North Dakota submarine construction delay...drone sub delivery?

an underwater launch of a a small Switchblade unmanned aerial vehicle. 

Problems with a new kind of missile launcher will delay the commissioning of the attack submarine North Dakota. The primary issue was the new “Virginia Payload Tubes,” or VPTs. These are a new way to carry Tomahawk cruise missiles. Block III submarines, of which North Dakota is the first and farthest along, will have two much bigger tubes, each capable of carrying six Tomahawks — or a smaller number of some larger future missile, or even potentially an unmanned mini-submarine. The VPM concept also has the flexibility to accommodate an unprecedented variety of payloads;such as swimmer delivery vehicles for special operations. Earlier “Block I” and “Block II” Virginia submarines have 12 conventional Vertical Launch System (VLS) tubes in the bow, each VLS holding one Tomahawk. But the Block III submarines, of which North Dakota is the first and farthest along, will have two much bigger tubes, each capable of carrying six Tomahawks — or a smaller number of some larger future missile, or even potentially an unmanned mini-submarine. 


 Military scientists have concluded submarine sailors, who traditionally begin a new workday every 18 hours, show less fatigue on a 24-hour schedule, and the Navy has endorsed the findings for any skippers who want to make the switch. The first submarine to try the new schedule on a full deployment was the USS Scranton, led by Cmdr. Seth Burton, a cancer survivor. He said the illness he experienced as a junior officer helped convince him of the health benefits of keeping a sleep pattern in line with the body's natural rhythm. "I know that there's lots of medical side effects to just not having a good, regular sleep pattern," said USS Scranton Cmdr. Seth Burton, 41, of Huntsville, Ala. A submarine sailor's day is generally divided equally into three periods: Time on watch, off time that is devoted partly to training and drills, and sleep. Under the new schedule, those time blocks are stretched from six to eight hours.


[March 9]

JROC moved the Virginia-class submarines in February 2013 from the Prompt Strike budget to the main Navy shipbuilding account. Will these silent propulsion pumpjet boats get a boost from the Ukrainian chill?

K-329

China’s navy is developing a land-attack cruise missile capability, most likely with the Type-095 SSGN  according to a forthcoming report by a US congressional commission on China.   The Russian navy has invested an estimated 54 billion roubles (£1bn) to fund the SSGN Severodvinsk K-329, and sources say delivery is expected imminently, since the delivery acceptance certificate was signed on 30 December. The K-329 was commissioned in 1993 and originally scheduled for delivery in 1998. The project has been beset by problems and repeated delays.

USS Ohio in 2008 [SSGN-726]

On July 16, a submarine left Bremerton, accompanied by a couple of Coast Guard cutters. The Navy declined to identify it, saying it doesn't discuss specific submarine operations.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard's Intermediate Maintenance Facility completed its most expansive major maintenance period July 11 with USS Ohio's certification for unrestricted operation


A maritime source working in the Suez Canal reported on June 27 the passage of a nuclear submarine alongside two 'destroyers', both belonging to the United States supposedly headed to the Persian Gulf.

The maritime source added that the nuclear submarine – USS Florida SSGN 728 – and the destroyers –  USS JAMES E. WILLIAMS (DDG 95). and [? USNS Supply (T-AOE 6)] – were accompanied by tugboats belonging to the Canal during their 14-hour trip.

The destroyers and submarines were reported to be headed to the Persian Gulf in order to complete missions in the region.

YOKOSUKA, Japan (June 13, 2012) The Ohio-class guided-missile submarine USS Michigan (SSGN 727) is moored at Fleet Activities Yokosuka as part of its deployment to the Western Pacific.

The sending more equipment to the Gulf region is in the context of the efforts of U.S. Central Command to strengthen the U.S. military presence in the region for Iranian threats to close the Strait "of Hormuz.
During Operation Odyssey Dawn, Florida (SSGN 728) launched 93 Tomahawk missiles, with 90 effective, out of her total magazine of about 160 missiles.

M. Star: terrorist scenario in doubt: So it goes

If it were a suicide bomber, the explosive device would have pierced the hull or at least caused visible damage from shrapnel. The terrorist theory is the favoured scenario because the United Arab Emirates state news agency quoted an unnamed coast guard official as saying they found the remnants of handmade explosives on the hull and that terrorists were to blame. The Japanese government, meanwhile, is still carrying out its investigations into the cause of the blast on board the M Star, a government official said. The Straits are far outside of the operational radius that one would expect for a group that was operating in the Sinai to be able to then launch an attack in the Persian Gulf - that's showing quite a transnational operational reach. The damage to the M Star's hull was probably caused by a collision?

m. star: Iranian sub? Israeli

Speculation about an attack on a VLCC in the Straits of Hormuz:
The large square dent in the supertanker was caused by a rocket grenade?

Most officials dismissed the idea of a collision with a submarine, because no damaged sub is known to have surfaced. American officials reported no collision with United States submarines in the region. here. U.S. nuclear submarines have been in two collisions in the busy Strait of Hormuz since 2007, one involving a Japanese supertanker and the other a U.S. warship. The Dolphin class is a non-nuclear (SSK) type of submarine developed and constructed by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG (HDW), Germany for the Israeli Navy. It is based on the export-only German 209 class submarines, but heavily modified and enlarged and is thus not seen as a member of the 209 family. The Dolphin boats are considered among the most sophisticated and capable conventional submarines in the world.[1] The Type 209 is a class of diesel-electric attack submarine developed exclusively for export in the late 1960s by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft of Germany. Turkey has 209s. Iran has kilo-class subs,


It could also have been the bull nose end of a jetty at one of the loading ports where the tanker may have come into contact," here

earlier

M. Star: dent from a submarine collision?

U.A.E. port officials examining M. Star said it may have hit a submarine or a mine. earlier

Not necessarily a disconnect - 5th Fleet

The threatening radio transmission heard at the end of a video showing harassing maneuvers by Iranian patrol boats in the Strait of Hormuz may have come from a locally famous heckler known among ship drivers as the “Filipino Monkey.”
Navy Times
It was not clear, however, that the voice was coming from any of the boats, Cdr. Lydia Robertson, the 5th Fleet spokeswoman in Bahrain, told CNN. It could have come from another ship in the area or from shore, she said. "We don't have a direct connection, but it's not necessarily a disconnect," she said.