Click at left on Society Journal

Enjoy.

Richard D. Jones
Log Editor

Dave Kent, good point. Everything we post here, and most places on the web are saved for a longtime. Don't write anything that you wouldn't want on the front page of the New York Times.

One of the students at Holy Cross with my daughter nearly lost his job offer with a major bank when an embarassing Halloween photo was posted on his facebook page and the future employer located it. In addition to the outrageous dress, it seemed that he had called out sick the same day he attended the party. All was well after some national news reports but she tells me a lot of smart young folks purged their facebook pages and the like in a panic. What you say here doesn't just stay here.
The Navy is in a frenzy to keep all personal information behind the wall of NMCI. Understandable but a bad idea. For example, I am a senior appraiser for Navy Jag. Every candidate for a commission must be interviewed and the only way to do it is to have the candidate contact the appraiser. It could be done via the recruiter but that is inefficient. I get hundreds of calls a year at the office and never have had a problem.

Likewise, the security minded folks at some Navy bases are no longer issuing rank stickers for parking. No big thing but a big change. The stated idea is that without the stars or eagles the terrorists won't target your car. I'm not so sure; parking stickers still come in red for enlisted and blue for officers. I assume that few of our terrorists are color blind.

I post my email address at the top of articles in the LOG but I's surprised by how few comments I ever receive about the articles I publish. Not that I think that they are controversial but I suspect that most authors appreciate comment and feedback. As much as I enjoy writing I enjoy the fact that others read and enjoy. Larry

Anyone get NP covers yet?

Glenn. Room is the IT guys from our generous sponsor, Karl Zurn.

I have promises for GWF articles and a new series on Fakes and Forgeries coming, but need lots of other researched articles for the year.

If you have any ideas you are unsure of, check the Log index online to see if they have been covered within the last 5 years.

It is amazing the number of other things you can find when looking for a misplaced cellphone.

No covers to report rhough3 circuits did go out today.

Please remember when you count your Christmas Blessings, say a Prayer for all those who Serve.
May our thoughts, prayers and Holiday wishes go to all who are away from their love ones , on this the Holiest day of the Year

The letter is folded neatly into quarters and on one side, there is docketing which appears to be in the handwriting of Captain Bishop reading "Captain, Henry J. Bishop / Fleet Marine Officer N.A.S. / Flag Ship Powhatan, N.A.S. / Norfolk Va. December 5th 1877 / Requests receipts for knapsacks". // Forwarded / ? ? Fillelman ? / Capt Comdg & / Chief of Staff". Beneath that is a stamped blue oval of the U.S.S. Powhatan (see scan). Docketing on the back of the envelope reads "12-24-77 / Bishop: U.S.M.C.". The letter is in very fine condition. The envelope faults include aging and foxing along the top and bottom edges including tears and a light vertical file fold at the left running down through "Lieut".

The USS Powhatan was a side wheel paddle steam frigate which was launched in 1850 and later used by the US Navy in the Civil War and in certain world hot spots. It was scrapped in 1887. The city of Aspinwall was located in Panama at the time this letter was mailed. The name was changed to Colon in 1890. During the period 1850-1903, U.S. troops were present in Panama and Colombia to periodically quell social disturbances. The US Consul serving in Aspinwall from 1872-1882 was James Thorington.

Despite the faults, this is a rare overseas usage of the 6 cent Navy Official. As stated in the Robert A. Siegel auction sale #945 of Official covers (Oct 26, 2007), the census of reported 6 cent covers is only 21 of which only 6 (six) are recorded to have been sent to foreign destinations. The 2008 Scott Specialized Catalog on cover value is $750."

http://www.greenpointmonitormuseum.org/

They have really put some effort into this site. Great video and data. Seems that it will be kept updated as the cruise unfolds.

ldest U.S. WWI vet dies in Ohio at 109
By JOHN SEEWER, Associated Press Writer
Fri Dec 21, 11:47 AM ET

J. Russell Coffey, the oldest known surviving U.S. veteran of World War I, has died. The retired teacher, one of only three U.S. veterans from the "war to end all wars," was 109.

Coffey died Thursday at the Briar Hill Health Campus in North Baltimore, where he had lived for the past four or five years, said Gaye Boggs, nursing director at the nursing home. No cause of death has been determined, she said Friday. His health began failing in October.

