Photo Credit: Marcusroos via Wikipedia “Finnish icebreaker Fennica in the Bay of Botnia”

Shell Oil has a fleet of roughly two dozen ships on the way to the Arctic where they are expected to drill exploratory wells in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. The drill ships have recently left Seattle and are on the way to Dutch Harbor, where they will wait for the ice to clear. At least four of these ships are ice-class ships, as big or bigger than some of the Coast Guards earlier icebreakers, including Chouest’s M/V Nanuq (301 ft) and Aiviq (361 ft) and the Finish multipurpose icebreakers Nordica and Fennica (381 ft). Fuelfix.com provides additional detail and shows some of the preparation for the possibility of a spill.

(Thanks to Tim Colton’s Maritime Memos, he’s got lots of other good stuff including developments in the ship building industry–problems at Austal, a comment on Canada’s ship building paralysis, and advice for the Navy and Coast Guard on how to make “should-cost estimating” work.)

Here is an update on the way the British plan to contract out their SAR helicopter operations.

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/british-searchandrescue-a-billion-pound-partnership-02271/

(Thanks to Lee for bringing this to my attention.)

Perhaps my favorite naval blog, Informationdissemination, is celebrating their fifth anniversary. They have invited a number of prominent individuals to write for the blog and the turn0ut has been impressive. Below, I have listed some of the topic and authors.

Most recently they have published a post by the author of perhaps the most influential book on naval tactic of the last 50 year, Fleet Tactics and Coastal Combat, Wayne P. Hughes, Jr., Captain USN (Retired), an operations research professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA. I think its worth a look. (We had an earlier two part discussion of Coast Guard roles “What Might Coast Guard Cutters Do in Wartime, Part 1, Navy Shortfalls” and “…part-2, Coast Guard Roles”.)

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How can the concepts articulated in writing by transformers/innovators get translated to action? Admiral James G. Stavridis, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe and Commander, United States European Command

What is Air-Sea Battle? Admiral Jonathan Greenert, Chief of Naval Operations.

What fundamental skills do today’s midshipmen need to learn in order to lead the Navy three decades from now? Vice Admiral Michael H. Miller, the 61st Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy

US MARSEC Capability Development Programs in West Africa: Current Status and Future Prospects, N.R. Jenzen-Jones &  LT Chad R. Hutchins, USN.

With so few U.S.-Flagged ships and carriers, is America still a maritime power? Stephen Carmel, Sr. Vice President Maritime Services at Maersk Line, Limited.

How would you describe the evolution of social media in the Navy? Rear Adm. Dennis J. Moynihan, U.S. Navy Chief of Information

Is China the real Mahanian maritime power of the 21st century? Robert C. Rubel, Dean, Center for Naval Warfare Studies at the Naval War College.

How long would it take the shipbuilding industry to grow capacity and throughput if the nation faced a naval crisis or conflict? Mike Petters, President and Chief Executive Officer of Huntington Ingalls Industries.

What is the Littoral Combat Ship in your words, and what should LCS be looking to the future? Christopher Cavas, Journalist at Defense News and Navy Times

To what extent is the Navy setting forth a strategic vision that agrees with your understanding of America’s global role? Secretary John Lehman, Special Adviser to Gov. Mitt Romney and Co-Chair of Romney Campaign’s Defense Working Group

and the same question to a representative of the Obama campaign

To what extent is the Navy setting forth a strategic vision that agrees with your understanding of America’s global role? Secretary Richard Danzig, former Secretary of the Navy under President Bill Clinton and an advisor to President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign on national security issues.

CimSec.Org has a good overview. Looks like two steps forward one step back, but naval presence, best practices including citadels, and armed security teams have cut the number of crew members taken in half.

The Commandant was recently interviewed on a video blog, “This Week in Defense News.” You can watch it here.

Not surprisingly the topic is the budget including sequestration, National Security Cutters, icebreakers, and Off Shore Patrol Cutters.

The interview is in three parts and total time is a bit over 20 minutes. Not sure how long this will be available.