Tag Archives: Warships

Russia sends its Navy into the Red Sea as Houthis target US, British, and Israeli commercial ships

Russian-War-Ships

Important Takeaways:

  • The Houthis have vowed to continue their attacks in the Red Sea as long as Israel continues to commit “crimes against Palestinians.”
  • Several Russian warships have passed the Bab al-Mandab Strait into the Red Sea, the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet said on Thursday, amid attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on merchant shipping.
  • The Zvezda TV channel, owned by the defense ministry, quoted the fleet as saying the Russian cruiser Varyag and the frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov were taking part in the voyage.
  • Houthi terrorists in Yemen have repeatedly attacked ships passing through the Bab al-Mandab Strait in the Red Sea since November in support of Palestinians, the terror organization claims.

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Explicit warning from Russia with 11 nuclear subs maneuvering the Atlantic following dispatched surface warships armed with hypersonic missiles

Russian-nuclear-submarine

Important Takeaways:

  • With increasing audacity, Russia is making its presence felt in the Atlantic Ocean, as demonstrated by the amplified deployment of its nuclear submarines. The escalating numbers of Russian nuclear submarines maneuvering in the Atlantic are a clear signal for NATO to remain vigilant. It’s been speculated by various analysts that Russia has designated as many as eleven nuclear submarines to operate in this specific region.
  • In the most explicit warning yet regarding the potential threat Russia poses, General Cavoli’s analysis sounds the alarm for the United States and its Western allies supporting Ukraine.
  • A few months earlier, a wave of concern swept over Western nations when Russian President Vladimir Putin dispatched surface warships to the Atlantic Ocean. A significant number of these vessels were armed with hypersonic cruise missiles, capable of outpacing US air defense systems.
  • Michael Peterson, a prominent figure at the Russian Maritime Research Institute [RMSI] and celebrated for his extensive knowledge of Russian naval prowess, has highlighted numerous indicators that suggest Russia’s increasing tendencies to place their nuclear submarines along the United States coastlines.
  • Peterson, the insightful researcher, observes an uncanny resemblance between these tactics and those employed by the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War conflict.

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Biden affirms Israel’s right to defend itself as military officials move warships and aircraft closer to Israel

USS-Gerald-Ford

Important Takeaways:

  • US Navy moving warships, aircraft closer to Israel amid Hamas war
  • The U.S. Navy is moving warships and aircraft closer to Israel in the aftermath of an unprecedented assault on the country from Hamas terrorists, a U.S. military official tells Fox News.
  • President Biden has aggressively affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself in the wake of Saturday’s surprise attack, which has so far killed at least 600 Israelis and wounded at least 2,000 more.
  • The Pentagon has not clarified whether it would use military force to assist Israel in the conflict. Israel formally declared war on Hamas on Sunday, its first such declaration since 1973.

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US Navy Secretary warns China’s Navy is growing at an aggressive pace

Chinese Warship

Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

Important Takeaways:

  • China’s naval fleet is growing and the US ‘can’t keep up’ with the warship buildup as Beijing uses its sea power to project an ‘increasingly aggressive military posture globally,’ Navy Secretary warns
  • US Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro voiced concern in remarks on Wednesday
  • Said China has 340 active warships, compared to about 280 for the US Navy
  • Claimed US naval shipyards can’t match the output of Chinese ones
  • Del Toro said China plans to field a fleet of 440 ships by 2030, far outstripping the Pentagon’s stated goal is to have 350 manned ships by 2045.
  • Del Toro claimed in remarks to reporters that China’s shipbuilding capacity far exceeds that of the US, saying that China has 13 shipyards, including one that has a shipbuilding capacity greater than all US yards combined, according to CNN.

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Tensions high as Russia conducts naval drill with140 warships

Matthew 24:6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.

Important Takeaways:

  • Russia announced Thursday it will hold huge naval drills involving more than 140 warships and supporting vessels this month and in February, at a time of heightened tensions with Western nations.
  • The war games to be held in the Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Mediterranean will involve “more than 140 warships and support vessels, more than 60 aircraft, 1,000 pieces of military equipment, and about 10,000 servicemen,” the defense ministry said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies.

