U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 20 March to 17 April 2024

U.S. Navy Office of Naval ... by lawofsea

Saturday Is Old Radio Day - Abbot & Costello "Costello the Air Hero" (1946)

Friday Films; Navy Shipboard Firefighting Training - Old School 1960 and Today's Boot Camp and Beyond

Every U.S. Navy sailor should have firefighting training. Every single one.

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 13 March to 10 April 2024

U.S. Navy Office of Naval ... by lawofsea

Saturday Is Old Radio Day - Ray Bradbury's "The Earthmen" from Escape (1951)

Friday Films -" All About Naval Boilers"

Back before gas turbines and currently in some older large deck amphibs - long ago we all got trained on the operations of the steam plant.

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 6 March to 3 April 2024

U.S. Navy Office of Naval ... by lawofsea

Saturday Is Old Radio Day: "Skeleton Bay" Inner Sanctum (1946)

Friday/Saturday Films: "Submarine Salvage" and Raising the U.S. Submarine S4 in 1928

When Does China's "Water Cannon" Weapon Use Become an Act of Armed Conflict?

China's bullying of the Philippines may trigger a defense agreement with the U.S. as set out in China’s Attacks on Philippine Resupply Missions Test 70-Year-Old Defense Pact

Six days after China Coast Guard cutters blasted out the windows of a Philippine resupply ship with a water cannon, Manila is weighing whether a 70-year-old mutual defense pact could compel the U.S. military to defend Filipino forces in the South China Sea as a result.

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The attack, the ninth and most aggressive since Chinese cutters restarted a campaign blocking the monthly resupply runs to the World War II-era Sierra Madre, is prompting politicians, analysts and lawyers across the Pacific to weigh the U.S. obligation to come to Manila’s aid under a 1951 mutual defense pact.

Both the U.S. State and Defense departments issued statements this week pledging commitment to the treaty.

“The United States reaffirms that Article IV of the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty extends to armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft – including those of its Coast Guard – anywhere in the South China Sea,” reads the statement from Foggy Bottom.

While the worst-case scenario under the defense treaty could lead to open war with China, the agreement has options for the U.S. to support Manila diplomatically short of armed conflict. However, the 1951 treaty’s application in the 21st century raises questions about whether the Chinese use of water cannons constitutes an armed attack or if the resupply missions are categorized as civilian or military, opening up several legal interpretations.

Read the whole article.

The question of whether such use of water cannons by China constitutes an "armed" attack sufficient to trigger the defense pact has been frequently raised on our Midrats podcast. China's assertion of entitlement to vast areas of the South China Sea and its aggressive efforts to enforce those claims despite a lack of legal justification are an interesting test case in how close to a line it can walk before triggering similar counter activities or more. However, it is vital that the U.S. support, in every way possible, our allies and treaty partners in the region.

Easter - Holiday Routine

Happy Easter!

Saturday Is Old Radio Day: "Easter" Ozzie and Harriet (1949)

Friday Films: Anchoring A Large Ship and How to Anchor a Boat

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 28 February to 27 March 2024

U.S. Navy Office of Naval ... by lawofsea

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 21 February to 20 March 2024

U.S. Navy Office of Naval ... by lawofsea

Saturday (+/-) Is Old Radio Day "No Contact" X-1

Friday Film- "Submarine Warfare Instructions (1949)

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 14 February to 13 March 2024

U.S. Navy Office of Naval ... by lawofsea

Saturday Is Old Radio Day: "My Man Godfrey" Academy Award Theater (1946)

You can also watch the movie

Friday Films: "Communist Propaganda" (1958) and "How to Recognize Propaganda" (1957)

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 7 February to 6 March 2024

U.S. Navy Office of Naval ... by lawofsea

Saturday Is Old Radio Day- Crime Club "Murder Makes a Mummy" (1947)

Friday Films: Joint Logistics Over the Shore -(JLOTS) Europe 2021 "Defender" and JLOTS Operation Deep Freeze 2019

Saturday Is Old Radio Day: Suspense "The Storm" (1953)

Friday Film: Nuclear Carrier Enterprise

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 24 January - 21 February 2024

U.S. Navy Office of Naval ... by lawofsea

Saturday Is Old Radio Day: "The Monitor and the Merrimac" from You Are There (1948)

The battle that forever changed naval warfare.

