I've ran into a couple of other "Chouest" (always female names, with the last name Chouest) in my varied carreers for Uncle Sam's Nuclear Powered Canoe club. The last one I remember was the one that delivered NR 1 to us to decomission and cut up. I've always suspected that they belong, through cut outs to the alphabet soup guys.
Nope just an old coonass. I never liked Kellie, crew accommodations were awful and the bridge was positively glacial even when off East Africa. That said the clients loved her. Commercial vessels are much more comfortable and flexible than GOGO or GOCO vessels and some of the cooks were SOCOM famous.
Yep, you frequently run across Chouest vessels in the offshore oil and oil exploration business, fulfilling a variety of roles. I did a survey or two on a ship my former employer leased from that company. Mr Chouest named the ships after family, and someone told me he wasn't above renaming a vessel if he had a falling out with the original namesake. I doubt this was true, but it should have been.
They have absolutely renamed vessels for that reason. OTOH TECO Ocean Shipping did the same when their CEO was caught in some sort of financial shenanigans.
I wrote the TLR for the ARS replacement while on AD, then combined the ARS and ATF recap programs into one program and changed the designation to T-ATS when at MSC after retirement from the USN. Call anytime for details...
...And let me tell you about the effort to have the new class named for Native American Tribes instead of a ridiculous political choice (i.e. USNS Harvey Milk). ATS-6 is in order from the previous "Super Tugs" of the Edenton Class.
target was Fordow, and yes, Iran has both snow covered mountains and pine, But I have no clue if Fordow has that terrain. But since it's a movie, close enough for the tech advisors to say "yeah, whatever".
Both Top Gun movies were references to operations against 'adversary' nations that the movie's authors specifically didn't mention. The original was a reference to Moamar Ghadafi and the Gulf of Sidra. Top Gun Maverick was a reference to Fordow. The trick with Hollywood is that they often use artistic liberties to obfuscate the 'foe' in movies, especially today, due to political reasons and the hunger to sell the movie overseas. Ie. If we don't talk about Ghadafi, we can literally sell the movie about the USN spanking his pilots' butts in Libya. Same for the sequel.
I'm pretty sure that the little discussion of Maverick's dad was a veiled reference to various pilots who've fought Russian-piloted MiGs in places where they weren't supposed to be, like the USN pilot that recently finally got his medal for fighting off a bunch of honcho-piloted MiGs over Korea.
Perhaps a replacement for USNS Zeus (T-ARC 7)? There was a draft RFP a few years back. Design included an internal moon pool . . . . . We have leased at least one commercial cable layer, don't know if that is still on hire.
I thought it was to replace the leased MV Ocean Trader, the SOCCOM SpecOps ship. Its existence was 'outed' to Joe-average during the 'drug boat kills' heyday in fall/winter 2025-6 when it came over from CENTCOM where it usually spends its time except for RSA's and overhaul. It's been hanging mostly on the Caribbean since as far as I know.
to you and me...John Q. Public was clueless. During the beginning of the drug boat strikes, I took a picture of it (the ship spotter on St Croix) into class and asked if the 60 plus in the class knew what it was. 0. I then asked did they know a specops boat existed. 0. There were 15 veterans in that class.
Ahem, anyone in the "know" KNOWS exactly what this vessel is used for: Recovery of disabled Unidentified Aerial Phenomena that suffered a major "transition" damage upon entering the water (usually with flux capacitor imbalances). Sorry to take all the mystery out of it...(just kidding...really).
I look at this boat---and the submersible---and it occurs to me that we have a LOT of information on what the dope-boys are doing in South America. Are there not a lot of underwater cables between North and South America that are maybe getting tapped?
marine version of X-37B. fun stuff! (loved the Azorian reference)
I've ran into a couple of other "Chouest" (always female names, with the last name Chouest) in my varied carreers for Uncle Sam's Nuclear Powered Canoe club. The last one I remember was the one that delivered NR 1 to us to decomission and cut up. I've always suspected that they belong, through cut outs to the alphabet soup guys.
The Navy's Air America
Nope just an old coonass. I never liked Kellie, crew accommodations were awful and the bridge was positively glacial even when off East Africa. That said the clients loved her. Commercial vessels are much more comfortable and flexible than GOGO or GOCO vessels and some of the cooks were SOCOM famous.
Yep, you frequently run across Chouest vessels in the offshore oil and oil exploration business, fulfilling a variety of roles. I did a survey or two on a ship my former employer leased from that company. Mr Chouest named the ships after family, and someone told me he wasn't above renaming a vessel if he had a falling out with the original namesake. I doubt this was true, but it should have been.