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New UFO office to investigate threat

Luke 21:25,26 NAS “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay (tension from difficult circumstances that “won’t move” which produces distress or anguish – causing someone to feel “locked in” or “tightly pressed”) among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting (lose morale, become disheartened, like lapsing into temporary unconsciousness) from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world…

Important Takeaways:

  • WATCH THE SKIES America’s UFO office is a GO as US Congress passes bill to probe threat & capture craft buzzing warships & nukes
  • US CONGRESS have passed a landmark defense bill to set up a new UFO office which will probe strange encounters with the mysterious craft.
  • Will run on the ground investigations into UFOs, probe any “threat” posed by the craft, and oversee any efforts to “capture” them.
  • This is the most important legislation to come out of the US in recent history regarding the study of the phenomena. It will allow a much fuller investigation of the UAP issue affecting US service personnel, with regular updates to elected officials and with hopefully more transparency than has historically been the case,”

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China holds assault drills near Taiwan after ‘provocations’

By Yew Lun Tian and Yimou Lee

BEIJING/TAIPEI (Reuters) -China carried out assault drills near Taiwan on Tuesday, with warships and fighter jets exercising off the southwest and southeast of the island in what the country’s armed forces said was a response to “external interference” and “provocations”.

Taiwan, which Beijing claims as Chinese territory, has complained of repeated People’s Liberation Army (PLA) drills in its vicinity in the past two years or so, part of a pressure campaign to force the island to accept China’s sovereignty.

In a brief statement, the PLA’s Eastern Theatre Command said warships, anti-submarine aircraft and fighter jets had been dispatched close to Taiwan to carry out “joint fire assault and other drills using actual troops”.

It did not give details.

A senior official familiar with Taiwan’s security planning told Reuters that China’s air force had carried out a “capturing air supremacy” drill, using their advanced J-16 fighters.

“In addition to seeking air supremacy over Taiwan, they have also been conducting frequent electronic reconnaissance and electronic interference operations,” the person said.

Taiwan believes China is trying to gather electronic signals from U.S. and Japanese aircraft so that they can “paralyze reinforcing aircraft including F-35s in a war,” the source said, referring to the U.S.-operated stealth fighter.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said 11 Chinese aircraft entered its air defense zone, including two nuclear-capable H-6K bombers and six J-16 fighters, and that it had scrambled jets to warn China’s planes away.

While the Chinese statement gave no exact location for the drills, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said the aircraft flew in an area between mainland Taiwan and the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands at the top part of the South China Sea.

Some of the aircraft also briefly entered the strategic Bashi Channel off southern Taiwan that leads to the Pacific, according to a map provided by the ministry.

“The nation’s military has a full grasp and has made a full assessment of the situation in the Taiwan Strait region, as well as related developments at sea and in the air, and is prepared for various responses,” it added.

The PLA statement noted that recently, the United States and Taiwan have “repeatedly colluded in provocation and sent serious wrong signals, severely infringing upon China’s sovereignty, and severely undermining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait”.

“This exercise is a necessary action based on the current security situation across the Taiwan Strait and the need to safeguard national sovereignty. It is a solemn response to external interference and provocations by Taiwan independence forces.”

It was not immediately clear what set off the flurry of Chinese military activity, though earlier this month, the United States approved a new arms sale package to Taiwan, an artillery system valued at up to $750 million.

China believes Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen is a separatist bent on a formal declaration of independence, a red line for Beijing. Tsai said Taiwan is already an independent country called the Republic of China, its formal name.

Washington has expressed its concern about China’s pattern of intimidation in the region, including towards Taiwan, reiterating that U.S. commitment to Taiwan is “rock solid.”

China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.

(Reporting by Yew Lun Tian and Yimou Lee; Writing and additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Simon Cameron-Moore and Bernadette Baum)

Russia warns UK and U.S. not to tempt fate in Black Sea

By Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia warned Britain and the United States on Friday against “tempting fate” by sending warships to the Black Sea, and said it would defend its borders using all possible means including military force.

In a statement broadcast on state television, the Defense Ministry said it was ill-advised for British and U.S. vessels to approach the coast of Crimea, a peninsula Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

“We call on the Pentagon and the British navy, which are sending their warships into the Black Sea, not to tempt fate in vain,” Major General Igor Konashenkov, the ministry’s spokesperson, said.

HMS Defender, a British destroyer that sailed through waters off Crimea on Wednesday, was “not more than a target” for the Black Sea fleet’s defenses, he said.

Russia considers Crimea part of its territory, but the peninsula is internationally recognized as part of Ukraine.

Russia said on Wednesday it had fired warning shots and dropped bombs in the path of a British warship to chase it out of Black Sea waters off the coast of Crimea.

Britain rejected Russia’s account of the incident. It said it believed any shots fired were a pre-announced Russian “gunnery exercise”, and that no bombs had been dropped.

It confirmed HMS Defender had sailed through what it said were waters belonging to Ukraine.

The British embassy in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgian the South Caucasus, wrote on Twitter on Friday that HMS Defender was set to arrive in the port city of Batumi on the eastern coast of the Black Sea.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said separately that Washington and London were sowing strife by failing to accept Crimea was part of Russia, and that Russia was ready to defend its borders using all means, including military force.