"We're sure going to miss him," Boggs said. "He was our most famous resident, that's for sure."

More than 4.7 million Americans joined the military from 1917-1918. Coffey never saw combat because he was still in basic training when the war ended.

The two remaining U.S. veterans are Frank Buckles, 106, of Charles Town, W.Va.; and Harry Richard Landis, 108, of Sun City Center, Fla., according to the Veterans Affairs Department. In addition, John Babcock, 107, of Spokane, Wash., served in the Canadian army and is the last known Canadian veteran of the war.

Interest in World War I survivors grew over the past year as their numbers dwindled. The last living links to the war, the U.S. veterans received honors and did a flurry of interviews. In May, Buckles was a grand marshal of the National Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C., riding in the back of a car.

But Coffey once confided to his daughter, Betty Jo Larsen, that he wished people would remember his contributions rather than his old age. "He told me 'even a prune can get old,'" she said last spring. She died in September.

Coffey had enlisted in the Army while he was a student at Ohio State University in October 1918, a month before the Allied powers and Germany signed a cease-fire agreement. He was discharged a month after the war ended.

His two older brothers fought overseas, and he was disappointed at the time that the war ended before he shipped out. But he told The Associated Press in April 2007: "I think I was good to get out of it."

Born Sept. 1, 1898, Coffey played semipro baseball in Akron, earned a doctorate in education from New York University, taught in high school and college and raised a family.

He delivered newspapers as a youngster and would read the paper to immigrants, his daughter said. "That was the beginning of him being a teacher," she said.

Coffey returned to Ohio State University after he left the Army and received two degrees there.

He said he loved teaching. "I could see results," he said. "I could see improvement."

He taught junior high and high school in Phelps, Ky., and Findlay. He then taught physical education at Bowling Green State University from 1948 until 1969.

He had a remarkable memory and was independent, his daughter said. He drove his car until he was 104, and lived in his own home until a year later. He was a swimmer and credited healthy eating and exercise for his longevity.

His wife, Bernice, whom he married in 1921, died in 1993. Larsen was their only child.

Among the other World War I veterans who died this year were Emiliano Mercado del Toro, 115, who ranked as world's oldest person for the last weeks of his life, and Charlotte Winters, 109, the last known American female veteran of the war.

OBITUARY
Admiral Mahan, Naval Critic, Dies
Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON, D. C., Dec. 1--Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan, U. S. N., retired, America's foremost naval strategist and the world's greatest authority on sea power, died suddenly at the United States Naval Hospital here at 7:15 o'clock this morning of heart disease.

Three intimate friends of Admiral Mahan, who met him frequently on his visit to Washington this Winter, expressed the belief tonight that the war in Europe had hastened his death. They said that Admiral Mahan was not only most keenly interested in the great struggle, its relation to sea power, and the naval and strategic problems and lessons being solved or taught by the war, but that the events of the war greatly excited his mind and heart.

Admiral Mahan came to Washington on Nov. 1 to take up his labors as a research associate in the Department of Historical Research in the Carnegie Institution, and was pursuing a special line of historical research with a view to writing a history of American expansion and its bearing on sea power. This was to be a monumental work, and he had given thought to it for many years. But he had hardly made a beginning when his heart gave way, overtaxed by his keen interest in the European war.

Hostilities Affected Him
Though he was in his seventy-fourth year, Admiral Mahan was in apparently good health until the war began. The first month of hostilities deeply affected him. There were great demands made upon him for comments as a naval expert, and during the early days of the war he gave many interviews and wrote a number of articles dealing with the contest. The demand on him from American and foreign publications was cut short by President Wilson's order prohibiting American military and naval officers from commenting on the conflict, but Admiral Mahan, while discontinuing his writings on the war, never lost interest in it one moment. Signs of organic heart disease developed in September, and recurred late in October, just before Admiral Mahan came to Washington with Mrs. Mahan and their daughters, Helen and Ellen.

Only last week Admiral Mahan visited Secretary Daniels at the Navy Department, and Mr. Daniels said tonight the Admiral was the best-informed man on the war and its lessons he had conversed with. On Saturday the Admiral's condition became such that he decided to enter the naval hospital here. He died in the presence of his wife and two daughters. His son, Lyle Mahan, a New York lawyer, came to Washington tonight.

