Destroyer maintenance tenders

 Spearhead class Expeditionary Fast Transport ship has recently been selected to replace 2 aging Hospital Ships and it got me thinking. What other neglected classes of ship could this ship also replace? I settled on the often forgotten Destroyer Tender. The EPF has more than enough space to convert its cargo bays into the maintenance facilities and crew accommodations required to support a larger ship. USNS Burlington (EPF-10) even completed a deployment in 2021 providing maintenance and tending services to ships deployed in 4th Fleet as a proof of concept deployment.

The last class of Destroyer Tenders in the US Navy were the Yellowstone class serving in fleet from 1980-1996, only 13 to 16 years, but providing a pivotal service to the fleet. One example is USS Yellowstone’s 1994 deployment where in 4 months her crew completed more than 3,400 jobs, totaling 119,088 man hours, through 17 major alongside repairs on various ships, including 45 fly away teams to other areas.

Much has been talked about on here and in the US about the declining US naval infrastructure being about to build the ships needed to reach the target 355 ship navy but little about how to sustain it. During a typical ship’s deployment, half way through the ship will conduct a multi-week mid-deployment CMAV (contracted maintenance availability) to fix things broken on deployment and conduct much needed preservation (a hit button issue today). Lack of large scale maintenance facilities overseas more than often means ships conducting these CMAVs or emergent repairs in predictable ports. (Example: in 5th fleet your only real option is Bahrain and maybe Jebel Ali, in 4th fleet it’s Guantanamo Bay unless you want to make the hike up to NAS Key West or Mayport FL). Having a class of Destroyer Tenders would allow more maintenance teams to reach more ships in more places.

This need for Destroyer Tenders is exacerbated in a time of war where a damaged ship’s only option for repair will be to return to the states (if it even can). Due to the few yards and drydocks that can accommodate navy ships, the US Navy in a time of war may very well need to make the tough decision between using its precious few yard space to repair a ship at the cost of building a new one. A recent example of a damaged ship needing to be returned to the states for repairs is the USS Cole (pictured being heavy lifted back). This is a service that may not be available to the fleet during wartime. Another example is following the USS Stark attack, where in the wake of the attack USS Acadia provided berthing, messing, and repair services to her. Imagine a scenario similar to the 2016 USS Mason attack off Yemen, but instead she was hit. The closest US base for her to pull in would have been Djibouti, however this base severely lacks the ability to repair ships. A quickly dispatched Destroyer Tender could rectify this.

Another important point that would highlight the importance of Destroyer Tenders is the hot button issue today of short handed crews and topside preservation. Ships today are underway more, longer, and with less crews than they have ever been in history. New ships entering the fleet (example: the Constellation class FFG will be nearly 500 feet long, 7000 tons with a crew of only 130ish, another example the Zumwalts are 15000 tons, 600 ft and have a crew of 150) will be even “optimally manned” (I.e. the politically correct term for “minimally manned”) even further stretching the capabilities of their crews which are already overworked. A class of Destroyer Tenders would help alleviate the maintainance burdens that these crews are experiencing.

An untold love story

It was year………..,

Well no one exactly remembers what year it was.

But yes the story is known.

Not to all.

The story is known to very few, very few people. But it has a lesson, a moral. Come on we all have been reading Tarzaan and Umer-o-ayyar our entire childhood with same old good guy , bad guy climax. This one at least has something which is of more use to us.

The story is of a young boy, Ahmed.

And like all other stories where all boys are heroes.

Ahmed is a dumb boy, though he is over handsome, kind of rich as his father owns a lot, plus drives a good car. Girls in his neighbor grades him as an overall a hero type man, but this particular story makes him dumb, relatively.

Why he is a dumb boy ???

You will get your answer.

And since we all know that no story ends without a feminine entry.

So here it is, Naila. The cute, lovely, and adorable…………………….Naila.

Unlike Ahmed she is intelligent, wise and yes little shy. Like all the other Asian girls. (Sorry folks the incident took place in Pakistan, Yes the emerging world power).
Unfortunately both of them are cousins. Yes, real cousins. 
And like are typical cousins wala masla, Ahmed likes Naila. But there is something which Ahmed is unaware of. 
Naila also likes Ahmed, tataaaaaa!!

And they soon got happily married. 

PS. Every story doesn't has to have a sickened sad end. There are happy stories around us. 

LIFE HAS TO GO ON..!!

Wow !!

What a lovely evening it is. Look at the sky, I never noticed that even in Karachi the sky can be so clear and yes it’s blue. Look the scattered clouds on sky and the sun hiding behind them and this cool sea breeze, what a blessing it is.

It was though an ordinary Sunday of March but only a young cadet on short leave can have such feelings for a weather in which he had been living from his childhood. Stagnant weather of Karachi never charmed any one except the cadets of naval academy who proceed on short leave on Sundays. So even if you will find a cadet roaming around in scorching sun light on a short leave, he will tell you the same lines that how charming the life is out here.

