Well, Now.

Celebrity Cruises Names First-Ever American Female Cruise Ship Captain

For the first time in the cruise industry history, an American female ship captain will take the helm of a giant cruise ship.

Celebrity Cruises said Monday that San Francisco native Kate McCue will command the Celebrity Summit, a 91,000 ton, 965-foot ship sailing between the U.S. east coast and Bermuda. 

Congratulations to Captain McCue, and a very special congratulation to the (no doubt liberal, tolerant, and socially minded) executives running Celebrity for finally reaching a milestone the US Navy managed 25 year ago.

Nice, Thick Irony

Fromm Watts Up With That:

WUWT and WeatherBell help KUSI-TV with a weather forecasting request from ice-trapped ship in Antarctica Akademik Shokalskiy

Today, while shopping at lunchtime for some last minute year end supplies, I got one of the strangest cell-phone calls ever. It was from my friend John Coleman, the founder of the Weather Channel and Chief meteorologist at KUSI-TV in San Diego. He was calling via cell phone from his car, and he was on his way into the TV station early.

He started off by saying, “Anthony, we have a really strange situation here”.

Then to my surprise, he relayed a conversation he had just had; a person on the Akademik Shokalskiy had reached out, because they didn’t have adequate weather data on-board. At first, I thought John was pulling my leg, but then as he gave more details, I realized he was serious.

They were looking for weather information on wind and sea-ice breakup.  Mr. Watts handled it with grace and alacrity.

My first thought was that no matter how much we’ve been criticizing the expedition for its silliness, that if such a request had reached all the way from Antarctica to me, I’d do everything I could to help...

I immediately called Joe D’Aleo at WeatherBell, who was as incredulous as I at the request, and asked him to call John Coleman right away. I explained to him that we had to remember that we were dealing with a Russian ship, not a military ship, but a charter vessel and they likely didn’t have all the tools that American meteorologists had and may not even know where to look for better data. I also pointed out that the Australian scientists on-board were climatologists, and not operational weather forecasters, and finding this sort of weather data probably wasn’t in their skill set.

As one commenter pointed out:

Interesting who folks turn to when truth is required to save their behinds. Not at all the same as when the world is a stage and “winning the conversation” is what passies for “reality”.

For Persons of a Certain Age

"The Looove Boat, soon will be making..." its final run.

Unfortunately, it's not headed for Fantasy Island...

The MS Pacific, a cruise ship made famous by its appearance in the popular U.S. 1970s television show “The Love Boat,” has sailed its final voyage to a ship-breaking yard on Turkey’s Aegean Sea coast, a shipping group said on Wednesday.

Called the Pacific Princess when it was on the long-running comedy, the iconic 13,500-tonne, 171-m-long (561-foot-) vessel will be stripped for its metal and parts, said Ersin Ceviker of the Ship Recyclers’ Association of Turkey.

If you happen to be of a certain age, I suspect that you are probably already humming the theme... so you might as well enjoy:

Do They Come With A Free Yugo?

Navy Littoral Combat Ship Needs More Scrutiny, House Panel Says

Lawmakers said today they have “serious questions” about the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship after a Government Accountability Office report recommended slowing construction for further testing.

Well, that would seem like a good thing.

“The strategy has been ‘Buy before fly,’” said Paul Francis, the GAO’s managing director of acquisition and sourcing management, who testified at today’s hearing. “It is a ship in full-rate production, but its operational effectiveness will not be demonstrated for years to come. That’s where we are today.” 

Most of the planned 52 ships will already be under contract or built by the time operational testing is completed in 2019, he said.

Why, yes.  We're shelling out over $25 billion for four dozen ships that will totes work.  Eventually.

Francis said the Navy should consider buying the ship only in “minimum quantities” until enough testing is completed to prove its effectiveness. 

Sean Stackley, the Navy’s assistant secretary for research, development and acquisition, rejected the GAO’s advice, saying any pause in construction would increase costs and delay needed testing. 

“Now is not the time to slow the program,” Stackley told the panel. “This is our most affordable warship program.”

It's underpowered, undermanned, and essentially useless... but hey, at least it's cheap!

You know what else is cheap, Mr. Stackley?

Not building additional ships until you know they meet requirements.

Unfortunately, that's not the way bureaucracy works.