Admiral Mahan was as familiar with Europe, her history, and armaments as he was with American history, and knew many of the men actively identified with the war in high places in England, Germany, and France. Some of his intimate friends among the military and naval men in Europe had lost their lives in the war and this shocked him. Some of these officers he met in his travels, and when he received honorary degrees at Oxford and Cambridge and many more when he went to The Hague in 1899 as American Naval delegate to the First Peace Conference.

There were distinct reasons why the American people congratulated themselves upon the presence of Admiral Mahan, then Capt. Mahan, in the First Hague Conference. He was not only a naval strategist and scholar, but was even then regarded as the most eminent living expert in naval strategy. Then he had always consistently advocated strong navies and preparedness for war with special reference to naval influence in making for peace. Added to his equipment as a diplomatist in the delicate and complex task before The Hague Conference was his experience as a public man who had been hailed as the first great exponent of the philosophy of sea power.

Book Made Him Famous
His great reputation had been developed in the nine years immediately preceding the First Hague Conference. It was in 1890 that his first book of international importance, "The Influence of Sea Power Upon History," was published in Boston and made the author known around the world. This book is really responsible for the German Navy as it exists today. When it was published it was immediately translated into German. Emperor William was so impressed with the book that he ordered a copy placed in the library of every German warship, and ordered all German naval officers to read and study it. Emperor William praised it as the greatest modern work on naval affairs, and the greatest work on sea power. This book taught the Germans the importance of gaining sea power.

Admiral Mahan himself had told how it was that he came into the greater work--how, when reading Mommsen in the English Club at Lima, he was struck with that historian's failure to recognize the all-important influence of sea power on Hannibal's history. He wrote out the whole outline of "The Influence of Sea Power," discussed it with Admiral Luce, and then set to work with painstaking method. He chose the term "sea power" with the deliberate purpose of challenging attention. He is the coiner of that term in its present significance.

"Purists, I said to myself," he remarked, "may criticize me for marrying a Teutonic word to one of Latin origin, but I deliberately discarded the adjective 'maritime' being too smooth to arrest men's attention. I do not know how far this is usually the case with phrases that obtain currency. My impression is that the originator is himself generally surprised at their taking hold. I was not surprised in that sense. The effect produced was that which I fully proposed, but I was surprised at the extent of my success. 'Sea Power,' in English at least, seems to have come to stay, in the sense I used it. The 'sea powers' were often spoken of before, but in an entirely different manner--not to express, as I meant to, at once an abstract conception and a concrete fact."

Retired After Forty Years' Service
Admiral Mahan was born at West Point, N. Y., Sept. 27, 1840. His father was D. H. Mahan, an eminent Professor of Engineering at the United States Military Academy. On Nov. 17, 1896, Admiral Mahan was retired on his own application, after forty years' naval service, in order to be able to devote himself to his writings on sea power. Once since then he has been called to active duty--in May, 1898, when he was appointed a member of the Naval War Board, commonly known as the Strategy Board, during the war with Spain.

Admiral Mahan was a man of most interesting and admirable personal traits. Slender and erect, he was about 6 feet 2 inches tall, with finely chiseled features, very blue eyes, and a closely-cropped Vandyke beard. He was soft and gentle in voice and had a pleasant but reserved manner, perhaps a little cold to those who did not know him well. He was a man of high religious ideals. Sunday week, while attending service at St. Thomas's Church, he sang all the hymns and chants in the Episcopal service.

A naval officer said that the chapters of Admiral Mahan's great work on "The Influence of Sea Power Upon History" were first read as lectures to officers at the Naval War College at Newport and were then published. Two years later appeared his "Influence of Sea Power on the French Revolution and Empire," in the Spring of 1897 his "Life of Nelson, the Embodiment of the Sea Power of Great Britain," and in the following Winter his "Interest of America in Sea Power, Past and Future." Just after his life of Nelson appeared Harold Frederic cabled to The New York Times from London that the reviewers of the London dailies sat up all night with the advance copies to rush long reviews into print the next morning.