Moscow warned Britain on Thursday that it would bomb British naval vessels in the Black Sea if what it called provocative actions by the British navy were repeated off the Crimean coast.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said separately on Friday that it was beginning joint navy and air force exercises in the eastern Mediterranean, where Moscow operates an air base on Syria’s coast.

(Reporting by Anton Kolodyazhnyy, Alexander Marrow and Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber, Editing by Katya Golubkova, Timothy Heritage, William Maclean)

Exclusive: U.S. warships sail near South China Sea islands claimed by Beijing

Satellite photo dated March 28, 2018 shows Woody Island. Planet Labs Inc/Handout via REUTERS

By Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two U.S. Navy warships sailed near South China Sea islands claimed by China on Sunday, two U.S. officials told Reuters, in a move that drew condemnation from Beijing as President Donald Trump seeks its continued cooperation on North Korea.

The operation was the latest attempt to counter what Washington sees as Beijing’s efforts to limit freedom of navigation in the strategic waters.

While this operation had been planned months in advance, and similar operations have become routine, it comes at a particularly sensitive time and just days after the Pentagon uninvited China from a major U.S.-hosted naval drill.

The U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Higgins guided-missile destroyer and the Antietam, a guided-missile cruiser, came within 12 nautical miles of the Paracel Islands, among a string of islets, reefs and shoals over which China has territorial disputes with its neighbors.

The U.S. military vessels carried out maneuvering operations near Tree, Lincoln, Triton and Woody islands in the Paracels, one of the officials said.

Trump’s cancellation of a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has put further strain on U.S.-China ties amid a trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies.

Critics of the operations, known as a “freedom of navigation,” have said that they have little impact on Chinese behavior and are largely symbolic.

The U.S. military has a long-standing position that its operations are carried out throughout the world, including in areas claimed by allies, and that they are separate from political considerations.

Satellite photographs taken on May 12 showed China appeared to have deployed truck-mounted surface-to-air missiles or anti-ship cruise missiles at Woody Island.

Earlier this month, China’s air force landed bombers on disputed islands and reefs in the South China Sea as part of a training exercise in the region, triggering concern from Vietnam and the Philippines.

The U.S. military did not directly comment on Sunday’s operation, but said U.S. forces operate in the region daily.

“We conduct routine and regular Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs), as we have done in the past and will continue to do in the future,” U.S. Pacific Fleet said in a statement.

China’s Defense Ministry expressed its anger, saying it had sent ships and aircraft to warn the U.S. warships to leave, saying they had entered the country’s territorial waters without permission.

The move “contravened Chinese and relevant international law, seriously infringed upon Chinese sovereignty (and) harmed strategic mutual trust between the two militaries,” it said.

In a separate statement, China’s Foreign Ministry urged the United States to stop such actions.

“China will continue to take all necessary measures to defend the country’s sovereignty and security,” it added, without elaborating.

CONTESTED SEA

Pentagon officials have long complained that China has not been candid enough about its rapid military build-up and using South China Sea islands to gather intelligence in the region.

In March, a U.S. Navy destroyer carried out a “freedom of navigation” operation close to Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands.

Chinese officials have accused Washington of viewing their country in suspicious, “Cold War” terms.

China’s claims in the South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in shipborne trade passes each year, are contested by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

The United States has said it would like to see more international participation in freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea.

(Reporting by Idress Ali in Washington; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Alexander Smith, Alexandra Hudson and Lisa Shumaker)

Britain sends frigate to escort Russian ships through English Channel

The Royal Navy's HMS Westminster escorts Russian Steregushchiy class ship Boiky (532) through the English Channel off Britain's coast, January 8, 2018. . LPhot Louise George Royal navy handout via REUTERS

LONDON (Reuters) – A British frigate escorted Russian ships through the English Channel on Monday, Britain’s defense ministry said, adding that it was the latest sign of an upsurge in Russian naval activity near UK waters over the festive period.

Royal Navy frigate HMS Westminster was sent to monitor four Russian vessels over the weekend as they passed close to British waters, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said, and will stay with the warships as they head north.

The MoD added that two Russian frigates, Soobrazitelny and Boiky, and support vessels, Paradoks and Kola, were believed to be returning from operations in the Middle East.

“The English Channel is an absolute lifeline for the UK, and it is very important HMS Westminster and the Royal Navy maintains a watchful eye on this key strategic link,” Simon Kelly, Commanding Officer of HMS Westminster, said in a statement.

Britain said that the number of such incidents had increased in recent weeks.

Over Christmas, a British ship escorted new Russian warship Admiral Gorshkov as it passed near UK territorial waters, which Britain said was one of a four of vessels monitored during that period.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by Michael Holden)