As a friend noted recently, "You know how it is. People don't react well to 'Don't just do something; stand there!'"

From The Earth To Low-Earth Orbit

Project HARP

Project HARP (High Altitude Research Project) was a joint initiative between the United States and Canada to research the use of ballistics to deliver objects into the upper atmosphere and beyond.

In lay terms, the project was established to create a cartoonishly large gun to shoot things into space. The sole fruit of this partnership, a massive toppled gun barrel, still remains on the Barbados test site.

One of the pictures from the piece:

Now, that's a gun... a 100 caliber monster based off of a  U.S. Navy 16 inch gun. Yes, they started the project with a battleship gun capable of launching two and a half tons 23 miles, and then scaled it up.  Way up.

Wikipedia, of course, has a good bit of information as well: 

Started in 1961, HARP was created largely due to lobbying from Gerald Bull, a controversial but highly successful ballistics engineer who went on to head the project...

Bull's ultimate goal was to fire a payload into space from a gun, and many have suggested that the ballistics study was offered simply to gain funding. While the speed was not nearly enough to reach orbit (less than half of the 9,000 m/s delta-v required to reach Low Earth Orbit), it was a major achievement at much lower cost than most ballistic missile programs.

For more detail - a lot more detail - you can read "A Brief History of the HARP Project" at Encyclopedia Aeronautica.  It's a fascinating story of strong personalities, politics, and engineering.

Unfortunately, after the HARP project was canceled, Bull decided to work with South Africa and Iraq on a successor project.  Needless to say, this did not end well for him.  As noted by Wikipedia:

The March 1990 assassination of Bull (allegedly at the hands of the Israeli Mossad or the Iranian VEVAK intelligence agency) in his Brussels apartment, and the 1991 Gulf War ended the project.

Yo Ho Ho

Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats.

– H. L. Mencken

If you find yourself in agreement with Mr. Mencken this Monday morning, then you might be interested in this posting I can across at gCaptain - a Pirate Ship for Sale:

A customized Gibson houseboat up for sale in St. Louis.

Built on 50' 1988 Gibson houseboat. Brand new twin 454s, Kohler generator, V drives. Holds 30 people, looks like a Hollywood set! Great as a live aboard...and an AWESOME party boat! 2 bedrooms and 2 baths. Just surveyed for $110,00, will sell for $79,000 - trades considered.

If you're interested, the Craigslist entry includes a phone number, and a snappy photo:

If you're willing to spend more (on the order of three-quarters of a million), then there's an much more authentic ship available in Honduras.  The total package includes six bronze cannons, but no pirates.  There was no mention of colors, but I'm assuming that you'll be expected to provide your own black flag.

Finally, if money really is no object, you may be in the market for the fully restored S/V Miraka.  No cannons and no pirates, but an interesting history:

S/V Miraka was built in Hong Kong by American Marine, also known as Grand Banks.  She is a Hugh Angleman/Charles Davies design  "Mayflower Ketch".

She is #8 in a series of 10 ships constructed  between 1957 and 1962.  Her completion was in 1961.  She was commissioned  by and delived to actor Neville Brand, her most celebrated owner who is well known for his roll in the "Birdman of Alcatraz" playing the prison warden and  rolls in many other famous films and TV programs.  She became our passion in 1992, and was discovered moored in  Friday Harbor, Washington in her original condition and in need of someone to love her.  From that day to now she has been completely restored from the keel to the top of the mast.  For 7 years she was constantly being refurbished by Galmukoff Marine in Port Townsend, Wa.  who employed only the best shipwrights and artisans available.  Wooden Boats such as Miraka require only the finest craftsmen available and they are to be found in the wooden boat capital of the West in Port Townsend.

Definitely the most beautiful of the lot, even though technically she was never really a pirate ship...

China (Naval) Air

China Plans New Generation of Carriers as Sea Disputes Grow

(Bloomberg) — China unveiled plans to build more aircraft carriers after commissioning its first last year, as the country extends its influence amid territorial disputes with neighbors including Japan and Vietnam.

As expected, their first carrier - a refurbished Soviet unit - is just a stepping stone to developing their own carrier fleet.

“This only adds publicly to what many believed to be the case: that the Liaoning is a training or ‘starter’ carrier and eventually China would build larger and more capable ones,” Taylor Fravel, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who focuses on China’s relations with its neighbors, said by e-mail. “It suggests that today’s PLA is much more confident than in the past regarding its willingness to talk about future military programs.”

