2, USS Normandy (CG 60), USS Ramage (DDG 61), USS McFaul (DDG 74), and USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116).

Headquartered in Naples, Italy, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. Sixth Fleet operates U.S. naval forces in the U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) and U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) areas of responsibility. U.S. Sixth Fleet is permanently assigned to NAVEUR-NAVAF, and employs maritime forces through the full spectrum of joint and naval operations. Our persistent presence in Europe is in accordance with our international commitments and agreements and is necessary to reassure our Allies and Partners of our commitment to collective defense.

Source: United States Navy

Extraordinarily rugged with a melting temperature of several thousand degrees Fahrenheit. That describes the results of research into new ceramic materials sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and recently published in the Journal Nature.

A research team, led by ONR’s Principal Investigator, Dr. Stefano Curtarolo, Duke University, developed a computational method for creating new types of ceramics using transition metals – carbonitrides or borides – through a process called Disordered Enthalpy-Entropy Descriptor (DEED).

The applications are endless, said Dr. Eric Wuchina, a research materials engineer who was the program officer with ONR’s Sea Warfare and Weapons department when Curtarolo’s research team was awarded the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI).

“Wuchina said. “Now we can help design any material for high voltage, breakdown resistance for strength, for high temperature capability, for high or low thermal conductivities – a variety of things that you can do because of the thermodynamic database that Professor Curtarolo has been putting together for the last 20-25 years.”

Curtarolo’s team maintains the Duke Automatic-FLOW for Materials Database (AFLOW)—a database that allows algorithms to accurately predict the properties of unexplored mixtures without having create them in the laboratory.

“We’ve used the same iron, copper, nickel and other alloys throughout history and just added stuff in to change the properties,” Wuchina said. “Rather than limit ourselves to just 10 chemical elements, this allows us to look at the whole periodic table of 100 elements – and to look at a variety of different compositions.”

According to Wuchina, the variety of new compositions could create potentially millions of new materials.

“Professor Curtarolo has developed the ability to for us to look at a wide variety of materials and potential materials that have never been made and predict what their properties are going to be. And then how to make real materials out of those for applications for specific applications.”

So far, DEED has predicted 900 possible new formulations of high-performance materials – 17 of which have already been successfully created in laboratories.

Instead of focusing solely on the orderly atomic structure of conventional materials, Curtarolo’s team worked to develop the predictive properties of “high-entropy” materials – that is, materials that could be created through a chaotic mixture of atoms.

“The high-entropy carbides all had a relatively uniform amount of enthalpy, so we could ignore part of the equation,” Curtarolo said. “But to predict new ceramic recipes with other transition metals, we had to address the enthalpy.”

Enthalpy is a measure of the sturdiness of a design while entropy is the number of possible designs that have similar strength. Curtarolo’s computational method not only calculates what elements need to go into creating a ceramic for a certain application, but how to arrange the microstructure – the atoms – so that it has also high temperature capabilities.

“Typically to get higher or lower thermal conductivity you will use a ceramic,” Wuchina said. “You might make it a little more porous so that it has better insulating properties, right? Well, how do you do that without harming the mechanical properties?”

That’s what makes Curtarolo’s research and computational method so unique. It allows him to predict how different compounds will behave and to what applications these new compounds would be best suited.

Wuchina said. “The DEED process can capture and develop a wide range of materials and the materials properties that we don’t have now, and it allows us to use computational tools to tell us what compositions and what microstructures are best and how to make them. And that’s something that has historically been trial and error.”

The results of Curtarolo’s research were published online, Jan. 3, in the journal Nature, which includes contributions from collaborators at Penn State University, the Missouri University of Science and Technology, North Carolina State University and the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Source: United States Navy

The MCA is designed to support our longstanding partnership between the two militaries and further advance combined capabilities in the maritime domain.

During the two-day event, the allied forces will sail together and participate in enhanced planning and advanced maritime communication operations.

