News recently broke about a U.S. Navy’s nuclear-powered submarine that struck an underwater mountain in the South China Sea in early October.
An undersea collision that injured 11 crew members of a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine last month was caused by an uncharted seamount (an underwater mountain), the U.S. Navy says.The USS Connecticut, a Seawolf-class fast attack submarine, hit the then-unidentified object in international waters in the South China Sea on Oct. 2, resulting in moderate to minor injuries. At the time, the Navy did not specify how much damage the vessel suffered. The sub was able to power its way to a port in Guam by traveling on the ocean’s surface.An investigation found that the Connecticut “grounded on an uncharted seamount,” the 7th Fleet said in a statement.
The officers in charge of the submarine have just been relieved of duty.
The commanding officer of the fast-attack submarine Connecticut, Cmdr. Cameron Aljilani, his second-in-command, Lt. Cmdr. Patrick Cashin, and the chief of the boat, Master Chief Sonar Technician Cory Rodgers, were relieved due to a loss of confidence, according to a statement by the Japan-based U.S. 7th Fleet.Seventh Fleet leadership “determined sound judgement, prudent decision-making and adherence to required procedures in navigation planning, watch team execution and risk management could have prevented the incident,” according to the statement.The Navy did not release further details Thursday regarding exactly how the command failed to prevent the mishap, and 7th Fleet officials have not said whether the command investigation into the mishap—completed this week and awaiting final endorsement—will be made public.
It is hard to say which aspect of this story is most troubling: The fact that it occurred in the hot zone of the South China Sea, the indications that the actual cause of the incident will not be revealed, or the fact that the American public is just hearing about it now.
There is even more cause for concern. It is being reported that U.S. Marines were forced into a humiliating surrender to the British during a mass training exercise in the Mojave desert.
British forces took part in a five-day mock battle at the US Marine Corps’ Twentynine Palms base in southern California, one of the largest military training areas in the world, and achieved a decisive victory against their American counterparts.The Royal Marines, along with allied forces from Canada, the Netherlands and the UAE, destroyed or rendered inoperable nearly every US asset and finished the exercise holding more than 65 per cent of the training area, after beginning with less than 20 per cent.
The U.S. Marine Corps challenged that report . . . saying it was a “training opportunity.”
“ ‘Winners’ are never determined,” Capt. Zachary Colvin, the communications and strategy director with the Marine Air Ground Combat Center, told Military Times in a statement. “This exercise does not provide an opportunity to ‘surrender,’ ‘keep score,’ or ‘reset.’ The objective of the exercise is to heighten unit performance and increase readiness.”During the training, Marines from the 2nd battalion 5th and 7th Marines participated along with British, Canadian, Dutch and United Arab Emirates forces, according to Colvin.“During this exercise, a U.S. Marine Regiment augmented with subordinate units formed an adversary force to actively challenge and test a peer regiment of U.S. Marines,” Colvin added. “This training opportunity increased warfighting readiness and interoperability of the U.S. Marine Corps with multinational forces. Exercise scenarios are adjusted as needed to assist commanders in meeting training objectives.”
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is adding a Climate Policy Czar.
The Pentagon will reorganize its policy shop to elevate the mission of combating and responding to climate change, the department’s policy chief said Friday.While the Defense Department has done a lot to prioritize climate change throughout the organization, including at the service secretary level, Colin Kahl, the defense undersecretary for policy, said that the organization he oversees is “one place where we haven’t done enough frankly.”“If we’re going to say that this is a national priority and it’s a priority for the department, then it needs to be a priority for my organization too. So we’re going to be making some organizational changes in the coming weeks and months to make sure we have an organization that champions these issues and that it is resourced to champion these issues, to make sure it gets integrated into all the various documents we oversee,” Kahl said at an event hosted by New America.
It is clear that as the Biden administration’s military appointees are focused on race-based indoctrination and green justice goals, our military is sinking under the weight of their progressive policies and priorities.
How much further will it sink?
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