Navy Department's Tribute
The Navy Department tonight issued this tribute to Admiral Mahan:

"Admiral Mahan became famous as an author and historian in the early nineties, when his books on 'The Influence of Sea Power Upon History' and 'The Influence of Sea Power Upon the French Revolution' were published. These were followed by a 'Life of Nelson.' These books were classics in their line, and were widely read throughout the world. In England and Germany in particular they received the highest commendation, and in every country possessing a navy they became veritable text books in naval strategy. In England the leading naval men of the day confessed that it had remained for him to elucidate the work of the British navy in a way that they themselves had never understood or even dreamed of.

"Since his first books he has written many of lesser importance, and these and his essays have kept him before the world as the greatest modern writer on naval strategy. He was a close student of world politics, and his writings on the trend of the politics of the leading nations of the world were accepted as an authority. It may be safely said that no writer of modern times evinced a keener insight in the affairs of the world or expressed himself concerning them more clearly and convincingly than did the late Admiral Mahan.

"His death will cause international regret not only because of the high esteem in which he is held in every country of the world interested in naval affairs, but also because of the fact that his death leaves a void among naval and political authorities of the world that no author and writer can fill."

At the express request of Admiral Mahan there will be no naval funeral. Simple services will be held at 9 o'clock tomorrow night at St. Thomas's Church. The body will be then taken to the Mahan home at Quogue, L. I., for private interment.

ABOARD USS ENTERPRISE (NNS) -- Enterprise Strike Group (ENTSG), led by the strike group commander, Rear Adm. Dan Holloway, returned to its homeport of Norfolk, Dec. 19 after a five-month deployment in support of Maritime Security Operations, Operations Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Enduring Freedom (OEF), Iraqi oil platform protection, anti-piracy operations and the struggle against violent extremists.

The more than 5,500 Sailors and Marines aboard the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) traveled approximately 48,646 miles throughout the course of the deployment, doing everything from combat operations to diplomatic relations missions in the 6th and 5th fleet areas of responsibility (AOR).

"The Enterprise Strike Group team is at the top of their game," said Holloway. "They are all MVPs on a forward deployed all-star team. We are blessed with the best the Navy has to offer world wide. Our men, women, Sailors and Marines are the face of the Navy and the nation."

After getting underway on July 7, Enterprise and all of its embarked members traveled across the Atlantic Ocean and into the 6th Fleet AOR, where they hosted the French Chief of Naval Operations as well as the U.S. Ambassador to France to observe a historic landing and launch of a French Rafale F2 jet.

This was the first time a French strike aircraft had landed on board a U.S. carrier. Enterprise then became the first American carrier to pull into a French port in six years when it stopped for a three-day port visit in Cannes, France.

Enterprise then shifted its focus East to combat operations in the 5th Fleet area of responsibility in support of OIF and OEF, where it would spend 55 straight days at sea before making the first of its three port calls in Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates.

During its time in combat, ENTSG aircraft flew more than 7,500 missions and made more than 6,500 arrested landings. In support of the troops on the ground, ENTSG pilots dropped 73 air-to-ground weapons and fired 4,149 rounds of 20mm ammunition.

"This was the second extended combat deployment for Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 1 in a mere 20 months and the team performed superbly," said Capt. Mark Wralstad, CVW-1 commander.

The Sailors and Marines on board completed 26 underway replenishments, receiving more than 12 million gallons of fuel; cooked and served approximately 4 million meals totaling more than $11 million; performed more than 4,200 preventative and corrective maintenance actions on the catapults and arresting gear to keep CVW-1 aircraft in the sky; transferred 3,960 pallets of cargo and hosted 303 distinguished visitors during 19 visits.

The crew members of the ENTSG were able to accomplish more than just success in combat. Approximately 1,300 Navy College Program for Afloat College Education classes were completed; more than 300 Sailors were advanced; Sailors earned nearly 900 warfare pins and 304 Sailors reenlisted for almost $11 million in reenlistment bonuses.

For more news from USS Enterprise, visit www.navy.mil/local/cvn65/.

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The test was carried out in partnership with the US Missile Defence Agency.

Experts say the test will strengthen the US-Japan security alliance but it could also escalate regional tensions.

Japan and the US have worked closely on missile defence since North Korea flew a missile over northern Japan in 1998.

The US has carried out such tests in the past but this is the first time a test has been carried out by one of of its allies.

Japanese government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura described the test as very significant for Japan's national security.