“Our strike group welcomes the opportunity to conduct maritime activities,” said Rear Adm. Carlos Sardiello, CSG-1 commander. “Sailing and operating together demonstrates our commitment to improving our interoperability and information sharing with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, to enhance our ability to coordinate on maritime domain awareness and other shared security interests.”

Participating ships include USS Carl Vinson, Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59), Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Kidd (DDG 100) and USS Sterett (DDG 104); Gregorio del Pilar-class offshore patrol vessels BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PS-15), BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PS-16), and Tarlac-class landing platform dock BRP Davao del Sur (LD-602) of the PN.

The U.S. Navy regularly conducts exercises like these to strengthen ties among allied and partner nations. These exercises enhance combined readiness and capabilities in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific.

The strike group departed San Diego on Oct. 12 for a scheduled deployment to the Western Pacific. Since entering the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations, CSG-1 participated in the Multi-Large Deck Event and Annual Exercise 2023 in the Philippine Sea. These exercises provided opportunities to collaborate with allied forces such as the Royal Australian Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, and JMSDF to further strengthen regional cooperative efforts.

CSG-1 is a multiplatform team of ships and aircraft, capable of carrying out a wide variety of missions around the globe from combat missions to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief response. CSG-1 is currently deployed to U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific.

U.S. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy’s largest forward-deployed numbered fleet and routinely interacts and operates with allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

For more news from CSG 1, visit http://www.dvidshub.net/unit/CSG1

Source: United States Navy

This year’s symposium featured four guest speakers, expert panels, and question-and-answer sessions for the region’s Foreign Area Officers (FAOs) to discuss mutual challenges and opportunities, get the latest information on strategy, operations and exercises, and learn more about the Navy’s strategic competition with the People’s Republic of China and U.S. 4th Fleet’s campaign to inform the hybrid fleet.

The first guest speaker was Ambassador James Story, who most recently served as U.S. Ambassador for the Venezuela Affairs Unit, located at the United States Embassy in Bogotá, Colombia, and is currently a State Department Fellow at Georgetown University. Other guest speakers included Dr. Miles Yu, Professor of East Asia and Military History at the U.S. Naval Academy, Lt. Gen. David Bellon, Commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve and U.S. Marine Corps Forces South, and Mr. Chris Diaz, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro’s Chief of Staff.

“We brought in dynamic speakers who gave our Navy Foreign Area Officers (FAOs) much to think about as they return to their respective countries,” said Cmdr. Stephanie Lastinger, U.S. 4th Fleet Theater Security Cooperation (TSC) Director. “They serve on the front lines of strategic competition, and are successfully advancing American interests abroad.”

Participants were able to learn more about and provide input to staffers planning the upcoming Southern Seas and Continuing Promise deployments, which will feature USS George Washington (CVN 73) and USNS Burlington (T-EPF 10) deploying to the region next year. They also heard from Cmdr. David Edwards, U.S. 4th Fleet’s Technology and Innovation Director, who briefed Operation Windward Stack, the Fleet’s current operation in the Caribbean.

We are operationalizing technology in a campaign of learning where sometimes we win and sometimes we learn,” said Cmdr. Edwards. “We are sharing our results with the other fleets already and look forward to integrating hybrid fleet information with our partners.”

“This year’s symposium provided all of our FAOs, service providers, and stakeholders an opportunity to spend time together and develop relationships which will help them get better as members of their respective U.S. country teams,” said Rear Adm. Rich Lofgren, USNAVSOUTH/FOURTHFLT Reserve Vice Commander. “We know the critical work our FAOs perform in making the U.S. the maritime partner of choice in the Caribbean, Central and South America.”

U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet supports U.S. Southern Command’s joint and combined military operations by employing maritime forces in cooperative maritime security operations to maintain access, enhance interoperability, and build enduring partnerships in order to enhance regional security and promote peace, stability and prosperity in the Caribbean, Central and South American region.

Learn more about USNAVSOUTH/4th Fleet at https://www.fourthfleet.navy.mil, https://www.facebook.com/NAVSOUS4THFLT and @NAVSOUS4THFLT.