They have absolutely renamed vessels for that reason. OTOH TECO Ocean Shipping did the same when their CEO was caught in some sort of financial shenanigans.
You knew Casey Ryback?
I wrote the TLR for the ARS replacement while on AD, then combined the ARS and ATF recap programs into one program and changed the designation to T-ATS when at MSC after retirement from the USN. Call anytime for details...
Sal seem to attract a lot of subscribers with a similar technical acumen.
[reaches for acronym dictionary]
T-ATS = Towing, Salvage, and Rescue Ship. Lead ship of the class will be USNS Navajo (T-ATS 6).
...And let me tell you about the effort to have the new class named for Native American Tribes instead of a ridiculous political choice (i.e. USNS Harvey Milk). ATS-6 is in order from the previous "Super Tugs" of the Edenton Class.
I totally believe you, shipmate. BTW, I enjoyed working with you MSC bubbas for those T-ARS deployments to the COMUSNAVSO AOR.
The Masters, Mates and Engineers that gravitated to The Junk Boats were a pretty lively group!
Well done.
Frankly, I was thinking Glomar Explorer as you were progressing in your description.
So you led me to the conclusion you were going to.
🎯
Ed: Yeah, same here. For some reason, Glomar Explorer has been popping into my head, recently.
I was awarded a prize for a paper I wrote in Junior High about subsea mining of manganese nodules from the Glomar Explorer........
Gen X? Get off my lawn, kid.
Not the right program.
Good Morning CDR and shipmates…
Question:
Top Gun Maverick… the site of the mission to destroy the landing field was where?
Does Iran have snow covered terrain either tall evergreen trees? Thanks NJ
target was Fordow, and yes, Iran has both snow covered mountains and pine, But I have no clue if Fordow has that terrain. But since it's a movie, close enough for the tech advisors to say "yeah, whatever".
Both Top Gun movies were references to operations against 'adversary' nations that the movie's authors specifically didn't mention. The original was a reference to Moamar Ghadafi and the Gulf of Sidra. Top Gun Maverick was a reference to Fordow. The trick with Hollywood is that they often use artistic liberties to obfuscate the 'foe' in movies, especially today, due to political reasons and the hunger to sell the movie overseas. Ie. If we don't talk about Ghadafi, we can literally sell the movie about the USN spanking his pilots' butts in Libya. Same for the sequel.
I'm pretty sure that the little discussion of Maverick's dad was a veiled reference to various pilots who've fought Russian-piloted MiGs in places where they weren't supposed to be, like the USN pilot that recently finally got his medal for fighting off a bunch of honcho-piloted MiGs over Korea.
Perhaps a replacement for USNS Zeus (T-ARC 7)? There was a draft RFP a few years back. Design included an internal moon pool . . . . . We have leased at least one commercial cable layer, don't know if that is still on hire.
I saw her in the shipyard in Anacortes several years ago. I like “research” vessels.
The gulf states have a few yachts with some very interesting antennae's on them which also are derived from a hull used for OPVs.
I thought it was to replace the leased MV Ocean Trader, the SOCCOM SpecOps ship. Its existence was 'outed' to Joe-average during the 'drug boat kills' heyday in fall/winter 2025-6 when it came over from CENTCOM where it usually spends its time except for RSA's and overhaul. It's been hanging mostly on the Caribbean since as far as I know.
That ship has been outed much longer than that.
to you and me...John Q. Public was clueless. During the beginning of the drug boat strikes, I took a picture of it (the ship spotter on St Croix) into class and asked if the 60 plus in the class knew what it was. 0. I then asked did they know a specops boat existed. 0. There were 15 veterans in that class.
Off Topic: A BIG BZ to the crew of the USS Ford CBG for the longest continual deployment since Vietnam.
that we will now own—and not lea—for whatever
that we will now own—and not lease—for whatever
Retrieval of locatable containers of drugs from cigarette boats sunk by <whatever>?
Ahem, anyone in the "know" KNOWS exactly what this vessel is used for: Recovery of disabled Unidentified Aerial Phenomena that suffered a major "transition" damage upon entering the water (usually with flux capacitor imbalances). Sorry to take all the mystery out of it...(just kidding...really).
shhhh
My, what a big heli you have…
Did it really call out “ship” in the bill, or was it more generic?
I was thinking a Carter-ized special mission stretched Virginia-class SSN.
That has already been ordered.
I look at this boat---and the submersible---and it occurs to me that we have a LOT of information on what the dope-boys are doing in South America. Are there not a lot of underwater cables between North and South America that are maybe getting tapped?