"The Defence Ministry and the government have been putting efforts into the development of ballistic missile defence, and we will continue to install the needed equipment and conduct exercises," he said.

We hope that the actions of Japan are ...conducive to mutual trust of the countries in the region
Chinese official

The BBC's correspondent in Japan, Chris Hogg, said the test could cause unease among Japan's neighbours.

China in particular is likely to be concerned that if it ever decides to attack Taiwan the system could be used to help the US defend the island, he said.

So far, the Chinese response has been muted, with the Beijing authorities referring indirectly to the test in a regular press briefing.

"We have taken note that Japan has reiterated many times it will follow the path of peaceful development," said spokesman Qin Gang.

"We hope that the actions of Japan are beneficial to the peace and stability of the region and conducive to mutual trust of the countries in the region."

North Korea threat

The target, which a US official said resembled "a North Korean scud-like missile," was fired from the US Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

JAPAN'S MISSILE DEFENCE SYSTEM
The Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) launches from the sea to intercept missiles in space
It is complemented by Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) which intercepts missiles as they descend
The programme is estimated to have cost 127 bn yen ($11.2m, £5.6m) over four years
It uses the US-developed Aegis combat system

A Japanese vessel, the JS Kongo, tracked the missile and then fired its interceptor after three minutes, destroying the target some 160km (100 miles) above the Pacific Ocean.

Japan ultimately plans to install missile interceptor systems on four of its destroyers equipped with the high-tech Aegis tracking system.

Japan and the US accelerated co-operation on missile defence after Pyongyang test-fired a long-range Taepodong-1 missile over northern Japan and into the Pacific in 1998.

North Korea is also thought to have an arsenal of medium-range Rodong missiles capable of striking Japan. The test target was said to resemble one of these.

This test marks a second stage of Japan's expanding missile defence.

Land-based Patriot Advanced Capability 3 (PAC-3) missile defence systems have already been installed at two bases in Japan, with further installations planned.

Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba dismissed concerns about the high costs of the programme, estimated to be several billion dollars, and said Japan would continue working to increase the credibility of the system.

"We can't talk about how much money should be spent when human lives are at stake," he told reporters.

The Georgia and another converted submarine ported at Kings Bay, the USS Florida, will participate in clandestine missions in the war against terrorism in coastal areas worldwide. Besides a full crew of 15 officers and 139 enlisted personnel, the boat was also refitted to make room for as many as 66 Special Operations forces from different branches of the military.

Before it was refitted in Norfolk, Va., the Georgia was ported at Bangor, Wash.

Additional work will be done on the boat until it officially returns to service in a ceremony in March at Kings Bay.

Don T, Bremerton cancel submitted.

Katmai Bay dispatched to assist a freighter beset in 16 inches of ice

By JACK STOREY

UPPER GREAT LAKES - With ice forming at a rate that suggests the first “normal” winter shipping season in several years, Coast Guard officials have icebreakers working in disparate locations this week.

At Base Sault, Coast Guard official Mark Gill said ice continues to build rapidly on the lower St. Marys River but shipping has not been impeded significantly just yet. He said the outlook for a cold December suggests icebreakers will be busy on the St. Marys by the time the holidays roll around.

For now, two Bay-Class tugs, Katmai Bay and Biscayne Bay are working the ice in largely unfamiliar waters at Thunder Bay, Ont. and at Serpent Harbor, Ont. located at the northern end of Georgian Bay. Biscayne Bay, based at St. Ignace, has been working at Duluth-Superior then nearby Thunder Bay while the Duluth-based tender-breaker USCGC Alder was off about her buoy tending duties.

With Alder back in Duluth, he said Biscayne Bay will be recalled about midweek, when the Canadian icebreaker-tender Samuel Risley returns to Lake Superior from pinch-hitting duties on the Detroit River.

Katmai Bay, meanwhile, was dispatched to Georgian Bay to assist the cargo vessel Canadian Olympic, reportedly beset in solid plate ice 16 inches thick at Serpent Harbor, Ont. Katmai Bay will return to her normal ice station on the St. Marys once Canadian Olympic completes here season-ending trip into Serpent Bay and clears for the open lake.

The two tugs are expected to turn their attention to the rapidly freezing St. Marys later this week, where they will likely remain for the balance of the shipping season.

