USS Donald Cook: sm-3 interceptor missile-equipped destroyer arrives at Rota Spain

PACIFIC OCEAN (Feb. 13, 2013) A Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block 1A interceptor is launched from the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70) during a Missile Defense Agency and U.S. Navy test in the Pacific Ocean. The SM-3 Block 1A successfully intercepted a target missile that had been launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Barking Sands, Kauai, Hawaii.

The USS Donald Cook, which arrived at Rota Naval Station, Spain on 11 February, is the first of four ballistic missile defence (BMD)-capable destroyers that will be stationed at the base. The ships are capable of tracking and shooting down ballistic missiles in flight, using their Aegis radar system and SM-3 interceptor missiles. These capabilities will make the destroyers a key component of NATO’s missile defense shield for Europe.

[March 19 2011]


112 Tomahawk cruise missile were fired from five U.S. ships — the guided-missile destroyers USS Stout and USS Barry, and three submarines, USS Providence, USS Scranton and USS Florida.
USS Florida (SSGN-728), an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, was the sixth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the 27th state. She was converted to a cruise missile submarine, and re-designated SSGN-728.
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Florida, Scranton, Stout, Barry, Kearsarge Ponce

The U.S. Navy began the operation March 19 with 12 ships in the Mediterranean. As of April 1, nine remained: the submarines USS Florida and USS Scranton; destroyers USS Stout and USS Barry; amphibious warships USS Kearsarge and USS Ponce; the command ship USS Mount Whitney; and two supply ships, USNS Robert E. Peary and USNS Kanawha.

The subs and the destroyers are armed with Tomahawks. Marine Harrier attack planes launch from aboard the Kearsarge, and the Mount Whitney had served as a floating command post for the American admiral who was the on-scene commander until NATO took control March 31.

The Mount Whitney remains assigned to the mission but the new operational commander, Canadian Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, is working ashore at his NATO headquarters in Naples, Italy. The U.S. Navy is likely to peel more ships away from the mission in coming days, including some of those with Tomahawks. The U.S. military will continue providing a range of support, including aerial refueling, aerial surveillance and reconnaissance and electronic jammers.
President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. President Obama signed the order, known as a presidential "finding", within the last two or three weeks. Such findings are a principal form of presidential directive used to authorize secret operations by the Central Intelligence Agency. In order for specific operations to be carried out under the provisions of such a broad authorization -- for example the delivery of cash or weapons to anti-Gaddafi forces -- the White House also would have to give additional "permission" allowing such activities to proceed. Former officials say these follow-up authorizations are known in the intelligence world as "'Mother may I' findings." a covert action is "any U.S. government effort to change the economic, military, or political situation overseas in a hidden way."

Vittoria: Libyan Coast Guard hit in Misrata

Libyan Coast Guard vessel Vittoria and two smaller craft who were firing indiscriminately at merchant vessels in the port of Misrata, Libya, during the late evening of March 28. Vittoria was engaged and fired upon by a U.S. Navy P-3C Maritime Patrol aircraft with AGM-65 Maverick missiles; the first time that these missiles have ever been fired on a hostile vessel by a P-3C.
new equipment to update armed forces.

Underlining Libya's international rehabilitation following Col. Moammar Gadhafi's 2003 decision to abandon Libya's clandestine nuclear weapons program and renounce terrorism, The 120-foot PV30-LS fast patrol craft were built by the Zagreb-based Adria-Mar Shipbuilding yards at Kali and Bakar Bay.Deliveries began in August 2006,

The cruise missile strike against Libyan forces marked the first time that an Ohio-class guided-missile [USS Florida] submarine launched a TLAM in conflict.At least one of the five Navy ships and submarines that have launched dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles at Libyan targets from positions in the Mediterranean Sea has left the area, three defense officials said.

Florida: boomer sub arrived in Med before March 3

USS Florida arrives to Naval Support Activity Souda Bay Crete for a routine port visit. Photo taken March 3, 2011.
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