An account of the Battle of Hampton Roads begins here:

At ten minutes before ten, on the morning of the 30th of January, 1862, an iron floating battery, designed for the Government of the United States by John Ericsson, and named, at his suggestion, the Monitor, was launched at Green Point, Long Island, and at three p.m., on the 25th of February, formally taken possession of by the Navy Department, and put in commission at the Navy Yard, New York.

On Thursday, the 6th of March, this novel float, concerning whose fate many gloomy predictions had been hazarded, left the Lower Bay in tow of the steamer Seth Low, and, with a fair wind and smooth sea, steered for Hampton Roads. . . .

Update -Had some early coding issues which now seem to be fixed.

Friday Films: "Aegis - the First 50 Years"

Saturday (or Monday) Is Old Radio Day: Mr. President "Advice and Consent" (1950)

Here's a show from a old radio series dealing with U.S. presidents - this episode is "Advice and Consent" -

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 17 January - 14 February 2024

U.S. Navy Office of Naval ... by lawofsea

Friday Film - Navy "Guided Missiles" (1952)

See also:Drones and atomic bombs

Update: See also When US Navy Suicide Drones Went to War

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 10 January -7 February 2024

U.S. Navy Office of Naval ... by lawofsea

Saturday Is Old Radio Day: Box 13 "The First Letter" (1948)

Friday Films (Irony Edition): "US Navy V-22 Osprey - Unfold, Start up, Take Off" and "US Navy's Dilemma: The New Osprey is Too Good!"

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 3 - 31 January 2024

U.S. Navy Office of Naval ... by lawofsea

Piracy and Armed Robbery at Sea Has Not Gone Away

It's been too long since I last reported on the work of the ICC-IMB Piracy Reporting Centre which produces the "Live Piracy Map" and maintains a database of attacks which culminates in their Annual Piracy Report. Here's a summary for 2023:

So far in 2024:

2024 West Africa and Indian Ocean:

2024 Southeast Asia:

For reference 2023 and 2022:

The patterns are nearly the same as those that preceded the explosion of piracy off Somalia. The reasons remain the same - pirates/sea robbers attack where the ships are.

The Piracy Reporting Centre is to be commended in their effort to keep the issues involving attacks on shipping and merchant mariners in the public eye.

Saturday Is Old Radio Day- "Duffy's Tavern - Un-Splitting the Atom" (1945)

Friday Film: "Taiwan Island of Freedom" (1960s)

Saturday (or Even Monday) Is Old Radio Day - Casey, Crime Photographer "The Case of the Switched Plates" (1943)

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 27 December 2023 - 24 January 2024

U.S. Navy Office of Naval ... by lawofsea

Friday Film: Flight Deck Safety "Disasters Don't Just Happen" (1971)

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 20 December 2023 - 17 January 2024

U.S. Navy Office of Naval ... by lawofsea

Saturday (& Sometimes Sunday) Is Old Radio Day: Halls of Ivy - "Dr Bromley, Shakespeare Expert" (1950)

Friday Film: "The Navy Recruit" (Pre-WWII)

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 13 December 2023 - 10 January 2024

U.S. Navy Office of Naval ... by lawofsea

Saturday (& Sometimes Sunday) Is Old Radio Day -"The Jonathon Diamond" Boston Blackie (1944)

Friday Films: "History of U.S. Foreign Relations" Parts 1 through 4 (1976)

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 6 December 2023 - 3 January 2024

U.S. Navy Office of Naval ... by lawofsea

Saturday Is Old Radio Day: Abbott and Costello "A Psychiatrist for Costello" (1944)

Friday Film: "The Naval Aviator (1950)

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 29 November - 27 December 2023

U.S. Navy Office of Naval ... by lawofsea