Gill said ice is tightening up significantly in the current run of freezing weather on Munuscong Bay (also called “Mud Lake”) and both channels leading around Neebish Island. He said no ships have been halted by the building ice in the channels around Neebish but considerable strengthening has been reported between Winter Point and Moon Island at the southern end of Neebish.

One hundred percent ice coverage now extends from Winter Point to Pt. Aux Frenes, near Lime Island. That ice has been on for at least a week and has been thickening appreciably of late, he said.

While primary attention of the Coast Guard's “Operation Taconite” is currently focused on the greater Munuscong Bay area, Gill said ice has also formed to about two inches on the Middle Neebish Channel north of the island at from 9 Mile Pt. to the West Neebish Channel on the downbound side.

While ice coverage remains partial to the north of Neebish Island he indicated the Coast Guard is anxious to have the two Bay Class tugs available for lower river duty this week.

Farther upstream, Gill said some ice is forming in the bays of the upper St. Marys and Whitefish Bay but not to the point where icebreaking help will be needed soon. He said USCGC Mackinaw, which is normally assigned to that stretch of channel, is currently gearing up for icebreaking service after completing seasonal buoy tending duties on Lakes Huron and Michigan.

Mackinaw will soon be available for icebreaking but Gill said he does not anticipate needing the larger icebreaker on the St. Marys River until the first of the year or so.

The shipping season will then be in its final two weeks on Lake Superior, as the Soo Locks are scheduled to close for the season on Jan. 15.

Gill said an integrated icebreaking arrangement with the Canadian Coast Guard is making the assignment of ‘breakers throughout the region considerably easier than in the past. “It's easier to move around .... it streamlines our resources,” he said of the integrated approach. In general, he said Canadian icebreakers will be working Thunder Bay and lower Great Lakes channels while the U.S. Coast Guard is taking on the western Great Lakes.

Noting a preference for the smaller Bay-Class tugs on the often difficult ice in the lower St. Marys, Gill said a third Bay-Class tug, Mobile Bay, may be called in later to assist the two other tugs to take up station there.

He said at present the ice is presenting problems at isolated locations and has not been difficult on principal upbound and downbound shipping channels. That may change in the coming week, however, and Gill voiced some concern about forming ice on western Lake Erie and the ice-prone Livingston Channel connecting the Detroit River with Lake Erie.

WASHINGTON -- A civilian U.S. Coast Guard employee was placed on paid administrative leave, threatened with a criminal investigation and confronted by guards at gunpoint in retaliation for disclosing information embarrassing to the service's troubled fleet replacement program, his attorney said.

Anthony D'Armiento, a former Northrop Grumman systems engineer working for the Coast Guard's acquisitions department, asked the Bush administration to appoint an independent inspector general to investigate his allegations against staff members of Richard Skinner, inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security. D'Armiento's attorney called their actions ''an egregious act of intimidation and excessive force'' against a government whistle-blower.

D'Armiento was placed on leave Oct. 1 and told to cooperate with Coast Guard investigators or face criminal prosecution, said Debra Katz, his attorney, in a letter to Skinner and the White House.

D'Armiento cooperated, but after he was told he could retrieve his office and home computers from Skinner's offices in Rosslyn, Va., on Oct. 29, Paul Weare, an investigator for the DHS inspector general, attempted to question D'Armiento. When D'Armiento refused to answer, three guards appeared, one pointed a gun at his chest, denied him his equipment and threatened him with arrest if he returned, Katz said.

''Mr. Weare was trying to lure Mr. D'Armiento to the OIG office where he could be further interrogated without his attorney present,'' Katz said in the letters, copies of which were obtained by The Washington Post.

``This staged armed confrontation was an extreme and transparent act of retaliation against Mr. D'Armiento.''

The Coast Guard said in a statement that ``unauthorized disclosure or improper handling of sensitive, classified or proprietary information is strictly prohibited and may result in administrative or criminal charges.''

Katz wrote that when D'Armiento declined to speak with Weare in an interrogation room and said, ''I want my computer back now,'' Weare told him to ''back off'' and ``get out of [his] face.''

After a guard drew his handgun, prompting D'Armiento to say he would call the police, a guard replied, ''We are the police,'' Katz wrote.