It was his first short leave after forty days of intense hard training and he did his best to qualify his preliminary swimming and saluting test to get this short leave. Few hours out of naval academy were like he was suddenly in heaven out of hell.

“Independence is such a blessing”

Uttering these words he went down stairs, out of his home.

“I guess having ice cream in such an evening would be a great idea”.

He went off to a near by medical and general store. Al-shifa medical and general store was little extra crowdie today. Since his child hood he had this basic instinct of staring and exploring things. But in that store there was something different today. There were signs of worries on his fore head, his big black eyes never narrowed with such anxiety.

“YA ALLAH”

These were the only words which came to his mind at that moment. There were around 15-20 people of different age group in that medical store, busy in for what they were there but he was amazed that no one noticed what he did.

“so we call our selves as human beings, may be robots are better then us”

He thought

May be what he was seeing was quite normal, something very ordinary, But not for him.

She was bare foot, wearing black large chaddar which was torn out from different places but still her face and head was covered.

“she is coughing very severely, but why is she out then if she is so much ill”

her eyes, how hurting it was to look at them. At times you really find your heart heavy and painful, pain just not for writing but the real pain. His heart was heavy and yes he felt pain in it just because he had a glance at those eyes telling a long story of suffering and misery.

……………..

Her plight was quite evident form her face but at the same time she appeared to be quite timid.

“Shall I ask her for any help which in case I may rent to her?”

“No, I guess she belongs to that breed of human beings who can die in hunger but their self respect never allows them to go out and scream for help”

Her young child was constantly pulling her Kurta and was constantly projecting his hands towards the giant fridge of drinks, uttering in a low, innocent and mournful voice

“ami ….juice …..ami …ami ”

His voice slowly died out, the silence of her mother made him clear that his desire will not be fulfilled.

“That is not for us, it has been made for the ruthless and rich bunch of people around you”

He thought she wanted to say this to her child but he was too young to understand that human beings have classes …and they belong to the poor class.

But he could overlook the tears in the eyes of that young child. He quickly went across to the counter and whispered to Qasim bhai.

“Qasim bhai what ever that women takes, charge her only with 25% of the money and give her a packet of juice with a gesture that its free with the medicine you took”

For an instance Qasim bhai gave him a weird look

“Obviously am going to pay the rest, don’t worry for that”

He started following her. It was not something he was doing intentionally, he even didn’t have any reason for what he was doing, but still he couldn’t stop himself. His feet seem to be no more under his control.

It was a long walk.

“She has got nice stamina, I wonder how am going to go back”

They crossed different streets, they turned many rights, many lefts, crossed many intersections

“Shit I lost my north”

 He didn’t know in which direction they were going. This colony where ever they were was quite randomly constructed. He was quite badezelled by the way the people were living in that place.

At last she stopped in front of a small corroded steel gate and went inside.

“She didn’t even lock her home”

Locks serve to people who have homes, and this structure does not seem to be one.

Every inch of that place added to her grief-stricken condition, though the place was not more then few inches. Dirt and filth around the corroded steel gate added to the misery of that place.

He lifted his right hand to knock the door.

“But what am I going to do”

He kept standing there, still thinking.

Suddenly he noticed that the sun had completely dawned and his surrounding was as dark as the life in that place. He looked at the narrow passage which he had followed to come to that place.

“I don’t have much time, short leave will expire in next couple of hours and I have a boat to catch”

While standing at Kemari jetty waiting for his boat he thought that there are hundreds of such stories around us, thousands of such young women with dreadful tales of lives and millions of young children dying of hunger.

“Despite of all this, life never stops”

Boat from Pakistan naval academy left the jetty after the cadets hastened into it. It was again heading back towards the academy. After all

“Life has to go on ” 

LEARN AND LIVE

Work ethics

Aey Musalmaan!

Are you one of those who always find it difficult to develop loving affair with their office bosses and working environment!

 Despite of a long working career by now, I have still failed to understand or learn how to be in good books of my bosses. I seriously don’t understand “Boss ko patatay kaisay hain yar”!!

   Every time when I feel that am doing good and people are happy around me, a clock in my mind start tickling hard, and I feel that every passing second is nearing my annual leave. So somehow I gather the entire strength, take a deep breath, hold my neck high and

 “Excuse me sir”

And before boss’s slow and obsolete processor interprets what I have just said, I enter his office, assuming that the answer would definitely had been

“Yes, come in”!

Today, it was the day…finally am going to ask him for a leave! And my ever wish of a leisure trip to northern areas, with an amazing group which am sure am going to find and in that too I will meet someone whom I had always seen in my dreams ……just like in movies….wow….Bullshit!!