You Hacked My Battleship!

Littoral Combat Ship Network Can Be Hacked, Navy Probe Finds

(Bloomberg) — The computer network on the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship is vulnerable to hacking, according to findings by Navy cybersecurity specialists.

I'm assuming it must be a remote vulnerability, though they don't mention it or classify it as such.

In any case... oy.

Update: As friend in the Navy pointed out, this really isn't that big of a deal, since "... the thing has no freaking sensors or weapons anyway."  True dat.

"Can you tell us where the nuclear wessels are?"

Live Ships Map - AIS - Vessel Traffic and Positions

Vessel positions tracking based on AIS data. Real-time ship locations and port arrivals departures

Very cool use of Google maps.  From the FAQ:

How is the data collected? 

Our base stations are equipped with an AIS receiver, a PC and an Internet connection. The AIS unit receives data, which are processed by simple software on the PC and then sent to a central database by means of a ‘web service’. This software is free for anyone interested, under a GNU license. (Read section 'Cover your Area' for more information on how to install your own AIS base station). 

...

 

How is this information displayed on this site? 

The central database receives and processes a large amount of data and stores the most important part of it. It also includes port and area geographic information, vessel photos and other information. Vessels current positions and/or tracks are displayed on a map, using the Google’s map API. Position history, vessel’s details, port conditions and statistics are searchable through our web pages. 

And You Thought Printer INK Was Expensive...

Need Ships? Try a 3-D Printed Navy

Tomorrow's Navy could use 3-D printers on a vast scale, printing everything from food to spare parts, and building vast “biomining” ships that harvest resources -- if the service listens to two of its lieutenants.

If you give an LT a fabber, he's going to ask for an AI to go with it.

If you give him an AI, then he'll insist that he also needs an annie plant to run them both.

If you give them an annie plant...

World Discoverer

World Discoverer

Abandoned World Discoverer Ship in Roderick Bay, Nggela Islands, Solomon Islands, Oceania.

More images at the link...

It's A Bird! It's A Plane! No...

It's a ship.  On stilts.

UAE rig-builder Lamprell announced today the successful of construction of the wind turbine installation vessel, Windcarrier 2 “Bold Tern.”

That is just plain freaking awesome.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

Boo yeah!

How to Avoid Huge Ships

Yes, there is a book on How to Avoid Huge Ships.

If it were a treatise written by a gonnagle of the Nac Mac Feegle, you could quite logically assume that it was an explanation of how it is generally easier to make off with a lamb than an ewe.  However, this particular instructional manual was apparently written by a captain of a larger vessel who, after years of experience at sea, determined that the education of most small ship mariners was somewhat... deficient... in this particular area.

It looks like it has pretty pictures and everything!

This is not a pointer to the book, though, noble as it might be.

This is a pointer to the comments about the book.

Go now.  Go to Amazon.  Read the comments.

You may want to put down your coffee first.

Linked List

Glanced at briefly, filed away for future reading, and presented here for your edutainment.

• In 2010, there were ~ 64 births per 1000 women aged 15-44.  In 2009, there were ~ 15.1 abortions per 1000 women in the same age range.  That is one child in five.  Population growth in the US would be at (or close to) self-sustaining levels, absent abortion.
• Obama to Create Mass Organization Devoted to Obama.  No mention of whether or not they will have snappy new uniforms.  Maybe something with a nice brown shirt.
• In the last two months, Americans have bought enough guns to outfit the entire Chinese and Indian armies.   Srsly.  That's a lot of guns.  No mention of whether or not brown coat sales are up.
• Fifty Life Hacks to Simplify Your World.
• Chinese bloggers wonder whether religion is the secret to democracy. Meanwhile, there is rising discontent in China as their middle class continues to grow.  I believe it was Aretae who pointed out that freedom is a luxury good...
• Of course, before there is any effective political change in China, they will need leaders who are willing to make that change.  The indication seems to be that this may be the case.  Oh, and it would help if they could avoid a war with Japan.

The Purton Ship Graveyard

The Purton Ship Graveyard

The banks of the river Severn have historically suffered from erosion by the tide. Between 1909 and 1965 redundant and unwanted vessels were beached on the foreshore and allowed to fill with silt.