Katz said that, on Sept. 25, D'Armiento turned over to a fellow whistle-blower Coast Guard documents marked sensitive but unclassified, and that the papers showed that the agency was aware of hundreds of defects in communications equipment aboard its new, $640 million flagship vessel, known as the National Security Cutter.

The ship is part of the Coast Guard's $25 billion fleet replacement program, known as Deepwater.

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (NNS) -- More than 300 Sailors and a platoon of Marines manned the rails of USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19), the newest San Antonio class ship, bringing her to life during the commissioning ceremony held at Port Panama City, Fla., Dec. 15.

The ship is named in honor of the Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado. In 1906, Congress established Mesa Verde as the first cultural park in the National Parks System. This is the first U.S. Navy ship to be named Mesa Verde.

Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a former U.S. Senator from Colorado, addressed ship's company, family members, and several thousand guests reflecting on the tradition of Native Americans building a strong bond with the military.

"The relationship between our native people and the U.S. Military indeed has become stronger and stronger with each passing decade", said Campbell . "We have the highest per capita rate of enlisted of any ethnic minority."

Campbell's wife, Linda Price Campbell, who is the ship's sponsor, gave the order to "man our ship and bring her to life."

Cmdr. Shawn W. Lobree of Miami, Fla., became the first commanding officer of the ship and will lead a crew of approximately 360 officers and enlisted personnel and three Marines.

"With this ship the United States will take the fight to the enemy forward from the sea with capabilities never seen before," said Lobree. "The crew before you today-they are aggressive, dedicated, salty, engaged, educated, physically and mentally fit, and most of all, ready to go to sea."

The ship is scheduled to get underway Dec. 17, and will ultimately join the fleet in its home port of Norfolk, Va.

Mesa Verde is the third amphibious transport dock ship in the San Antonio class. As a critical element in future expeditionary strike groups, the ship will support the Marine Corps mobility triad, which consists of the landing craft air cushion vehicle, the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle and the Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft (MV-22).

The ship will support amphibious, special operations, and expeditionary warfare missions in keeping with the new maritime strategy that postures the sea services to apply maritime power to protect U.S. vital interests in an increasingly interconnected and uncertain world.

Built by Northrop Grumman Ships Systems, Ingalls Operations in Pascagoula, Miss., Mesa Verde is 684-feet long, has an overall beam of 105 feet, a navigational draft of 23 feet, displaces approximately 24,900 tons and is capable of embarking a landing force of up to 800 Marines. Four turbo-charged diesel engines power the ship to sustained speeds of 22 knots.

I'm working on a pictorial for this event, with possible cities: Bremerton, San Diego, Jacksonville and Norfolk.

LB - the Blue Angels at jones Beach in May is interesting save for the fact that the sun is always in your fame and that makes for very poor pictures.

The Blue Angels schedule is:
March 8: NAF El Centro, Calif.
March 15-16: Sacramento, Calif.
March 29-30: NAS Meridian, Miss.

April 5-6: NAS Kingsville, Texas
April 12-13: Smyrna, Tenn.
April 19-20: Peoria, Ill.
April 26-27: Vidalia, Ga.

May 3-4: Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
May 10-11: Barksdale AFB, Bossier City, La.
May 16-18: Andrews AFB, Md.
May 21: USNA, Annapolis, Md.
May 23: USNA Fly-By, Annapolis, Md.
May 24-25: Jones Beach, N.Y.

June 7-8: MCAS Cherry Point, N.C.
June 14-15: Quebec City
June 21-22: Davenport, Iowa
June 28-29: Huntsville, Ala.

July 5-6: Traverse City, Mich.
July 11: Pensacola Beach, Fla.
July 19-20: Duluth, Minn.
July 26-27: Twin Falls, Idaho

Aug. 2-3: Seattle, Wash.
Aug. 8-10: Fairchild AFB, Spokane, Wash.
Aug. 16-17: Chicago, Ill.
Aug. 30: Cleveland, Ohio

Sept. 1: Cleveland, Ohio
Sept. 6-7: NAS Brunswick, Maine
Sept. 13-14 Eau Claire, Wis.
Sept. 20-21 NAS Oceana, Va.
Sept. 27-28 Grand Junction, Colo.

Oct. 4-5: MCAS Miramar, San Diego, Calif.
Oct. 11-12 San Francisco, Calif.
Oct. 18-19 Little Rock, AFB, Ark.
Oct. 25-26 NAS Jacksonville, Fla.