It was my boss.

“What kind of bullshit is this”!

“Abdullah, I think you should look into this. Ahmed is new and he is not getting things right. Next week the foreign delegation is coming and we need to get ourselves geared up”!

‘Yes Sir ’, I could not say anything else.

While working on that ‘Bullshit’ which my boss assigned me to clean up for him, I was wondering that how on the earth he came to know that am planning for a leave.

‘He definitely knew it, and had nothing better than this crap to do away with my little wish of leave’….ohhhh my love, again I failed to reach you!

And now what am going to tell people around me who often ask me, ‘aur bhai…shadi wadi kar li k nae?’

‘Nae yar, bas abi talash e gumshuda jari hai’, my pet answer with a stupid smile.

And at this moment I realized that how much I hate doing work.

Any how I did not have enough time and was to submit my work before the end of the say, so I quickly turned on my laptop, placed on a serious and annoying look on my face, Plugged in my headphones into my laptop and there it goes. 

I saw my colleagues in the praying area, tired looks on their faces and shoulder tilted down as if they are carrying tones of load.

And of course my body language was not very different.

What ?

You don’t expect me to be energetic and fresh after such hard work of 1:30 hr!

To be continued…………..

F4 phantom USAF critical induction

What made the F-4 Phantom special? In the 1950s, McDonnell Aircraft began the development of what was once described as one of the greatest fighters of the post-World War II era. Originally developed as an attack aircraft with four 20mm guns, the F-4 Phantom evolved into an advanced – yet gun-less – all-weather interceptor that was equipped with advanced radar and missile armament. Just thirty-one months after its first flight it was adopted by the United States Navy in 1961 – becoming the service’s fastest, highest-flying, and longest range fighter.

Soon after, the aircraft was adopted by the United States Marine Corps and the United States Air Force. The tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber proved to be ideally suited to the military’s needs during the Cold War.

It was well armed, and could carry more than 18,000 pounds (8,400 kg) of weapons on nine external hardpoints, including air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles, and various bombs. Later models also incorporated the M61 Vulcan rotary cannon to give the warbird a bit more firepower. The aircraft was also equipped with Westinghouse APQ-72 radar, IR detector in a small fairing under the nose.

The aircraft had numerous colorful nicknames, including the “Spook,” “Flying Brick,” “Double Ugly,” “Rhino” and “Big Iron Sled.” However, it was officially named Phantom II on July 3, 1959, during a ceremony held at the McDonnell plant in St. Louis, Mo., to celebrate the company’s 20th anniversary

However, over time, the numeral “II” had been discontinued; the F-4 had become the only Phantom.

It F-4 took part in multiple combat operations during the Vietnam War. The Air Force sent its first F-4Cs to Southeast Asia in 1965, where they conducted air-to-air missions against North Vietnamese fighters as well as attacking ground targets. In its air-to-ground role, the F-4C could carry twice the normal load of a WWII B-17.

The F-4 Phantom II remained in service throughout the Cold War and even took part in Operation Desert Storm in Iraq before being retired by the U.S. military in 1996.

AI based Hypersonic missile development

 The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has developed Artificial Intelligence that would help it in building a hypersonic missile in what could be a big breakthrough in America’s hypersonic program.

A hypersonic missile being developed in the US is supposed to make use of a technology known as ‘scramjet’ or ‘supersonic combustion ramjet’ to make optimum use of fuel, reach hypersonic speed, and cause maximum devastation on impact, as the use of traditional, heavy rockets and spacecraft limit its application.

The scramjet uses extremely effective thrust mechanisms to achieve much faster speeds, and it can be manufactured in a size much smaller, lighter, and with a longer range than traditional rockets. This is where the role of Artificial Intelligence comes in the development of a hypersonic missile.

This AI may build a hypersonic missile that is significantly faster and has a wider range than any other in the world, propelling the United States to the forefront of the military arms race. All they have to do now is apply this AI to the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept tested recently, load it up with explosives, and take off.

NASA is said to have developed artificial intelligence (AI) capable of optimizing missiles for maximum range and destruction. It has developed an AI that can use the results of a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) to optimize and work around an effective design of a scramjet missile.

Pak china cooperation in sorghum

 Sorghum is an excellent source of food and feed and plenty of products can be made from it therefore, there are ample opportunities for the sorghum industry in Pakistan and help of China would definitely improve the local economy.

mutual cooperation between the two countries can be strengthed by long-term and short-term cooperation, seeking the future opportunities for expansion of sorghum production, export and development in Pakistan. There is a need to take advantage of Chinese technology and experience under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in this field.

Since China is a major importer of sorghum grain for manufacturing of various products, there is plenty room to expand the export of the commodity to China. Secondly, the quality of sorghum grain produced in Pakistan for processing and extraction of different products is far better than that of other countries.