Fascinating pictures at Flickr; more information available at The Purton Barge Graveyard site.

When Government Fails...

... as it inevitably does, well.  Then people step up to do what needs to be done.

New Private Navy Ready to Take on Somali Pirates

A new British private navy is soon being plying the Indian Ocean in help of the fight against Somali pirates. 

The UK’s Sunday Times reported yesterday the new navy, founded by companies led by the commodity giant Glencore International Plc (GLEN), will protect its first convoy of oil tankers and bulk carriers from Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean in late March or April, according to the newspapers interview with Glencore Chairman, Simon Murray.

Private navy, private security, private space ventures.

I am sure that there are lots of people who find the idea of a private navy disturbing [1], but have absolutely no problem with their local SWAT team being a private army.  Because shut up, peon.

[1] Completely ignoring the fact that the Somali pirates are effectively a private navy themselves.  Because, you see, when Evil Capitalists form a navy to protect themselves, it's evil.  I mean, it's right there in their name, isn't it?  Evil Capitalists.  The Somalis, on the other hand, are oppressed by the Evil Capitalists, which of course makes them de facto Good Socialists, and thus worthy of defense.  Because anyone who attacks a poor, oppressed Good Socialist must be an Evil Capitalist.  And so the circle is complete, and the Progressive worldview is defended against painful logic once again.

Russia, Syria, n'at

Russia sends navy squadron to Mediterranean

The Russian Defense Ministry says a navy squadron has set off for the Mediterranean on a mission that comes amid official talk about a possible evacuation of Russians from Syria...

The squadron of five ships that sailed from the Baltic Sea base of Baltiysk includes a destroyer, a tugboat, a tanker and two large amphibious vessels that could evacuate hundreds of people.

Another group of three navy ships departed Tuesday from Severomorsk, the main base of Russia's Northern Fleet on the Kola Peninsula. While their official mission is anti-piracy patrol in the Gulf of Aden, the ships will sail past the Syrian shores and may linger there if need be.

Caspias?

Via Bayou Renaissance Man, a link to Speigel Online's article about Forbidden City of Oil Platforms: The Rise and Fall of Stalin's Atlantis:

In the 1950s, Soviet engineers built a massive city in the Caspian Sea off the coast of Azerbaijan. It was a network of oil platforms linked by hundreds of kilometers of roads and housing 5,000 workers, with a cinema, a park and apartment blocks... 

The foundation of the main settlement consists of seven sunken ships including "Zoroaster," the world's first oil tanker, built in Sweden. In Neft Dashlari's heyday, some 2,000 drilling platforms were spread in a 30-kilometer circle, joined by a network of bridge viaducts spanning 300 kilometers. Trucks thundered across the bridges and eight-story apartment blocks were built for the 5,000 workers who sometimes spent weeks on Neft Dashlari. The voyage back to the mainland could take anything between six and twelve hours, depending on the type of ship. The island had its own beverage factory, soccer pitch, library, bakery, laundry, 300-seat cinema, bathhouse, vegetable garden and even a tree-lined park for which the soil was brought from the mainland. 

Fascinating.  Google turns up some nice images of Neft Dashlari.

The SS America Star

An eerie picture of the SS America Star.

In 1994 the SS America Star was being towed to Thailand to become a floating hotel. Disaster struck while passing the Canary island of Fuerteventura and a strong storm beached the ship and broke her in two. Today you can still see the bow of the ship sitting on the beach and rusting away.

Fair Winds and Following Seas

After 1,000,000 Nautical Miles and 51 Years at Sea, USS Enterprise (CVN 65) is Decommissioned

51 years after being commissioned into the US Navy’s fleet, USS Enterprise (CVN 65), the world’s first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, has seen her last deployment. She was officially decommissioned today at Pier 12 in Norfolk, Virginia.

Circumnavigating the globe 40 times. Yeah, that seems about right. And for my non-geeky friends: Yes, Star Trek's USS Enterprise (NC-1701) was indeed named for this USS Enterprise (CVN-65). Which in turn led to NASA naming one of the space shuttles... Enterprise.

Sing with me now!  "The ciiiiiiiiiircle of liiiiiiiiiiife!"

One day, we will have a start-fairing Enterprise - God willing and the creeks don't rise.