Nov. 1-2: Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas
Nov. 8-9: Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
Nov. 15: NAS Pensacola, Fla.

For more news from the Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron (Blue Angels), visit www.navy.mil/local/blueangels/.

One hundred years ago on Dec. 16, an armada of 16 American battleships pushed away from Hampton Roads on a 14-month circumnavigation of the globe to show the world what the U.S. Navy could do.

The Great White Fleet, as it was known because of its bright paintjob, was dispatched by President Theodore Roosevelt, a larger than life American leader who had been in his career, among other things, Navy secretary.

To mark the anniversary, current Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter hosted some 500 guests aboard the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt — “America’s Big Stick” — pierside in its Norfolk homeport.

In a speech held in a hangar bay decorated with images and quotes of Roosevelt, Winter told the audience that “a maritime nation with maritime interests” needs a potent naval force always able to span the globe.

Trouble getting sponsors' dates lined up

Duane. I usually write the name of the ship and date I send the covers and then the date received on the reverse. I try to keep lists of my mailings but was Better at that 40 years ago when postage was 5 cents. Larry

I still do not have three of this years submarine anniversary pictorials back from Groton. I especially need the USS SEAWOLF covers back....but as yet They have never returned. I know they received the covers as I have a return receipt from Groton that they got them. I send all covers to Groton this way now, due to their recent problems. Groton is very quick to tell you that they did not receive your covers, even when you HAVE a receipt!

They told me that they did not receive my USS SEAWOLF covers, so I faxed the P.M. my receipt signed by one of his staff. Now they are hunting for them and the other two packages that I sent them way back in mid-year that I also have receipts for.

When dealing with Groton, I would strongly suggest that you get a receipt. It costs a bit more, but without a receipt all they have to do is say they did not receive the covers. And, they WILL tell you that BEFORE they even go and look!! Been there, done that, got the T-shirt!

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (NNS) -- The Navy will commission the newest San Antonio class amphibious transport dock ship Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU) Mesa Verde Dec. 15 in Panama City.

The ship is named to honor the Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado. In 1906, Congress established Mesa Verde as the first cultural park in the National Park Systems. This is the first U.S. Navy ship to be named Mesa Verde.

Former U.S. Senator from Colorado, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, will deliver the ceremony's principal address. Campbell's wife, Linda Price Campbell, will serve as ship's sponsor. The ceremony will be highlighted as she gives the first order to "man our ship and bring her to life!"

PCU Mesa Verde is the third amphibious transport dock ship in the San Antonio class. As a critical element in future expeditionary strike groups, the ship will support the Marine Corps "mobility triad," which consists of the landing craft air cushion vehicle, the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle and the Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft (MV-22).

PCU Mesa Verde will support amphibious, special operations, and expeditionary warfare missions in keeping with "A Cooperative Strategy of 21st Century Seapower," the new maritime strategy that postures the sea services to apply maritime power to protect U.S. vital interests in an increasingly interconnected and uncertain world.

Cmdr. Shawn W. Lobree of Miami, Fla., will become the first commanding officer of the ship and will lead a crew of approximately 360 officers and enlisted personnel and three Marines.

Built by Northrop Grumman Ships Systems, Ingalls Operations in Pascagoula, Miss., PCU Mesa Verde is 684-feet long, has an overall beam of 105 feet, a navigational draft of 23 feet, displaces approximately 24,900 tons and is capable of embarking a landing force of up to 800 Marines. Four turbo-charged diesel engines power the ship to sustained speeds of 22 knots. PCU Mesa Verde will be homeported in Norfolk.

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead will host a ceremony to honor the 100th anniversary of President Theodore Roosevelt's Great White Fleet deployment on Dec. 15 at 6 p.m.

The ceremony will be held aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) at Naval Station Norfolk.

The Great White Fleet departed from Hampton Roads 100 years ago this month. Sixteen battleships, plus auxiliary support ships and 14,000 Sailors and Marines, embarked on the 14-month journey that covered some 43,000 miles and made 20 port calls on six continents.

The deployment demonstrated to the world that the United States had arrived as a significant, outward-looking world power with peaceful intent toward every nation.

For more news from around the fleet, visit www.navy.mil.